Theos-Talk Archives (July 1997 Message tl00370)

>
>Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 01:05:44 -0600
>From: Gisele <gisele@elcocomp.com>
>To: theos-l@vnet.net
>Subject: Re: Egyptian 'djed'
>Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19970724010544.007c8e30@elcocomp.com>
>
>
>Thank-you very much, Lynn for your interesting observations regarding the
>objects being supported by that 'djed' figure.  I passed your comments on
>to Michael Mandeville (which he was pleased to receive).  He asked if you
>were interested in doing a 'circuit analysis' (which, if you were willing,
>he would add to that page).   I don't know what would be involved in doing
>this, but don't feel obligated because I know I kind of nudged you to go
>see his collection (seeing that you found so much symbolism in the owl). :-)

Hi Gisele,

I'm sorry it took me so long to respond. I was having terrible mail
problems on AOL for several days and changed ISPs. Then it was a thing of
playing "Guess the syntex" with the listproc to retrieve missed digests
from the archives due to the murky output from the HELP command I sent the
listproc. (The listproc HELP file could use a Rosetta stone for us
Unix-challenged folks.) Anyway, I'm back now. ;-D

Sure, I'll try to trace the circuit in that picture, however, I don't know
if I'll come up with anything more lucid than Michael Mandeville already
wrote about it. :-)

>
> From what I've been able to obtain from Steiner [Egyptian Myths and
>Mysteries] is that the Uraeus on the forehead of the Kings represented
>power.  The power that each king obtained was portions of the 'folk soul'
>which he was able to take into himself after extinguishing part of his
>astral and etheric bodies.

Eeek! This sounds almost like a form of "occult cannibalism". :-) Now, by
Uraeus, do you mean the cobra and vulture worn by the pharoahs?
>
>This may seem far-fetched but could this picture be a symbolic
>representation of this (if the Egyptians associated snakes with power)?

I understood from reading that the power represented by the snakes in the
picture was power in the form of electrical or similar energy. Those long
"bulbs" enclosing them look so much like glass envelopes for some sort of
electrical tubes that it drives me up the wall! :-) However, your
interpretation of it may not be far-fetched at all. IMHO, if we consider
similar things like the "power" of the Ark of the Covenant which has been
suggested to be a powerful electrical capacitor, if constructed according
to the description given in the Bible, yet believed by the people as the
power of God, it's not far-fetched at all. There may be both symbolic and
real power operating here and with the djed pillar representation. Yet
another layer of meaning could be electrical power symbolizing the temporal
power of the pharoah corresponding to yet another layer of spiritual or
occult power (especially considering that pharoahs were supposed to be
gods) in a multi-shelled representation of the law of correspondences.
Personally, I do believe that electro-magnetic energy is a physical
correspondence to an occult law of attraction with a possible transition
zone between the inner and outer planes as lying in the realm of quantum
mechanics or quantum electrodynamics. Wow, I hope that didn't sound like
mere babbling. :-)

>Are you or anyone else familiar with 'folk souls' (apparantly a real
>etheric form)?

This is the first time I've heard of the term. I'm intrigued! Could you
tell us more about them?

Do the 4 layers on the 'djed' mean anything to you in
>regards to this kind of power or even power like electricity?  Is there any
>significance to the number of layers to Eastern towers?  Incidently the
>word in Japanese for tower is 'to' and the hieroglyphic symbols seems to
>represent a similar phonetic value.  Sometimes two of these are shown in a
>row as if to make the word, 'toto' which I've seen mentioned in regards to
>Mantavaras.  (I knew I'd get back to Theosophy sooner or later) :-)

"To" or "Toto" is also intriguingly close to "totem" poles, also depicted
as towers. But I may be coming up with a mere coincidence here. :-) Off the
top of my head, I don't know of a specific correspondence between the
number four and anything dealing with electricity except as perhaps
alternating positive and negative plates within a battery. Every time I try
to think of this with respect to electricity, I keep coming up with pairs
of things, the number two. I have to think more about that one. :-)
However, I've understood the number four as representing a concretization
or externalization of some inner principle. Astrologically, it represents
the square aspect, a 90 degree angular relationship between planets. It is
one of the most powerful energies in a horoscope and is considered to be
quite challenging. (Having lived with a Moon squaring a Mars-Uranus
conjunction all my life, I agree.) The respective energies represented by
the planets involved in the square tend to insist on being made manifest on
the physical plane, however the nature of the dynamic tension existing
between the energies presents a considerable challenge to the individual
who has to wield them.

Perhaps the relationship between four, toto, and manvantaras has to do with
the cyclic "outbreathing" of Logos or the Absolute (or Whomever) and the
point at which all is brought into manifestion. I'm also considering the
idea that four is the midpoint of the number seven, which is so important
symbolically. So it seems to me to represent a fulcrum or pivotal point in
the grand cycle of things. You've brought up some fascinating food for
thought, Gisele! I love chatting with you!

Lynn

***********************************
Lynn Moncrief
(techndex@pacbell.net)
TECHindex & Docs
Technical and Scientific Indexing
***********************************