Post by Philemon on Dec 24, 2016 19:35:55 GMT
Dear Devotees,
I was looking into the history of the Isle of Patmos, most famous for being the location of St John's vision as recounted in the New Testament Book of Revelation, and came across a myth that may be of interest.
From www.patmos-island.com/en/pages/mythology
Legend has it that in ancient times Patmos rested at the bottom of the sea. It was only visible when Selene the Moon Goddess would shine over it. Selene would often go to Mount Latmos to visit her lover King Endymion. This king was granted the privilege (by his father Zeus) of not ageing whenever he slept. As he was often asleep, Selene would sit on top of Mount Latmos and talk to Artemis who had one of her main sanctuaries there.
One evening Artemis noticed the small island glittering underneath the water from Selene’s beams as she approached. Artemis fell in love with it immediately and wanted it to be hers.
Realizing she was not strong enough to raise it from the seabed, she sent telepathic messages to her twin-brother Apollo, who was not keen on raising the island and spoke to his father Zeus who promised to help. Zeus asked permission from his brother Poseidon (Neptune) the powerful and feared God of the Sea, who had no interest in the little island and gave his approval.
And so, thanks to Zeus’ divine power the island of Patmos emerged from the sea in stunning beauty and the all-seeing Sun-god Helios (Selene’s brother) warmed the island with his rays and thereby gave it life. Artemis next persuaded some of the inhabitants of the area around Mount Latmos to go and live on the island - which they did to please her. In her honour they named it Litios that is another name of Artemis, meaning “daughter of Leto”.
An inscription in the museum of the monastery of St John on Patmos mentions that Orestes, pursued by the Furies for the murder of his mother, took refuge on Patmos and built the great temple of Artemis on the same site the Monastery is today.
There's an interesting and beautiful photo-essay on Patmos at www2.luthersem.edu/ckoester/revelation/Patmos/Main.htm
Some of my thoughts on this story.
* The sea as a symbol of Samsara or Maya
* The island as image of the world, submerged in Samsara
* The island is revealed by the Lunar light (Selene), which can penetrate beneath the waves of Samsara, whereas the island cannot be seen by day in the brightness of the Sun. There is a correlate to the idea that we cannot look at Dea for her brightness, that Dea cannot see us in our darkness/falsity, and so the Lunar principle as bridge/pontifex is necessary to bridge the worlds of light and darkness.
* Artemis and Selene were often associated and identified with each other. Artemis's names Phoebe (Feminine of Phoebus) and Cynthia (from Mt Cynthus on Delos, birthplace of Artemis and Apollo) were also applied to Selene.
* The island (world) is raised from the state of obscurity into Solar illumination
* This myth is a reverse of the flood myth, and specifically of the Atlantis myth
* The sleeping King Endymion (also Shepherd and Hunter) as a symbol of the True Self, beloved of Selene, sleeping on the mountain. In advaita teaching, we are in communion with the Supreme Self in deep sleep.
* The repopulation of the newly risen island/world by those who dwelled with Endymion on the sacred/cosmic mountain Latmos (return of the True Self)
* And of course, the story in Revelation itself of the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev 21:1) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
I was looking into the history of the Isle of Patmos, most famous for being the location of St John's vision as recounted in the New Testament Book of Revelation, and came across a myth that may be of interest.
From www.patmos-island.com/en/pages/mythology
Legend has it that in ancient times Patmos rested at the bottom of the sea. It was only visible when Selene the Moon Goddess would shine over it. Selene would often go to Mount Latmos to visit her lover King Endymion. This king was granted the privilege (by his father Zeus) of not ageing whenever he slept. As he was often asleep, Selene would sit on top of Mount Latmos and talk to Artemis who had one of her main sanctuaries there.
One evening Artemis noticed the small island glittering underneath the water from Selene’s beams as she approached. Artemis fell in love with it immediately and wanted it to be hers.
Realizing she was not strong enough to raise it from the seabed, she sent telepathic messages to her twin-brother Apollo, who was not keen on raising the island and spoke to his father Zeus who promised to help. Zeus asked permission from his brother Poseidon (Neptune) the powerful and feared God of the Sea, who had no interest in the little island and gave his approval.
And so, thanks to Zeus’ divine power the island of Patmos emerged from the sea in stunning beauty and the all-seeing Sun-god Helios (Selene’s brother) warmed the island with his rays and thereby gave it life. Artemis next persuaded some of the inhabitants of the area around Mount Latmos to go and live on the island - which they did to please her. In her honour they named it Litios that is another name of Artemis, meaning “daughter of Leto”.
An inscription in the museum of the monastery of St John on Patmos mentions that Orestes, pursued by the Furies for the murder of his mother, took refuge on Patmos and built the great temple of Artemis on the same site the Monastery is today.
There's an interesting and beautiful photo-essay on Patmos at www2.luthersem.edu/ckoester/revelation/Patmos/Main.htm
Some of my thoughts on this story.
* The sea as a symbol of Samsara or Maya
* The island as image of the world, submerged in Samsara
* The island is revealed by the Lunar light (Selene), which can penetrate beneath the waves of Samsara, whereas the island cannot be seen by day in the brightness of the Sun. There is a correlate to the idea that we cannot look at Dea for her brightness, that Dea cannot see us in our darkness/falsity, and so the Lunar principle as bridge/pontifex is necessary to bridge the worlds of light and darkness.
* Artemis and Selene were often associated and identified with each other. Artemis's names Phoebe (Feminine of Phoebus) and Cynthia (from Mt Cynthus on Delos, birthplace of Artemis and Apollo) were also applied to Selene.
* The island (world) is raised from the state of obscurity into Solar illumination
* This myth is a reverse of the flood myth, and specifically of the Atlantis myth
* The sleeping King Endymion (also Shepherd and Hunter) as a symbol of the True Self, beloved of Selene, sleeping on the mountain. In advaita teaching, we are in communion with the Supreme Self in deep sleep.
* The repopulation of the newly risen island/world by those who dwelled with Endymion on the sacred/cosmic mountain Latmos (return of the True Self)
* And of course, the story in Revelation itself of the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev 21:1) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.