I will be getting many of my interpretations from the books, The Illustrated Signs & Symbols Sourcebook: An a to Z Compendium of over 1000 Designs by Adele Nozedar (2008), (Hereafter ISS). or Mark O'Connell and Raje Airey'sThe Complete Encyclopedia of Signs & Symbols. 2007, (Hereafter CESS). Other internet sourced information will be linked to, or cited, for your own verification. Also- 1,001 Symbols: An Illustrated Guide to Imagery and its Meaning, by Jack Tresidder, Chronicle Books. 2003.(Hereafter 1,001S)
I'd like to briefly introduce the author of my main research source: "Adele Nozedar has long been fascinated by the power of symbols and visual signs, which led her to the formal study of alchemy. As well as being a researcher, Adele has exhibited photographic work and runs a studio in Wales." I was particularly interested in drawing references from her book because of her British cultural heritage and focus, which I find most important for trying to understand the worldview and cultural perspectives of the Beatles members.
I'm not suggesting, necessarily that the Beatles meant to infer the symbolic meanings of all these things (One can mention an apple without meaning anything about sexuality), but I do believe that at least John was very aware of imagery in art and the language of symbols through his education in the art academy, and his interests in authors like James Joyce and Lewis Carroll.
"In Nature's Temple, living pillars rise
Speaking sometimes in the words of abstruse sense
Man walks through woods of symbols, dark and dense,
Which Gaze at him with fond familiar eyes.
Like distant echoes blent in the beyond
In unity, in a deep darksome way,
Vast as black night and vast as splendid day,
Perfumes and sounds and colors correspond"
- Charles Baudelaire
(Wikipedia: "April 9, 1821 – August 31, 1867 Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the 19th century." Side Note: Looking into Charles Baudelaire leads to some fascinating insights, and "The Flowers of Evil" is a very worthwhile poetry collection to look into. Flowers play a prominent role in Beatles imagery, and his Poem "Le Soleil/The Sun" is an interesting poem to have in mind while looking into the Sun references made by the Beatles, both as a group and in several individuals' songs (Ou est le Soleil?)
"Whether consciously or unconsciously, the symbol carries the sense of joining things together to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts, as shades of meaning accrue to produce a complex idea."- Mark O'Connell and Raje Airey, The Complete Encyclopedia of Signs & Symbols. 2007.
***Please be aware that when I made the original posts- item by item, I included a number of illustrative videos, and none of them copied over to this document- so, you will note I refer to a video every so often- pease go find that subject in my blog posts to see the videos. I will fix this someday- but not now :) ***********************************************
 |
| "Illustrated Beatles Lyrics 2" Alan Aldridge |
In "The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics 2" Edited by Alan Aldridge, 1969 is a photo-collage of the Beatles, it looks like from their last photo session, where they are framed in front of could resemble the entrance to a mausoleum. The photo is framed in Acacia and Ginkgo Biloba leaves, and at Paul's feet are drawn-in, red strawberries and a wild rose. The photo is in black-and-white, except for the colored-in flora.
<Ginkgo> , <Rose>
"The acacia thrives in barren, desert climates, and is specimens have endured for thousands of years despite drought and famine. It provides shelter for both animals and people from the scorching heat of the Sun, and its leaves and seeds are edible. These characteristics make it a symbol of protection and resilience. The tree also has vicious thorns that conceal the secrets said to be hidden by the tree. [...]
 |
One
of the foremost symbols in freemasonry, a spring of acacia leaves is
laid on the coffin at the funerals of Freemasons in memory Hiram Abiff,
builder of king Solomon's Temple. Hiram's story of betrayal echoes that
of Christ and is one of the main tenets of freemasonry. Hiram had the
sprig of acacia laid on his grave as a si8gn not only of the death and
resurrection, but as a reminder that like the tree, Hiram refused to
divulge certain secrets. its evergreen leaf is a symbol of immortality
of the soul, and the acacia, as a symbol of incorruptibility,
signifies the purity of Hiram's soul.The Greek word for "innocence"-akakia- is the same as for the tree. For Freemasons, again, this is particularly apposite since Hiram was also innocent, preferring to die rather give out the password that could have given his assassins the status of Master Mason. The tree was also the symbol of the Goddess AL'Uzza who presides over birth and death, the changing seasons, the planets, and the stars." (ISS) See Ginko, Strawberry and Rose for further related images (posts forthcoming).
"Infamous as the fruit that Eve gave to Adam, a symbol of sexual awakening." (ISS)
"The apple is identified as the 'fruit of knowledge', whether of good and evil, as in the Garden of Eden, or of life, wisdom and immortality, as in the Greek myth of the golden apples of the Hesperides. The Celts saw the apple tree as the 'otherworld' tree, the doorway to the fairy world. Celtic kings and heroes such as King Arthur took refuge on the legendary Isle of Avalon, the 'apple orchard'.
"After the glory of the blossoms, come the fruit of the apple. Druids recognized the powerful transformative qualities experienced when consuming the apple. It was thought the fruit could transport the eater to other worlds, typically of a paradise-like ilk. Further altered states could be induced by pressing the apples and allowing them to ferment over time, thus producing a “hard cider.”
Apples were highly valued by the ancient Celts because of their ability to keep over a long period of time when stored in a cool dry place. This was symbolic of the presence of love, even long past the time of peak ripeness. In other words, when the waves of passion subside, love lingers even afterwards when simple companionship is the prime comfort.
Celts
recognized all of the features of the apple tree and viewed it as
pleasing in every way. It was even a symbol of creativity (as well as
creation) and was an emblem of art and poetry. The meaning of apple
trees is also associated with virtue, and the tree (as well as the
fruit) is a symbol of purity and motherhood." <Follow link for internet source> "Ethnobotanical and ethnomycological scholars such as R. Gordon Wasson, Carl Ruck and Clark Heinrich write that the mythological apple is a symbolic substitution for the entheogenic Amanita muscaria (or fly agaric) mushroom. Its association with knowledge is an allusion to the revelatory states described by some shamans and users of psychedelic mushrooms. At times artists would co-opt the apple, as well as other religious symbology, whether for ironic effect or as a stock element of symbolic vocabulary. Thus, secular art as well made use of the apple as symbol of love and sexuality. It is often an attribute associated with Venus who is shown holding it.[...]
"
Though the forbidden fruit in the Book of Genesis is not identified, popular Christian tradition holds that Adam and Eve ate an apple from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. This may have been the result of Renaissance painters adding elements of Greek mythology into biblical scenes. The unnamed fruit of Eden thus became an apple under the influence of the story of the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides. As a result, the apple became a symbol for knowledge, immortality, temptation, the fall of man and sin." <Follow this link to internet source>
"The apple has long been associated with immortality, as exemplified by its role in the tempting of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The mystical Isle of Avalon, famed place of eternal rest for Celtic heroes including King Arthur, is literally "the apple land" or "apple island." In Scandinavian legends, the North-European gods and goddesses were fed an apple every evening by Iduna, the goddess of spring and youth who nurtures an apple orchard in Asgard." <Follow link to internet source>  |
| Robert Fraser gave Paul McCartney this painting by Rene Magritte. It was one of Magrittes last paintings; he died in 1967. Paul was introduced to Magritte by Fraser in 1966. |
Beetle (Scarab): This reference is fairly
logical to the Beatles, sharing a homonym'd name. Also there is strong
association with the scarab beetle, specifically with Beatle Paul taking
on a new band, Wings...a Beatle with Wings= Scarab.
"The dung or scarab beetle symbolized new life and resurrection. It was called the dung beetle because of its practice of rolling a ball of dung in which it has laid its eggs. This was thought to symbolize the journey of the sun making its way through the sky. The beetles emerging from the mud were associated with life emerging from the primeval mound, and symbolized spontaneous creation." (CESS)
"The Egyptians made a distinction between the “old” scarab, who sinks into the ground, and the “young” scarab, who rises up to the sky with, or rather as, the sun. Osiris, king/god of the dead, was identified to the “old” scarab. His son Horus, the falcon god, was identified primarily with the midday sun, whereas Khepri remained associated with the morning sun. However, according to a Pyramid Text inscribed on the inside walls of the royal pyramids in the 5th and 6th dynasties (ca. 2465-2150 B.C.), the two animals were sometimes combined to produce the surprising hybrid of a scarab body, with falcon wings, legs, and tail:
I fly up as a bird and alight as a beetle on the empty throne which is on your bark, O Re!
From
this time on, the scarab became the most powerful symbol of the victory
life wins over death. The “Funeral Books” of the New Kingdom
consecrates this role. An excerpt of the most important of them, the
“Book of What is in the Underworld”, or Amduat, is painted on the wall
of Tutankhamun’s tomb, behind the pharaoh’s head (above right). It shows
the ark of the sun sailing on nocturnal waters. The sun is represented
as a beetle, a promise of his next morning rebirth, as well as of the
young pharaoh’s resurrection.[...]
