Blood of the Pure - Chapter Fourteen - The Hexagram

The Hexagram

- Solomon's Seal, Star of David -

The Hexagram is a six pointed star composed of two overlapping triangles. It’s a symbol used by a number of faiths and cultures. Apart from the cross and the swastika, the hexagram is one of the oldest and most Universal Spiritual Symbols.

It is also known as 'Solomon's Seal' and 'Star of David'.

It has been an important and universal mystical sign over the ages, representing the union of Fire and Water, of Male and Female. It is the Star of the Macrocosm (the Universe).

In India it’s called the Sri-Yantra and symbolises the complete interpenetration of the sexes, while in Tantric belief the triangles represent the Shiva (male) and Shakti (female) energies combining with form and matter.

Basically, the hexagram is connected with the mystery surrounding the Creation.

In Ritual Magick, the hexagram is called 'Seal of Solomon', and represents 'Divine Union'.

The inverted triangle symbolises the feminine aspect – Water – while the upright triangle is representative of the male aspect – Fire. The traditional elemental triangles of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire are derived from this Seal.

Additionally, the Hexagram is the symbol of the resurrected God, representing the number six (the Sephirah Tiphareth) on the Kabbalistic 'Tree of Life

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Thirteen - The Scythe

The Scythe

Medieval and Renaissance art made use of a number of emblems to symbolize death and mortality. Although a central theme of Christianity for hundreds of years was the triumph of life over death, the onset of the black plague altered public perception, and the emphasis was placed on the triumph of death over life and the necessity of repentance. Symbols of resurrection common in Christian art became less popular, as reminders of the impermanence of life and the punishments of hell became ubiquitous.

One of the most common symbols of mortality was the Grim Reaper and his Scythe, an icon appropriated from Greek and Roman Paganism. Slogans such as "remember death" and "all is vanity" were omnipresent - death was around the corner, and one had better repent if one was to avoid an eternity of damnation. The source of this symbol was, ironically, the paganism that Christianity had supposedly replaced.

In ancient times, the Scythe was an emblem of the God Saturn (Chronos to the Greeks), which represented the nature of the Cycles of Time. The Scythe symbolized not only impermanence (all things living will be cut down), but also the Nature of the Life Cycle- plants must die to feed animals, and the tool of the harvest depicts the necessity of death for the renewal of life. Death was then depicted as a natural part of the passage of time. 

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Twelve - Yin & Yang

Yin & Yang 

 - Yab Yam, Taiji -

The Yin Yang is the easily recognized Taoist symbol of the interplay of Forces in the Universe. In Chinese philosophy, this symbol represents 'how everything works', and depicts two great opposite forces unable to exist without each other, and upon whose continual interaction everything depends. Yin (black, the moon) is the female aspect. Being dark and negative, she represents the moon, water and the earth, while Yang (white, the sun) is male. He is the opposite, being light and positive, and represents the sun, fire and the heavens.

The outer circle represents everything (the Universe and everything within it) while the black and white shapes within the circle symbolize the interaction of the two energies, 'Yin' and 'Yang', which cause all things to happen in the Universe. While 'Yin' (female) is dark and passive, downward and cold, contracting and weak, 'Yang' (male) is bright and active, upward and hot, expanding and strong.

From the shape of the two sections of the symbol, continually revolving like a wheel spinning on its axle, one can gain a sense of the perpetual movement of these two energies. Yin changes to Yang while Yang changes to Yin, then back again, causing everything to happen during the process, such as waters freezing and melting, plants growing to produce their seeds before dying, metals expanding and contracting, night turning to day, Winter turning to Spring, then Summer, then Autumn and eventually back to Winter.

The Yin Yang symbol represent the idealized harmony of these forces; equilibrium in the Universe. In ancient Taoist texts, white and black represent enlightenment and ignorance, respectively. 

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Eleven - The Mark of the Beast

The Mark of the Beast

This symbol is the creation of the Ritual Magician Aleister Crowley. It seems to have functioned as his personal seal.

 It was named as a play on words relating to one of his magical names, To Mega Therion, (The Great Beast).

The central theme, a clear resemblance of the male genitália, is typical of Crowley, and completely intentional on his part.

The uppermost circle is the alchemical sigil (a seal / sign) of the sun, while the half circle immediately below represents the crescent moon.

Most probably, in its very simplest terms, the Mark of the Beast is a symbol denoting the masculine principal, which is usually paired with its feminine counterpart, the seven pointed Seal of Babalon. It is formed from three overlapping circles plus a half circle, the number of revolutions in the mark's associated ritual, and the number of coils in the Kundalini (She who is coiled - the female energy lying coiled at the base of the yogic body). 

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Ten - The Unicursal Hexagram

The Unicursal Hexagram

The unicursal hexagram is an hexagram or six-pointed star created for the purpose of drawing the figure in one continuous movement, unicursally, in the same way other magical polygons are drawn, like the pentagram for example. This is significant in ritual magick when invoking and banishing hexagrams must be made. It can also be depicted inside a circle with the points touching it.

In Thelema, developed by Aleister Crowley, the hexagram is usually depicted with a five-petalled flower in the centre which symbolizes a pentacle (and the divine feminine), the whole symbol summing eleven (five petals of the flower plus the six points of the hexagram), being 11 the number of divine union. The Symbol itself is the equivalent of the Egyptian Ankh or the Rosicrucian's Rosy Cross, representing the microcosmic forces (the pentacle / flower, as a symbol of the pentagram with the 5 elements, the tetragrammaton or YHVH), interweaved with the macrocosmic forces (the hexagram, representing the planetary or heavenly cosmic forces, the Divine).

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Nine - The Chalice

The Chalice

The Chalice has always been a symbol of all things involving healing, fertility, death or immortality.

In Christianity is seen as the symbol to the cup of the Last Supper, through which Jesus offered his blood or Spirit as a sacrifice for humanity’s benefit. Later it became an object of spiritual quest, in the form of the Holy Grail. Nowadays the ritual chalice used in the Catholic Mass is a ritualistic object where wine is symbolically transformed into the "blood" of thye God. This in turn is drawn from the older Hebrew tradition of the Kiddush ir Bride's Cup, which represents the presence of God during the Sabbath and at Passover.

In the Sufi tradition, the chalice symbolizes the vessel that contains.

Its esoteric symbol is associated with purification and transformation, life and healing, energy and manifestation. The chalice has the purpose “to keep life alive until the world is awake.” 

The Chalice is also used in Wiccan and Ritual Magick ceremonies, representing the element of water, receptivity, feminine energy, and form. It represents the Goddess of feminine principal in a number of rituals.

It is also related to the suite of cups in the Tarot deck, and the watery signs of the Zodiac.

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Eight - Dreamcatcher

Dream Catcher

 -Dream-net or Sacred Hoop -

The folk-charm we know today as the ubiquitous "dreamcatcher" was originally a very small charm, a tiny hoop, usually of willow-wood, filled in with an interlaced webbing of sinew or plant fibers to resemble a spider's web.

 The first dreamcatchers were crafted by the Ojibwa people (Chippewa) and were probably derived from or inspired by snowshoe designs.

Most dream catchers were used as protective charms for infants. The "spiderweb" would trap negative spirits that cause disease, nightmares, etc., and protect the child. The negativity caught in the web would be destroyed by the rising sun. According to most sources, the original dreamcatchers were made in honor of Asibikaasi, or Spider-woman, whose magical webs even had the power to trap the sun.

Over time, these charms were adapted by other bands, each of whom developed their own methods, materials, and origin stories.

There is some argument over whyat constitutes a 'genuine' dreamcatcher. The monster-sized, ornate leather wrapped dreamcatcher with large feather dangles, stones, and beads is largely a product of the modern resurgence of interest in native cultures that occurred in the sixties and seventies and do not represent any actual ancient traditions. Likewise, even though many modern tribes have adopted and modified the design, they are not traditional in the strict sense, and neither are many of the 'ancient legends' associated with them.

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Seven - The Eye of Horus

 Eye of Horus

Eye of Ra

(Udjat, Wedjat)

It represents the sun, and isassociated with the Sun God Ra (Re).

The mirror image, or left eye, represented the moon, and the God Tehuti (Thoth). (A very similar concept of the sun and moon as eyes appears in many religious traditions)

According to legend, the left eye was torn from Horus by his murderous brother Seth, and magically restored by Thoth, the God of magick. After the restoration, some stories state, Horus made a gift of the eye to Osiris, which allowed this solar deity to rule the underworld. The story of this injury is probably an allusion to the phases of the moon as the eye which is "torn out" every month.

Together, the eyes represent the whole of the universe, a concept similar to that of the Taoist Yin-yang symbol. Spiritually, the right eye reflects solar, masculine energy, as well as reason and mathematics. The left eye reflects fluid, feminine, lunar energy, and rules intuition and magick. Together, they represent the combined, transcendent power of Horus.