[Also-] Ptah
was a god of Memphis, the old capital where the pharaohs were crowned.
He was originally a god of the earth: ta was the Egyptian word for
“earth.” Ptah was also a divine craftsman. These two characters enabled
him to be attributed with the modeling of man and woman from clay, as
the scarab was a modeler of dung. The scarab hieroglyph, in addition to
kheper and neter, could also be read ta “earth” or “Ptah.” In the
Egyptian late period, Ptah was often represented as the older Khepri,
wearing on his head the scarab who wrote his name. Hence, the scarab was
another representation of Ptah, as was Ptah confused with Osiris- god
of the dead during that epoch.
In the same late period, the capital was again settled at Memphis and Ptah regained his ancient preeminence over Amun from Thebes.The goddess of Sais (a city close to Memphis), named Neith, was a very old, half-forgotten deity, who also regained importance and was associated with Ptah. In earliest Egyptian period, her symbolic animal was a beetle, probably the Elaterid, Lanelater notodonta. Afterward, this particular beetle was forgotten and confused with the scarab, who was considered male. Therefore, the beetle was no longer an appropriate symbol for a goddess, and was replaced by the vulture, since, for obscure reasons, vultures were all reputed to be female.
[Also]-
In Germany, where scarab worship, in the form of the stag beetle, has
persisted longest, the equation scarab = Christ was widely accepted. The
quintessential German artist, Albrecht Dürer, associated the stag
beetle with Christ in various paintings, and produced a famous
watercolor of the insect. "<Follow this link to the source and continue reading this really informative article>
"Many
people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? Ugh, Beatles, how did the
name arrive? So we will tell you. It came in a vision--a man appeared in
a flaming pie and said unto them "From this day on you are Beatles with
an A." "Thank you, Mister Man," they said, thanking him."
| On the back cover of Paul McCartney's Ram album |
"The dung or scarab beetle symbolized new life and resurrection. It was called the dung beetle because of its practice of rolling a ball of dung in which it has laid its eggs. This was thought to symbolize the journey of the sun making its way through the sky. The beetles emerging from the mud were associated with life emerging from the primeval mound, and symbolized spontaneous creation." (CESS)
"The Egyptians made a distinction between the “old” scarab, who sinks into the ground, and the “young” scarab, who rises up to the sky with, or rather as, the sun. Osiris, king/god of the dead, was identified to the “old” scarab. His son Horus, the falcon god, was identified primarily with the midday sun, whereas Khepri remained associated with the morning sun. However, according to a Pyramid Text inscribed on the inside walls of the royal pyramids in the 5th and 6th dynasties (ca. 2465-2150 B.C.), the two animals were sometimes combined to produce the surprising hybrid of a scarab body, with falcon wings, legs, and tail:
I fly up as a bird and alight as a beetle on the empty throne which is on your bark, O Re!
From
this time on, the scarab became the most powerful symbol of the victory
life wins over death. The “Funeral Books” of the New Kingdom
consecrates this role. An excerpt of the most important of them, the
“Book of What is in the Underworld”, or Amduat, is painted on the wall
of Tutankhamun’s tomb, behind the pharaoh’s head (above right). It shows
the ark of the sun sailing on nocturnal waters. The sun is represented
as a beetle, a promise of his next morning rebirth, as well as of the
young pharaoh’s resurrection.[...]In the same late period, the capital was again settled at Memphis and Ptah regained his ancient preeminence over Amun from Thebes.The goddess of Sais (a city close to Memphis), named Neith, was a very old, half-forgotten deity, who also regained importance and was associated with Ptah. In earliest Egyptian period, her symbolic animal was a beetle, probably the Elaterid, Lanelater notodonta. Afterward, this particular beetle was forgotten and confused with the scarab, who was considered male. Therefore, the beetle was no longer an appropriate symbol for a goddess, and was replaced by the vulture, since, for obscure reasons, vultures were all reputed to be female.
"Initiates
of the Egyptian Mysteries were sometimes called scarabs. The scarab was
the emissary of the sun, symbolizing light, truth, and regeneration." <Another excellent source link to follow>
-John Lennon
Birds: Birds
are a frequent image in Beatles' lyrics, with songs like, "Black Bird",
"Blue Jay Way", "And Your Bird Can Sing", Paul's, "Jenny Wren", "Birds
of Paradise", and "This One", which sounds like "This Swan" and features
lyrics and imagery about swans. As well, Ringo recorded, "Bye-Bye
Blackbird", Paul recorded, "Cold Turkey", and their post-mortem (John's
at least) swansong, "Free as a Bird". As well, the Magical Mystery Tour
features a green bird (parrot?) as one of the 4 "mystery animals".
"[Birds'] primary symbolic function is as messengers from the spiritual realms, from the gods. Arguably, the generic symbolism of the bird is one of the most universal of any." (ISS)
Blackbird: Obviously, "Black Bird singing in the dead of night, take the broken wings and learn to fly...take these sunken eyes to see....".
"Birds
robed in black do not give up their secrets easily. They love to watch
us marvel over their messages. Black birds demand our commitment to
learning their wisdom, and do not reveal their meanings unless they are
convinced we've devoted ourselves completely to the path of
understanding (both dark and light sides of) energy.
This concept correlates to lunar themes too. The symbolic meaning of blackbirds is eternally linked to the "dark vs light" phases of the moon. I'm talking nocturnal awareness. Illumined lunar understanding which requires a different use of the senses. Sense which can only be utilized when transformative devotion is made. A commitment to higher knowing (flight) and an acceptance of the void (infinite vastness that eludes the ego and rational mind).
This is a fundamental concept of alchemy which is: Transition and Transformation. The bird is symbolic of life in the heavens (higher ideals, higher path of knowing) and the color black is symbolic of pure potential. Between the two, there is no limit to human transformation - all we have to do is close the shutters of the rational mind, and start sojourning with our darkly feathered friends.
Black birds (in general) are archetypes of living life in higher realms, and are symbolic of: Higher Intelligence, Higher Thought, Higher Ideals.
This is because birds are (metaphorically and mythologically speaking), situated in proximity to the higher energies of the Universe. This also positions them as heavenly or divine oracles and messengers in cultural myths across the globe.
Blackbirds and birds of black or dark colors are special among their airy clan as they are the symbolic of:: Mystery, Magic, Secrets, The Unknown Pure Potential, Non-obvious Perception"<follow link to internet source>
Dawn: The Arising of the Sun after the darkest hour of the night is a common theme with the Beatles with: Here Comes The Sun, (Here Come the) Sun King, Good Day Sunshine; and George's Rising Sun.
"The
joyful, optimistic start to a new day, the Greeks personified the dawn
as Eos, who, regular as clockwork, opens the gates of Heaven every
morning with her rosy fingers for the Sun God, Helios, to ride through.
Dawn symbolizes the triumph of light over dark and, consequently, of
good over evil. WE say that 'the darkest hour comes before dawn,'
meaning that things are often at their most difficult when the end is in
sight." (ISS)
"[In regards to the Rose Cross from Freemasonry] ' The ROSE, was anciently sacred to Aurora and
the Sun. It is a symbol of Dawn, of the resurrection of Light and the
renewal of life, and therefore of the dawn of the first day, and more
particularly of the resurrection: and the Cross and Rose together are
therefore hieroglyphically to be read, the Dawn of Eternal Life which
all Nations have hoped for by the advent of a Redeemer.' Albert Pike
1871" <Source here>
"Seval is the noble red rooster who heralds each dawn, calling all to awake and arise. He is a symbol of the imminence of spiritual unfoldment and wisdom. As a fighting cock, he crows from Lord Skanda's battle flag."<Follow like to source site>
This calls to mind the sound of the Rooster at the beginning of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise; and if you follow the link about the Goddess Aurora you will learn, "Wanting to be with her lover for all eternity, Aurora asked Jupiter to grant immortality to Tithonus. Jupiter granted her wish, but she failed to ask for eternal youth to accompany his immortality, and he became forever old. Aurora turned him into a grasshopper". Grasshoppers can be heard at the beginning of Sun King. Lovely! All linked together from learning about Dawn!
"Rising Sun" by George Harrison.
From original poster: "Track from the album Brainwashed released in 2002 shortly after George's passing. Jeff Lynne produced and polished up George's basic track along with George's son Dhani! I added rare pics of George, shots taken just before he died."
Eggs (Eggmen):"I am the Eggman, they are the Eggmen, Goo Goo G'Joob!"
"The egg is as powerful in its symbolism as it is potent as a life-force. The World Egg is a ubiquitous symbol for the egg from which the Universe is said to have hatched, an idea that appears in creation myths from all parts of the world. The Celts, Hindus, Egyptians, Greeks and Phoenicians and many more agree about this idea.
The form this cosmic hatching takes is variable though. Often the egg risen from primeval waters and is incubated by a bird; in Hindu belief, this is the Hamsa, a goose [(See link after "swan" entry)]. When the egg hatches, the yolk and the white become heaven and earth.[...]
The egg is a symbol of new life, and this idea is borne out with chocolate eggs at Easter, which in itself is a celebration of the pre-Christian fertility goddess, Eostre, who also gives her name to the hormone estrogen. The subsequent celebration of Christ's death and resurrection meant that the egg kept its significance as a symbol of immortality and rebirth.
In alchemy, the Philosopher's Egg symbolizes the seed of spiritual life, and depicts the place wherein a great transformation takes place. " (ISS)
"To ancients in all lands, the egg was the symbol of generation and immortality. In Scandinavia and Russia clay eggs were put in tombs to ensure life after death. A similar idea was signified in ancient Egypt by the winged egg floating above the mummy, carrying the soul to another birth. The Chinese believed that the first archetypal man sprang from an egg dropped by Tien, a great bird. The alchemists spoke of the philosophical egg which combined all the elements of life, the container of thought and matter. The Greeks thought of the egg as the seven-fold vault of space, a symbol originally compounded in the dual septenary planes of the Cosmic Egg of Hindu tradition.
Reverence for the egg is evoked by its form as well as by its mystery. Its elliptical form describes the movement of heavenly bodies and of the earth itself. It describes the sphere of light that surrounds all living things. It is in the oviform that the potency of spirit in matter manifests. The Katakopanisad teaches that in the Spiritual Egg, Purusha or Divine Spirit stands before primordial matter and from their union springs the great Soul of the World." <Read more at Sources site>
And then there's "Humpty Dumpty", the great Eggman, and his famous last words, "Goo Goo g'Joob"; which are a little less clearly sourced then many folks believe it to be, most likely from Finnegan's Wake, "GooGoo Goosth", but attributed by the Beatles-fans as being the last thing he says after falling off the wall, "He was an Egg, afterall".
Ginkgo Biloba: The ginkgo leaves are shown above the heads of the Beatles in a photo-collage in the "Beatles Illustrated Lyrics", along with Strawberries, Roses and Acacia Leaves
"The ginkgo, native to China, figures prominently in Asian art as well as the Art Nouveau movement of the late nineteenth century, two fields of interest for the Smithsonian’s Sackler and Freer galleries. Ancient Chinese artists often depicted the Buddha’s Dragon Tree as a ginkgo. Chinese monks brought the ginkgo to Japan, where it was widely planted in temple gardens. In Japanese decorative art, the ginkgo’s distinctive fan-shaped leaf has carried symbolism along with its singular beauty: the ginkgo has been a symbol of longevity (the tree can live for a thousand years) and of a more profound endurance (four ginkgos survived the blast at Hiroshima and are still growing today)." <Source>
"Immortality is also symbolized in China by the Ginkgo, believed to be the oldest of all tree species to have survived unchanged. It was also grown around temples for this reason." (1,001S)
"The
ginkgo biloba, or Maidenhair tree, has been known to live for 2,000
years. In the East, it is considered a symbol of longevity,
hope, resilience and peace. The tree's delicate fan-shaped leaves have
been prized for their beauty, copied by artists and heralded in
literature." <Source>
"Ginkgo is believed to have nootropic properties, and is mainly used as memory and concentration enhancer, and antivertigo agent." <Source>
Hand: Hands are a common "clue" for "Paul is Dead" theorists. There are a number of pictures with a hand above his head, which has led to speculation as to what this might mean. Also, Paul's "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" song features a second half singing about, "Hands across the water, Hands across the sky".
"Word origins frequently give clues as to the nature of objects and ideas. The Latin word for hand is manus, which carried the same root as the word, among others, "manifestation"; a clear indication that to be "manifest" is to be held in the hand or created by the hand. [...] In the Kabbalah, the left hand of God signifies justice, and his right hand, mercy. Blessings and benedictions are given with the right hand.[...]
This right-left symbolism of the hand occurs several times. The right hand is associated with cleanliness and the left, with dirt, and in some countries to offer someone your left hand is an insult.
Hands, as an
extension of the will and of the intention, carry a great power. In the
practice of "Laying on of Hands," they are used as agents of healing
energies." (ISS)
" Definition of HAND OVER HEAD (archaic) : without heed of what one is really doing : rashly, recklessly" <Source>
"The laying on of hands is a religious ritual that accompanies certain religious practices, which are found throughout the world in varying forms.[...]
In Christian churches, this practice is used as both a symbolic and formal method of invoking the Holy Spirit primarily during baptisms and confirmations, healing services, blessings, and ordination of priests, ministers, elders, deacons, and other church officers, along with a variety of other church sacraments and holy ceremonies.[...]
Aaron and the High Priests who succeeded him symbolically transferred the sins of the Children of Israel to a sacrificial goat by the laying on of hands: Leviticus16:21.[...]
The
laying on of hands, known as "the Royal Touch" or "the Divine Touch,"
was performed by kings in England and France, and was believed to cure
scrofula
(also called "King's Evil" at the time), a name given to a number of
skin diseases. The rite of the king's touch began in France with Robert
II the Pious, but legend later attributed the practice to Clovis as
Merovingian founder of the Holy Roman kingdom, and Edward the Confessor
in England. The belief continued to be common throughout the Middle Ages
but began to die out with the Enlightenment. Queen Anne was the last
British monarch to claim to possess this divine ability, though the
Jacobite pretenders also claimed to do so. The French monarchy continued
to believe and perform the act up until the French Revolution. The act
was usually performed at large ceremonies, often at Easter or other holy
days." <Source>
Also, I'm not going to go into hand
signs and signals in this post, but before people go running around
screaming about how the Beatles were making signs of the devil and 666
and whatnot in some of their photos, please do a little research on the
Yogic Mudras, which are various hand formations, "When used in Yogic
practices, Mudras not only help to focus the mind on abstract ideas and
the intention behind the pose [...]." (ISS)
Honey: Songs include A Taste of Honey, Honey Don't, Honey Pie, Wild Honey Pie ALSO- Paul McCartney's Honey Hush, John Lennon's Album Milk and Honey, lyrics from his song, One Day (At a Time) {Cause you're the honey and I'm the bee}, Clean Up Time {Making bread and honey}, George Harrison's song, She's My Baby {She pours herself a drink. Says, "honey, honey, honey ain't no time to think"}, and Ringo Starr's song You Belong to Me {"oh, i will, honey"}- which I think is a hilarious rejoinder to, "Honey Don't.
"Legislation requires that all packaged food carry a "best before" date, but this seems to be particularly unnecessary in the case of honey, since jars of the stuff found in the tombs of Egyptian kings from several thousand years ago have proved to e perfectly edible even now. It could well be because honey is so long lasting, and because it is used as a preservative, that it is a symbol of immortality and used in funeral rites. [...]
The sweetness of honey is believed to confer gifts of learning and poetry. We'll never know if the story that Pythagoras existed on honey alone is true, but the fact that the rumor exists is in accord with his God-like status. [...]
Honey is said to be an aphrodisiac and to encourage fertility and virility, wealth and abundance, and is a symbol of the Sun, partly because of the flowers from which its made but also because of its color." (ISS)
"
A basic foodstuff, but which can also be a drink - like milk with which
it is often associated -, honey is a symbol of richness and sweetness
in all traditions. In the sacred texts of East and West, milk and honey
flow like a stream through the promised land. The Celtic traditions
celebrate mead as an immortal beverage. In Greek mythology, in which
honey is the drink of the gods of Olympus, it is the symbol of
knowledge, learning and wisdom , it is a food reserved for the elect,
the initiated, and to exceptional people in this world and the next.
Greek tradition claims that Pythagoras ate nothing but honey throughout
his entire life.
All the great prophets refer to honey in the Scriptures. Speech is honey, it represents softness, justice, virtue and divine goodness. The Koran uses holy terms to talk of bees and honey :"Honey is the first blessing that God gave the earth". Virgil calls honey the celestial gift of the dew, dew itself being a symbol of initiation. Honey even designates supreme bliss and the state of Nirvana. Symbol of all sweetness, the honey of knowledge creates the happiness of mankind.
The perfection of honey makes it a major element in many religions rituals. For the Egyptians, honey was the tears of the god Râ and was a part of all the religious offerings in pharaonic Egypt. In Islam, according to the Prophet, it restores sight, preserves health and resuscitates the dead. For the American Indians, it plays a great part in ceremonies and the rites of initiation and purification. A source of inspiration, honey gave Pindar the gift of poetry and Pythagoras the gift of science.