The Eye of Horus was believed to have healing and protective power, and it was used as a protective amulet, and as a medical measuring device, using the mathematical proportions of the eye to determine the proportions of ingredients in medical preparations) to prepare medications.

The Masonic all seeing eye, the Eye of Providence symbol found on American money, and modern Rx pharmaceutical symbol are all descended from the Eye of Horus.

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Six - Solar Cross

Solar Cross

(Odin's cross, Wheel of Taranis)

The solar cross is probably the most ancient spiritual symbol in the world, appearing in Asian, American, European, and Indian religious art from the dawn of history.

Composed of a equal armed cross within a circle, it represents the solar calendar- the movements of the sun, marked by the solstices. Sometimes the equinoxes are marked as well, giving an eight armed wheel. (The swastika is also a form of Solar cross, emphasizing movement.)

The cross in its most simplified form (shown above) is known in Northern Europe as Odin's cross, after the Chief God of the Norse pantheon. It is often used as an emblem by Asatruar, followers of the Norse religion. 

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Five - Hourglass

Hourglass

The hourglass is an emblem of time, although hidden within is the promise of life- because the hourglass is reversible, it holds within a promise of resurrection – as it is seen by the Freemasons and Rosicrucians who grasped its true ancient meaning.

Unlike most other methods of measuring time, the hourglass concretely represents the present as being between the past and the future, and this has made it an enduring symbol of time itself.

The hourglass, sometimes with the addition of metaphorical wings, is often depicted as a symbol that human existence is fleeting, and that the "sands of time" will run out for every human life. It was thus used on pirate flags, to strike fear into the hearts of the pirates' victims. In England, hourglasses were sometimes placed in coffins and they have graced gravestones for centuries. The hourglass was also used in alchemy as a symbol for hour.

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Four - Man in the Maze

Man in the Maze

This symbol is said to represent a person's journey through life. Although the design appears to be a maze, it is actually a unicursal figure with many twists and turns; these are said to represent choices made in life. The center is dark, as the journey is one from darkness to light.

It is also the symbol of Iʼitoi or Iʼithi, who is, in the cosmology of the O'odham peoples, the mischievous creator god who resides in a cave below the peak of Baboquivari Mountain, part of the Tohono O'odham Nation.

Visitors to the cave are asked to bring a gift to ensure their safe return from the depths. O'odham oral history tells that I'itoi brought the Hohokam people to this earth from the underworld. Hohokam are ancestors of both the Tohono O'odham and the Akimel O'odham (Pima people). He is also responsible for the gift of the Himdag, a series of commandments guiding people to remain in balance with the world and interact with it as intended.

Blood of the Pure - Preface

Blood of the Pure - Preface

Visit the Official Site!

.

Blood of the Pure - Synopsis

Blood of the Pure - Synopsis

Visit the Official Site!

.

Blood of the Pure - Chapter Three - Swastika

Swastika

The swastika is a type of solar cross, with arms bent at right angles, suggesting a whirling or turning motion.

The name Swastika is derived from the Sanskrit language, from "su," meaning "good," and "vasti"," meaning "being" (meaning well being). In India, it is used as a fertility and good luck charm.

The right turning Indian swastika symbolizes the sun and positive energy, and is most commonly associated with the deity Ganesh, a God of prosperity and wealth. Some Indians regard an anti-clockwise swastika as an opposing, dark force- a symbol of the godess Kali. Together, the two can be regarded as symbolically similar to the Yin-Yang symbol of Taoism, or the two Pillars of Kabbalah.

The swastika is also known for its uses in heraldry as the tetraskelion, the fylfot cross (fylfot meaning 'four feet,' a term used in european heraldry), the cross gammadion (because it resembles four greek letter 'gammas.'), and the hakenkreutz (German, hooked cross).

The swastika used in Buddhist art and scripture is known as a Manji, and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites. When facing left, it is the Omote (front) Manji, representing love and mercy. Facing right, it represents strength and intelligence, and is called the Ura (rear facing) Omoje. Balanced Manji are often found at the beginning and end of Buddhist scriptures.

In pre-Christian Pagan Europe, the swastika was generally a solar symbol, but in many cases, its use dates so far back in history that its original meaning is obscured. In Baltic regions, the swastika is sometimes called the "thunder cross," and is associated with the Thunder God Perkons (Perkunis).