In modern psychoanalytical thinking, honey symbolizes the "higher self" , the ultimate consequence of work on one's inner self. As the result of the transmutation of ephemeral pollen into a delicious food of immortality, honey symbolizes the transformation by initiation, the conversion of the soul, and the complete integration of the person." <Source>
"Bees were called by the Greeks and Romans the Birds of the Muses. The golden bees were supposed to have gathered honey for the poets on thyme-covered Mount Hymettus to sweeten their verses.[...]
Hindu poetry is literally drenched in honey. Madhukara (honeyborn) had three meanings: bee, lover and moon. There are many romantic Hindu tales associated with honey. [...]
In
Hindu mythology all delightful endowments were symbolized by honey.
When mem-sahib (woman) was forged by Twasktrie, the Hindu Vulcan, he
mixed a little honey in the raw material.[...] According
to the Greek and Roman literature, honey possessed the magic power to
confer the genius of poetry and eloquence; in Hindu mythology, even
wisdom." <Source>
Hippo: Mainly seen on the Cover of the Magical Mystery Tour, and in the movie, itself. It's a source of great mystery as to who was in the walrus costume, and who was in the other costumes, as covered by another blogger at Wizards, Buses and the Physiodelic Church. There is a ton of speculation around what the Walrus symbolizes, and that leads to wondering what the other animals symbolize, as well (See by post on Birds to learn more about the Parrot, and the up-coming posts about the Hare and Walrus).
""The Hippo has had a very bad press when it comes to its symbolic significance.
It was generally believed that the creature generally preferred to mate with its own mother, while the Egyptians gave one of their evil deities, Typhon, the head of a hippopotamus. Generally, the animal is felt to be a cowardly and irreligious character." (ISS)
""The hippopotamus symbolizes brute animal strength in the Book of Job, where it appears under the name of Behemoth, a land creature corresponding to the Leviathan of the deeps. Both appear as awesome symbols of forces that illustrate the puny strength of humankind and its need for divine help.
In reverse symbolism, the Egyptian hippopotamus goddess Tawaret is depicted as an emblem of protective strength." (1,001S)
"A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo and was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young. The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults." <Source>
"The
Hippos wisdom includes power, emotional depth, creation, imagination,
healing, proper use of aggression, ability to move gracefully through
emotions, protection of family, mother-fury when needed, birth of new
ideas, lucid dreaming, spirit contact.
The hippopotamus is sacred in both Egyptian and African traditions. Its name means ‘Water Horse’, and it spends nearly all day in the water, and when not in water obviously on land. This is the ancient realm of birth, power, creation, imagination, and healing." <Source>
"The
Hippopotamus symbolizes both fertility and destruction.[...] Pregnant
Egyptian women depended on the hybrid, but largely hippopotamus goddess
Taweret for protection and Amenti, "the bringer forth of waters" was one
of the several Egyptian aspects of The Great Goddess. The male hippo,
by contrast, because it frequently did damage to crops was a
manifestation of inimical forces in the world and was linked to the evil
Seth." <Source>
Horse (Dark Horse / Pony): (Also see entry for Night) Images relating to horses come from the Beatles song, I Dig a Pony, George Harrison's song and Album, Dark Horse, and the scene in "Penny Lane" where the Beatles ride horses around Liverpool.
"[...] The horse belongs to the Sun and the element of fire. Horses proudly draw the chariot of the Sun God. At the same time the horse also belongs to the moon and the element of water, since it carried on its back the God of Oceans, too. [...] In Greece there is a sacred well, called Hippocrene (the Horse's Well), which is shaped like a horseshoe and is dedicated to the muses. Pegasus, the Winged horse, was said to have created this particular sacred well.
The horse symbolizes life and death, darkness and light, good and evil, depending on the context in which it is seen. As well as being a bringer of life, it is also a psychopomp, a creature that guides dead souls on the journey to the next life. As well as having spiritual significance, like the dog with which it shares many characteristics, their horse is valuable in purely practical terms, too. It represents power and wealth, since having a horse- or many horses- confers superiority on the owner, not only in terms of monetary value but in the distances he is able to cover and the speeds at which he can travel. This leads to another aspect of the horse- it is a symbol of freedom. Despite the fact that it can be trained the horse is not inferior to man bit is his equal.
The color of a horse, too carries great significance. Where a white horse appears, it is a symbol of virginal, the spiritual, and the godly. The Buddha, for example, chose to ride a white horse. The Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, is depicted on a white palfrey. The black horse, conversely often symbolizes death and the dark forces. A golden horse is emblematic of the sun and solar deities.
[...] A mare generally leads herds of horses, and the Horse Goddesses include Epona, the mother-Goddess of the ancient Britons, and Rhiannon. The sacred status of horses meant that the sacrifice of such creatures was a rare and profound event, and even today, there is repugnance among many people at the thought of eating horseflesh; not eating an animal is a sure sign that it is regarded as sacred." (ISS)
"All of these heady aspects of valor were associated with the Horse in Celt animal symbolism. In fact, so much so, the Celts hailed the Horse as the beast belonging to the sun god, and assigned it a place with the goddess Epona (see Celtic Gods & Goddesses for more information on Epona).[...]
In Hindu Brihadaranyaka, the Horse is linked to Varuna and as such, is equated to the cosmos. Additionally, a white horse is believed to be the last incarnation of Vishnu.
Buddha is said to have left this physical plane riding a white horse. Also in Buddhism a winged horse is often depicted carrying the Book of Law.[...]
Black Horse: Mystery, death, night, secret, messenger of esoteric knowledge
White Horse: Light, sun, day, vitality, illumination, resurrection, messenger of birth" <Source>
Lily: Paul has alluded to "L.I.L.Y." on his Ram album (which means Linda I Love You),
by placing a "lily" sign next to him during an interview, and insisting
on having Lily plants in his dressing room. Stella McCartney just
released a perfume called L.I.L.Y.. I'm also positive I remember seeing a
lily by a head stone in either "Free as a Bird" or "Yellow Submarine", ...but I can't find the image at the moment.
"along with the rose and the lotus, the lily comprises a sacred trinity of the most important flower symbols in the world.
[...]The
Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary carrying a lily, and he flower has
always been associated with the Virgin. However, the shape of the lily's
petals ad its phallic-looking pistils, standing erect from the center
of the flower, means that the flower is a symbol of sexuality and
reproduction.[...]
The lily is a symbol of the Goddess, in whatever form she may take, and the Babylonian Goddess Lilith- reputedly the first wife of Adam- who was later demonized by the Christian church, takes her name from the name of the lily or the Lilu (Lotus). The flower is also sacred to Astarte, whose name in parts of Europe is Eostre, which gives us the word, "Easter"; hence the lilies which have become a symbol of a much older association. [...]
The lily- particularly the calla lily- is also a symbol of resurrection, which is why it is used at funeral and sometimes appears on gravestones." (ISS)
"The flower most commonly associated with funeral services in the popular mind is the lily. Lilies are often interpreted as a symbol of the innocence that has been restored to the soul of the departed. A white stargazer lily symbolizes sympathy and any type of white lily expresses majesty and purity." <Source>}
Lotus: The Lotus comes up in various Beatles images, especially associated with the Maharashi. Also- Tara Brown's car was a Lotus Elan.
"Both the otherworldly appearance of the [lotus] flower and its growing circumstances make it obvious that the flower is somehow very special indeed. It's therefore no surprise that the flower is one of eight auspicious symbols in both Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist iconography.
This
sensuous and extraordinary flower, with its perfect petals, rises
imperiously from muddy swamps, its head above the dirty water. The
symbolism applied by generations of Egyptian, Indian and Chinese sages
is obvious. First, the flower arises in complete perfection from the
murky primal waters of creation. Next, the flower comes from the
darkness into the light, woken by the sun; third, the lotus symbolizes
the triumph of spirit over matter and is a metaphor for the journey to
enlightenment.
Because the lotus retreats back into the water during the hours of darkness only to rise again above the surface of the water at dawn, the Egyptians saw it as a symbol of death and rebirth.
[...] Lotus has 8 petals, symbolizing the four cardinal directions and the four inter-cardinal directions, as well as the rulers of the eight directions of the universe, or Ashtadikpalas. [...]
In Hindu iconography, the lotus is seen as the base of the earth from which the holy mountains (such as Kailash and Meru) rise. The stalk of the flower is associated with the world axis which rises up through this sacred mountain." (ISS)
Marigold: "The King of Marigold was in the kitchen / Cooking breakfast for the Queen / The Queen was in the parlor / Playing piano for the children of the King."
" The marigold -- genus Tagetes
-- is a popular traditional Indian wedding flower, with its bright
orange-gold color and ability to stay fresh once cut. Celebrants make
them into garlands and use them to decorate religious sites. Marigolds
also appear at funerals. First discovered in Central America by the
Portuguese in the 16th century, marigolds quickly became popular in
India because the flower's color represented honorable people." <Source>
"Marigolds are known as the "Herb of the Sun" and are symbolic of passion and creativity. The Welsh believed that if marigolds were not open early in the morning, then a storm was on the way. Marigolds have been used as love charms and incorporated into wedding garlands. Water made from marigolds was thought to induce psychic visions of fairies if rubbed on the eyelids. In some cultures, marigold flowers have been added to pillows to encourage prophetic or psychic dreams.
The marigold is also associated with
the lion and the astrological sign Leo. Early Christians named the
flower "Mary's Gold" and offered the blossoms in place of money at the
foot of her statues. The Portuguese introduced marigolds into India.
Eventually the flower was offered to the Hindu gods Vishnu and Lakshmi.
The marigold is also considered to be sacred among the Aztec Indians,
who decorate their temples with the flower.
The marigold was once
thought to protect against the plague and to be effective in stopping
gossip. Interestingly, the marigold can symbolize cruelty and jealousy.
When used in combination with spells, however, the marigold is an
anti-dote for the sharp-tongued and promotes cheery conversations." <Source>
Meat: Most
immediately the meat reference to the Beatles that comes to mind for
many are the images of the "Butcher Cover" of the Yesterday and Today
album. It is interesting to also note John Lennon's song, Beef Jerky and
George Harrison's song, Thanks for the Pepperoni. In their personal
lives, it's also interesting to note that John and Yoko went into the
cattle-rearing business; Yoko is still a major player in the meat
industry, today. Paul McCartney has almost become synonymous with
vegan-ism; his wife created a vegan frozen foods line, and Paul has been
promoting "Meatless Monday" for years. George and Ringo are also
vegetarians.
My statement on the meaning of meat: meat denotes sacrifice:
In some manner, when you are seeing or thinking about meat, you are
observing sacrifice. Meat is the result of lost life. Meat comes about
through the process of living, and then dying- whether it be from
intentional sacrifice (like the Druidic "Year King" or a sacrificed
lamb), or through homicide, accident or slaughtering for the
transference of the energy from one life to provide energy for the
consuming life. Meat is also associated with sexuality through the Latin
root "Carne" meaning "flesh" which arises in words like carnivore and
carnal. Because of the specific meaning of meat, as opposed to corpse,
as being the transferring of the protein energies collected in one
lifetime to feed and provide protein energies to another, living, life
and therefore sustaining that life; it also indicates rebirth,
reincarnation (there's carne again), or the passing on of life to the
next one.
Other interesting information about meat:
Dionysis and the Maenads from the Dionysian mystery Religions: "Dionysus [...] was the god of the grape harvest, wine making and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. [...] He is a god of epiphany, "the god that comes," and his "foreignness" as an arriving outsider-god may be inherent and essential to his cults. [...] He is an example of a dying god .
The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a mature male, bearded and robed. He holds a fennel staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known as a thyrsus. Later images show him as a beardless, sensuous, naked or half-naked androgynous youth: the literature describes him as womanly or "man-womanish."[...] His procession (thiasus) is made up of wild female followers (maenads) and bearded satyrs with erect penises. Some are armed with the thyrsus, some dance or play music.[...] This procession is presumed to be the cult model for the human followers of his Dionysian Mysteries. In his Thracian mysteries, he wears the bassaris or fox-skin, symbolizing a new life. Dionysus is represented by city religions as the protector of those who do not belong to conventional society and thus symbolizes everything which is chaotic, dangerous and unexpected, everything which escapes human reason and which can only be attributed to the unforeseeable action of the gods.
He was also known as Bacchus[...], the name adopted by the Romans and the frenzy he induces, bakkheia. His thyrsus is sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey. It is a beneficent wand but also a weapon, and can be used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. He is also the Liberator (Eleutherios), whose wine, music and ecstatic dance frees his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subverts the oppressive restraints of the powerful. Those who partake of his mysteries are possessed and empowered by the god himself. His cult is also a "cult of the souls"; his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings, and he acts as a divine communicant between the living and the dead.[...]
The
rebirth in both versions of the story is the primary reason why
Dionysus was worshipped in mystery religions, as his death and rebirth
were events of mystical reverence. This narrative was apparently used in
several Greek and Roman cults, and variants of it are found in
Callimachus and Nonnus, who refer to this Dionysus with the title
Zagreus, and also in several fragmentary poems attributed to Orpheus.
Initiates worshipped him in the Dionysian Mysteries, which were comparable to and linked with the Orphic Mysteries, and may have influenced Gnosticism. Orpheus was said to have invented the Mysteries of Dionysus. " <Source>
Maenads:
"In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus
(Bacchus in the Roman pantheon), the most significant members of the
Thiasus,
the god's retinue. Maenads travel alone usually through locations,
seeking tribute to her god, Dionysus. If tribute is not given, she will
leave the location in utter chaos by leaving all inhabitants under their
influence which consists of uncontrolled sexual behavior, loss of
senses and complete intoxication.[...]
Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by him into a state of ecstatic frenzy, through a combination of dancing and drunken intoxication. In this state, they have complete control over the human species where they would make them lose all self-control, begin shouting excitedly, engage in uncontrolled sexual behavior, and ritualistically hunt down and tear to pieces animals—and, at least in myth, sometimes men and children—devouring the raw flesh or heart.[...]
Cultic rites associated with worship of the Greek god of wine, Dionysus
(or Bacchus in Roman mythology), were allegedly characterized by
maniacal dancing to the sound of loud music and crashing cymbals, in
which the revellers, called Bacchantes,
whirled, screamed, became drunk and incited one another to greater and
greater ecstasy. The goal was to achieve a state of enthusiasm in which
the celebrants’ souls were temporarily freed from their earthly bodies
and were able to commune with Bacchus/Dionysus and gain a glimpse of and
a preparation for what they would someday experience in eternity. The
rite climaxed in a performance of frenzied feats of strength and
madness, such as uprooting trees, tearing a bull (the symbol of
Dionysus) apart with their bare hands, an act called sparagmos, and eating its flesh raw, an act called omophagia.
This latter rite was a sacrament akin to communion in which the
participants assumed the strength and character of the god by
symbolically eating the raw flesh and drinking the blood of his symbolic
incarnation. Having symbolically eaten his body and drunk his blood,
the celebrants became possessed by Dionysus." <Source>
Orpheus: "Son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope, Orpheus was a wonderful musician from Thrace who was married to the beautiful Eurydice. He played the lyre and sang so well that the wild animals were tamed and the rivers stopped to listen. [...]
The most famous story about Orpheus is about his wife's death. Eurydice was bit by a snake and descended into Hades. Orpheus then followed her to the kingdom of death, and managed to soften Hades heart with his beautiful music. Hades agreed to let Eurydice go, if Orpheus promised not to look at her until they had reached daylight. When they were almost there, Orpheus thought he could no longer hear his wife's footsteps, and looked back, only to see the screaming Eurydice being pulled back into the underworld.
Shattered
by grief, Orpheus wandered the forests of Thrace, singing his wife's
lament, and was attacked by the maenads (Dionysus orgiastic women) who
tore him to pieces. His singing head floated down the river, and all was
lost. Eventually the head floated ashore on Lesbos, and that's how the
island became the centre of poetry.
Orpheus was also one of the Argonauts in Jason's expedition for the Golden Fleece. He manage to save the crew from the terrible Sirens by singing more beautifully than them.[...]
One
of the great mystery-cults of Ancient Greece was the Orphic one, where
its followers believed in purification and reincarnation. They
worshipped Dionysus-Zagreus, and thought humans consisted of equal
portions of good and evil. They saw the soul as immortal and that one
would either live in bliss or torment after death depending on one's
acts on earth. For this reason, they thought it very important to lead
an ascetic life with many cleansing rituals as well as not eating meat
or sacrificing animals. This cult was to become popular in the south of
Italy as well." <Source>
"Orpheus was famous for two things - he revealed the ways of initiation, and he taught men to abstain from killing.[...]
Orpheus
first appears in Greek art and literature about 540 [BC]. . . . From
the first he was associated with the . . . discontinuance of human
sacrifice. . . . People with a sense of sin resorted to self-employed
practitioners called 'Orphic initiators'. . . . Certainly they did not
preach 'pay me and do as you like'; on the contrary, the severer Orphic
doctrines taught (not always consistently as there was no Orphic church)
respect for all life, with its corollary, vegetarianism, and sexual
abstinence. The movement . . . remained . . . far into Christian times."
<source>
And in cultural relevancy, we have an exhibit A: "Carolee Schneemann [...] is an American visual artist, known for her discourses on the body, sexuality and gender. [...] Schneemann's works have been associated with a variety of art classifications including Fluxus, Neo-Dada, the Beat Generation, and happenings.[...]
[Film] The 1964 piece Meat Joy revolved around eight partially nude figures dancing and playing with various objects and substances including wet paint, sausage, raw fish, scraps of paper, and raw chickens. It was first performed in Paris and was later filmed and photographed as performed by her Kinetic Theater group at Judson Memorial Church. She described the piece as an "erotic rite" and an indulgent Dionysian "celebration of flesh as material."Meat Joy is similar to the art form happenings in that they both use improvisation and focused on conception, rather than execution." <Source>
At 2:45 in this video, during The Kennedy Awards televised program, Alec Baldwin is giving a speech about Paul and says, "Paul, we honor you tonight for your career as a Beatle, the leader of Wings, and incredible solo performer, creator of our favorite songs, and, yes...as a Moon dog, too." Paul is wearing a Rainbow-coloured ribbon lanyard around his black suit lapel, looking like a moondog'd moon.
"A moon dog, moondog, or mock moon,is a relatively rare bright circular spot on a lunar halo caused by the refraction of moonlight by hexagonal-plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. Moondogs appear 22° to the left and right of the moon. They are exactly analogous to sun dogs, but are rarer because to be produced the moon must be bright and therefore full or nearly full. Moondogs show little color to the unaided eye because their light is not bright enough to activate the cone cells of humans' eyes." <Source>
"Moon Ring Weather Folklore: Folklore has it that a ring around the moon signifies bad weather is coming, and in many cases this may be true. So how can rings around the moon be a predictor of weather to come? The ice crystals that cover the halo signify high altitude, thin cirrus clouds that normally precede a warm front by one or two days. Typically, a warm front will be associated with a low pressure system which is commonly referred to as a storm." <Source>
"In folklore,
moon rings are said to warn of approaching storms. Like other ice
halos, 22° halos appear when the sky is covered by thin cirrus
clouds that often come a few days before a large storm front.
The similar phenomenon called coronas are produced by water droplets and they are much smaller and more colorful than 22° halos." <Source>
From, Heth and Moab; Explorations in Syria in 1881 and 1882 By
Claude Reignier Conder, "Near Banias lies buried a saint who is said to
himself have been a dog, but I have not been able to gather any
details. Perhaps he may be considered to be a relation of the famous
moon dog, Anubis, or of the Vedic prototypes of Hermes." <Source>
<Interesting history of the etymology of the term Rock and Roll here>
but the excerpt pertaining to the musician and conflict regarding the
name Moondog, "In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed would
begin playing this type of music for his white audience, and it is Freed
who is credited with coining the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the
rollicking R&B music that he brought to the airwaves. The term,
with its simultaneous allusions to dancing, sex, and the sound of the
music itself, stuck even with those who didn't absorb all the meanings.
Originally Freed used the name Moondog for himself and any concerts or promotions he put on. This arose from the fact he used a piece of music called "Moondog Symphony" by the street musician Moondog as his repeated opening music for his radio show. Moondog subsequently sued Freed on grounds that he was stealing his name. Since Freed was no longer allowed to use the term Moondog he needed a new catch phrase." [see source above] Please do go check out this link to read about one of the Albums by Moondog, called Moondog. I'd be interested in hearing track 7.
Night: The song John Lennon wrote for young Julian Lennon, "Good Night" (sung by Ringo Starr) from the White Album, Hard Days Night, The Night Before. Also in relation to Dark Horse, Paul McCartney's No More Lonely Nights, Every Night, Beautiful Night; Wings' When The Night; John Lennon's Whatever Gets You Through the Night, Sleepless Night> (How do you sleep? How?); George Harrison's Last Night, P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night), (Traveling Wilbury's) Where Were You Last Night , Ringo Starr's Night And Day, Woman Of The Night, Tango All Night, Mystery Of The Night (some authored, some just preformed by Ringo, but he was always more the performer than the writer, no? Ringo's music is all in his song choices).
"The Greeks personified night as a mother Goddess, Nyx, who was the mother of the sky as well as the daughter of Chaos. Nyx governed all things nocturnal: sleep, dreams, death, night-loving animals, and occult matters. She is depicted being drawn across the dark sky by four black horses, and followed by the Fates and the Furies. This may be the Greek representation of night, bits shared by the other cultures, too; the Mayans used the same hieroglyphic symbol to describe the concepts of night, death and darkness. Latterly, the night has become synonymous with matters belonging to the subconscious, and we speak of a difficult time as being a 'dark night of the soul."
Why
is a two-week period known as a 'fortnight' rather than a 'fort-day'?
We owe this term to the Welsh/Celtic word for a week, wythnos, which
translates as 'eight nights.' According to Caesar, the Celts and the
Gauls reckoned time in terms of nights, not days.[...]" (ISS)
"Night is a highly ambivalent symbol, but peace and refuge from care are among its positive emblematic meanings. In art its Greek personification, Nyx, is shown as a winged mother of two children, a white one representing sleep a dark one representing death. Sleep was personified in Greek mythology by a youthful god, Hypnos, who sometimes appears in art wearing a poppy in his hair, symbolizing the narcotic-like tranquility of deep sleep." (1,001S)
Onion:
The song "Glass Onion" is the main link between Onions and the Beatles,
but the song alone is a metaphor for layers. Throughout the song, the
lyrics lead us through a layer-by-layer exploration of previous Beatles
songs, linking them together into a sense of wholeness, or "Oneness",
bringing the journey full-circle. I highly recommend listening to
both versions of the "Glass Onion" song from takes on the Anthology
album, posted here. They are both slightly different from the final
album version, but both hold very interesting experiences. "It's a
Code!" "Help!".
"The onion was considered to be so powerful, both as a symbol
and as a useful plant, that there existed a cult in Egypt dedicated to
its worship and cultivation. The onion represented eternity, because of
its circle within-a-circle structure.
In the Dharmic religions such as Hindu and Buddhism, the fact that the layers of the onion can be peeled away, and that it has no central core, makes it analogous with the ego; eventually, there is barrier to the spirit world and all is One. The first line of the Onion Song by Marvin Gaye reflects this sentiment; 'The world is just a great big onion...'." (ISS)
"Onions, members of the lily, or allium, family, are one of the oldest known cultivated vegetables and are among the world’s most popular vegetables[...]
Our word "onion” comes from the Middle English “unyun”, which in turn comes from the French “oignon”, ultimately deriving from the Latin "unio", meaning one or unity, because an onion grows as a single bulb.[...]
In ancient Egypt, the onion symbolized eternity because of its circle-within-a-circle structure. Paintings of onions appear on the inner walls of the pyramids and in the tombs of both the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom.
The onion is mentioned as an Egyptian funeral offering and is depicted on the banquet tables of the great feasts. Frequently, a priest is pictured holding onions in his hand or covering an altar with a bundle of their leaves or roots.[...]
'It was for bringing the cook tulip-roots instead of onions.'
—The reason the Queen of Hearts wants to behead the Seven-of-Spades in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
“Life is like an onion.
You peel it off one layer at a time;
And sometimes you weep.”
—Carl Sandburg, American poet" <Source>
Pepper: Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, also George Harrison's Thanks for the Pepperoni.
"The
word "pepper" is ultimately derived from the Sanskrit word for long
pepper, pippali. Ancient Greek and Latin turned pippali into the Latin
piper which was used by the Romans to refer both to black pepper and
long pepper, as the Romans erroneously believed that both of these
spices were derived from the same plant. The English word for pepper is
derived from the Old English pipor. The Latin word is also the source of
Romanian piper, Italian pepe, Dutch peper, German Pfeffer, French
poivre, and other similar forms. In the 16th century, pepper started
referring to the unrelated New World chili pepper as well. "Pepper" was
used in a figurative sense to mean "spirit" or "energy" at least as far
back as the 1840s; in the early 20th century, this was shortened to
pep.[...]
Peppercorns were a much-prized trade good, often referred to as "black gold" and used as a form of commodity money. On the other hand, because of a peppercorn's individual size, the term "peppercorn rent" refers to a token payment made for something that is in fact being given.[...]
Black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death in 1213 BCE.[...]
As pepper supplies into Europe increased, the price of pepper declined (though the total value of the import trade generally did not). Pepper, which in the early Middle Ages had been an item exclusively for the rich, started to become more of an everyday seasoning among those of more average means."<Source>
Just
in case they were referring to the chili pepper, though I imagine they
meant just pepper, since pepper has a longer European history, and was
said by John Lennon to be the source of the song (pepper shakers in a
mess tent): "Chili pepper: Fidelity, Hex Breaking, Love [...] Pepper: Protection, Exorcism." <Source>
From a paper on Irish Serpent Symbolism, Appendix, symbolism in other cultures (Egyptian, here), "APEP / APOPHIS (The Egyptian serpent of darkness. This is the origin of terms such as Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Sergeant Pepper, and Pepsid, etc.)." <Source> I haven't been able to find more on this statement, yet, but will continue to look and update as I triangulate this bit of information. Though, I thought this was interesting, "In the tomb of Ramesses VI in the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank at Thebes (modern Luxor), Apophis is shown with twelve heads above its back representing those he has swallowed who are freed, if only briefly, when he is vanquished." <Source>
More on Apep:
"Apep (Aapep, Apepi or Apophis) was the ancient Egyptian spirit of
evil, darkness and destruction who threatened to destroy the sun god Ra
as he travelled though the underworld (or sky) at night. Originally Set
and Mehen (the serpent headed man) were given the job of defending Ra
and his solar barge. They would cut a hole in the belly of the snake to
allow Ra to escape his clutches. If they failed, the world would be
plunged into darkness. However, in later periods Apep was sometimes
equated with Set who was after all a god of chaos. In this case a
variety of major and minor gods and goddesses (including Isis, Neith,
Serqet (Selket), Geb, Aker and the followers of Horus) protected Ra from
this all consuming evil. The dead themselves (in the form of the god
Shu) could also fight Apep to help maintain Ma´at (order).
Like Set, Apep was also associated with various frightening natural events such as unexplained darkness such as solar eclipse, storms and earthquakes. They were both linked to the northern sky (a place that the Egyptians considered to be cold, dark and dangerous) and they were both at times associated with Taweret, the demon-goddess. However, unlike Set he was always a force for evil and could not be reasoned with." <Source>
The
Rabbit and the Hare are almost inter-changeable for many, So they are
listed here together. One of the animals on the Magical Mystery Tour was
a Hare, the White Rabbit is core for my Wonderland angle, and then we
have the line from Paul McCartney's Band on the Run, "Well, the
undertaker drew a heavy sigh seeing no one else had come, And a bell was
ringing in the village square for the rabbits on the run."
Rabbit:"Incredibly fecund, the rabbit is a symbol not only of
fertility, but also of sexuality and lust, personified by the "Bunny
Girl." "Bun" is an old English word and refers to the distinctive
circular shape of the animal's tail. Although the rabbit didn't make
it's appearance in the British Isles until the twelfth century, its
prolific breeding habits meant that it was soon prevalent everywhere and
it adopted some of the same symbolic meaning as the hare, minus the
mystery accorded to the hare as the more elusive nocturnal creature.
Because of its fecundity and gregarious nature, the rabbit is a symbol for peace and love by some Native Americans. There is a courtship ritual called the Rabbit Dance." (ISS)
Hare: "Because the
Hare is a nocturnal creature, she carries all of the symbolism of the
moon; light in the darkness, concealed wisdom, arcane information,
intuition, and the Goddess. The moon is symbolic of rebirth and
resurrection, because of its visible phases, and the hare shares these
qualities, too. Significantly, in some parts of the world, the shape of
the hare is visible in the face of the moon, further reinforcing the
connection between the two.
The hare is renowned for its fertility, and it is in this guise that it is simplified as the Easter Bunny. The springtime goddess Eostre governed over the cycles of fertility, and so her symbol was the egg; hence the chocolate eggs given to children at Easter. [...]
The fact that the animal is not eaten is generally s sign that it has sacred status. [..] Pre-Christian Celtic people similarly regarded the hare as something too sacred to consider eating; they were kept as pets. [...]" (ISS)
" Rabbit, Hare- Guile, Quick-Thinking, Humility, Strengthening Intuition, Releasing Fear, Overcoming the Past, Resolution to Change, Fertility, New Life, Alertness, Nurturing, Rebirth, Balance." <Source>
Rain: Most famously, the Beatles' song, Rain, but also Fixing a Hole (where the rain gets in!), Penny Lane (in the pouring rain), Hey Bulldog (Sheepdog standing in the rain), I'll Follow the Sun (for tomorrow may rain), Across the Universe (words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup), I Am the Walrus (if the sun don't come, you get a tan from standing in the English rain), The Long and Winding Road (that the rain washed away), Two of Us (wearing raincoats). As well, we also have Paul McCartney's song, Driving Rain, Too Much Rain, Rainclouds and a number of songs by John and George that use the lyric, "Rain".
"Depending
upon its level of intensity, rain may either serve as life-giving or
life-destroying. It is revitalizing, fertilizing, and heavenly, and
often marks acts of purification." <Source>
"Vital symbol of fecundity linked to divine blessings or punishments. Emblem of purity." (CESS)
"Rain is nourishment for the earth and is known as the water of life.
Rain takes many forms and can be anything from a gentle sprinkling and
light watering of the earth, up to a torrid downpour and possible
flooding; life giving on one hand and potentially death dealing on the
other. Rain is a very serious affair, especially wherever water is
scarce and/or crops are growing. A wonderful, (surviving) example of
this seriousness is the world famous Native American rain dances,
created to induce rain. To many city dwellers (or non-farmers) rain is
seen as more of an annoyance than anything else. As you can guess, the
meaning of the symbol (overall) changes depending on the scarcity and/or
need of water/rainfall.
Rain drops can symbolize heaven's tears and the accompanying lightening can be seen as heaven's anger (for example, thunderbolts were the favored weapon of Zeus, etc.). Rain is a symbol for tears, sorrow, anger, cleansing, renewal, forgiveness and more -- usually on a heavenly, worldly or very large sort of personal scale. This is not a visual symbol for small sorrows or everyday events." <Source>
"Large drops of rain warn that there has just been a death. If rain falls on a funeral procession, the deceased will go to heaven. " <Source>
See "Moondog" for a approaching storm symbolism.
Raven: Though
not mentioned specifically by the Beatles in lyrics, I would argue the
imagery of "Blackbird", for many people leads to the visualization of a
Raven or Crow, especially with the "dead of night" setting; therefore I will include some Raven symbolism. Since
Edgar Allen Poe is prominently on the Sgt. Pepper's album cover, and he
is most notably known for his poem "The Raven", I feel the raven is
rightly tied in.
"The raven belongs to the most intelligent of all the birds. To give some idea of its intelligence, if the average IQ for a human being is measures at the 100 mark, then the average IQ of a raven is 138. Its linguistic skills are legendary, and it is possible that the raven can understand as well as imitate human words. It is this intelligence, and the playful nature of the raven. that makes it the ultimate symbol of the trickster. [...]
Even
if the raven has never been taught to speak in human languages, its
voice carries a surprisingly human inflection and tone. This led to a
belief that the bird knew everything, as personified by the ravens that
belonged to the Norse god Odin. Called Hugin and Munin, from the words
for thought and memory, the birds flew back to the gods at the end of
every day where they whispered into his ears all the doings of mankind.
Odin- also known as the Raven God- had daughters, Valkyries, who appeared
as ravens, and similarly, witches are said to be able to shape-shift
into the form of ravens, which is how they travel, anonymously, to their
meetings.
More sinisterly, the raven is seen as a harbinger of death, as personified in the Morrigan, the great Battle Goddess of Celtic myth who takes the form of a raven. The raven is a carrion bird and was often to be seen at the site of battles, making a grim meal of the bloody remains of the defeated army. In addition, the spooky black appearance of the bird certainly lends itself to the dark imagery posited by horror stories. In the Mahabharata, the bird is a messenger of death, but paradoxically to those of a Western sensibility, this does not mean that the bird is a symbol of ill omen. [...]
The
ravens at the Tower of London are a symbol of protection par
excellence. Birds have been kept in this spot for a thousand years, due
to the ancient legend that the country would be safe from invaders while
the Ravens remained there. Indeed this idea is so firmly entrenched in
the national psyche that when the raven population dwindled during the
Second World War, Winston Churchill arranged that ravens be "imported"
from Wales to keep the country safe.
Despite its color, the Ancient Greeks had the raven as a solar symbol, and it is dedicated to the Goddess Athena and the God Apollo." (ISS)
"[...]The
raven's intelligence is possibly its most winning feature. Indeed,
these birds can be trained to speak. This speaking ability leads into
the legend of ravens being the ultimate oracle. In fact, the raven is
often heard to cackle utterances that sound like "cras, cras." The
actual word cras is tomorrow in Latin. This lends more fuel to the
legendary fires that distinguish the raven as a bird who can foretell
the future, and reveal omens and signs.
Countless cultures point to the raven as a harbinger of powerful secrets. Moreover, the raven is a messenger too, so its business is in both keeping and communicating deep mysteries.
Raven symbolism of wisdom and knowledge-keeping is connected with the Welsh hero Bran, the Blessed whose name means raven. Bran was the holder of ancestral memories, and his wisdom was legendary. So much so, that he had his head (the vessel of his powerful wisdom) removed and interred in the sacred White Mount in London. Ravens are still roosting there (in the Tower of London), and they're thought to keep Bran's wisdom protected and alive by their presence." <Follow link to source site>; Also- It's very worthwhile to learn more about Bran as a Celtic oracle here:More about Bran and Celtic Skulls Symbolism}
Rose: Most notably referred to by Paul McCartney's "Red
Rose Speedway" album..where he is laying with his head on a motorcycle,
with a rose "crammed" into his mouth, like a gag-ball or something, or
so it seems from his wide, alarmed-looking eyes.
"[...] The rose is a natural mandala or wheel, the layers of petals describing a perfectly symmetrical circle around its yellow center, itself reminiscent of the Sun.
The rose is also
a symbol for secrecy, perhaps because of the way the petals hide its
center, perhaps for some more obscure reason. To speak of something as
being sub rosa- 'under the rose'- means that any information must
be kept confidential. Some Masonic lodges and alchemy guilds still
conduct meetings with a red rose hanging from the ceiling as a reminder
of the private nature of the discussions taking place. There are three
roses on the ceremonial apron of the Master Mason, acting as reminders
of faith, silence, and secrecy." (ISS)
"Roses were scattered on Roman graves as funerary emblems of mourning to symbolize not only the painful brevity of human life but also the hope of life continuing in a world beyond this" (1,001S)
Shoes (or the lack thereof):
Shoes
are where it all began, to some degree. According to "basic mythology"
around the Paul is Dead hypothesis, and how it came to be is that fans
noticed it, was that on the Abbey Road album Paul was dressed nicely,
but was not wearing shoes. All the others were. This struck up a fervor
because supposedly people were buried without shoes and barefoot is a
sign of death for the mafia. By then people notice Paul isn't wearing
his shoes during I Am The Walrus, in Magical Mystery Tour- they are laid
by the drums, and on the album booklet, they look bloody.
Paul also later recorded a very strange song called Shoes. Shoes are kind of a big part of the PID story, and we'll examine the story behind the Abbey Road shoes more in a later post.
I'll also note here the line in George Harrison's song, Beware of Darkness, "beware the soft shoe shuffler". There is also the line from John Lennon's Serve Yourself, "You're lucky to have a damned pair of shoes!" and the line from his song Crippled inside, "you can shine you're shoes/and wear a suit/you can comb your hair/and look/quite cute/you can hide your face/behind a smile/one thing you can't hide/is when you're crippled inside". John does a cover of Blue Suede Shoes, George does a cover of Old Brown Shoe.
I was unable to find any link between mafia meanings of barefoot, and I determined that people in Europe were sometimes buried without shoes, but this wasn't always the case, and you can find examples of antique burial slippers.
{I'd
like to note here that the Abbey Road album cover used to make me think
of a pilgrimage when I'd idly see the image somewhere, not knowing any
of the mythology around it.}
"Never wear anything new to a funeral, especially shoes." <Source: Victorian funeral customs, fears and superstitions>
"At their most basic level, shoes represent human frailty.[...] In the western world, shoes were often associated with good luck and safe travel. The tradition of throwing old shoes at ships insured a sailor’s safe return and continues in the form of tying shoes to the Newlywed getaway car." <Source>
"Shoes in symbolism have a contradictory significance. They represent
authority and power, but they can also represent humility, servitude. It
all depends on the context we find them in. [...] In older times, not all people could afford buying shoes (slaves often
didn't wear shoes), that is why they are associated with wealth, freedom
and comfort, but also with the other side of the coin: vanity and
arrogance.[...] Shoes keep our feet warm and protected,so obviously, for some
individuals shoes symbolize protection or an environment where one can
feel safe.[...]
In gravestone symbolism, empty shoes symbolize the loss of a child. Usually one shoe is overturned. Thus shoes represent human frailty." <Source>
"In the Holy Bible's Old Testament, the shoe is used to symbolize something that is worthless or of little value. In the New Testament, the act of removing one's shoes symbolizes servitude. The Semites regarded the act of removing their shoes as a mark of reverence when approaching a sacred person or place. In the Book of Exodus, Moses was instructed to remove his shoes before approaching the burning bush:
The removal of the shoe also symbolizes the act of giving up a legal right. In Hebrew custom, the widow removed the shoe of her late husband's brother to symbolize that he had abandoned his duty. In Arab custom, the removal of one's shoe also symbolized the dissolution of marriage.[...]
Empty shoes may also symbolize death. In Greek culture, empty shoes are the equivalent of the American funeral wreath. For example, empty shoes placed outside of a Greek home would tell others that the family's son has died in battle." <Source>
Barefoot:
"[From Masonic Knowledge site, see source] From In the first three
degrees, the candidate is asked to become barefoot. Why is this?
Barefoot have several meanings. For example, nakedness of feet is a sign of mourning. God says to Ezekiel, the priest (Ezekiel 24:17) “Make no mourning for the dead......and put on thy shoes upon thy feet.” David is said to have gone from Jerusalem barefoot, when he fled from Absalom. It is also a mark of respect. In the Koran we find the passage “Surely I am your Lord, therefore put off your shoes......." (Ta Ha 20:12). Muslims do indeed leave their shoes at the door of a mosque before entering. In Christianity we find that Moses took off his shoes to approach the burning bush where the angel of the Lord called to Moses (Exodus 3:5); priests serving in the Tabernacle (a tent sanctuary used by the Israelites during the Exodus) did so with their feet naked, as they did afterwards in the Temple. This is likely what is referred to in our rituals.
The foot is said to represent the soul, as it serves to support the entire body and keep it upright. Demonic beings, for this reason, were often depicted with feet that differed to those of man, or were turned the wrong way. [...]
One
direction Pythagoras gave to his disciples was "Offer sacrifice and
worship with thy shoes off." Maimonides, the great expounder of the
Jewish Law, asserts that "it was not lawful for a man to come into the
mountain of God's house with his shoes on his feet, or with his staff,
or in his working garments, or with dust on his feet." The Druids also
practiced this by performing their rites barefooted, as did the
Peruvians before they entered the temple to worship the Sun." <Source>
" There
are times in Jewish life when the wearing of shoes is forbidden.[...]
There is also a custom amongst certain chassidic groups to remove
their (leather) shoes before approaching the gravesite of a holy person.
This tradition goes back to the command to Moses
when he approached the Burning Bush (Exodus 3:5), "Remove your shoes
from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. On the
historic day of mourning, Tisha b'Av, Jews are prohibited from wearing leather shoes. The same prohibition applies on Yom Kippur to show remorse and penance.
In the Book of Isaiah (20:2), Isaiah is commanded to remove his sandals as a sign of mourning. Shoes also play a part in the mourning period after a death. During the period of shiva, the seven days of mourning, leather shoes may not be worn. In Talmudic times, both the pall bearers and the mourners went barefoot." <Source>
"To go barefoot was a sign of great distress (Isa. 20:2, 3, 4), or of some great calamity having fallen on a person (2 Sam. 15:30). [...]
The word [barefoot] is found in the following passages: English Versions of the Bible, "He went barefoot" (2 Sam 15:30); "(Isaiah) did so, walking .... barefoot" (Isa 20:2); and like the Egyptians, "naked and barefoot" (Isa 20:3,4). It seems that David in his flight before Absalom "went barefoot," not to facilitate his flight, but to show his grief (2 Sam 15:30), and that Micah (1:8) makes "going barefoot" a sign of mourning [...]. The nakedness and bare feet of the prophet Isaiah (20:2) may have been intended to symbolize and express sympathy for the forlorn condition of captives [...].
Jastrow [...] presents a view worth considering of going barefoot as a sign of mourning and then of grief in general [...]. All these passages seem to imply the discomfort or going barefoot on long journeys, over stony roads or hot sands; but then, as now, in the Orient sandals seem to have been little worn ordinarily in and around the house." <Source>
"Many people in ancient times, such as the Egyptians, Hindus and Greeks, saw little need for footwear and, most of the time, preferred being barefoot. [...] The ancient Greeks largely viewed footwear as self-indulgent, unaesthetic and unnecessary. Shoes were primarily worn in the theater as a means of increasing stature, and many preferred to go barefoot.[...]
Bare feet have also come to symbolize innocence or childhood, and this may be one reason why hippies often went barefoot during the counterculture movement of the 1960s.[...]
It is also customary in Judaism and some Christian denominations to go barefoot while mourning. Some Christian churches practice barefoot pilgrimage traditions.[...]
It was an integral part of most slave laws ("slave codes") to mandate that slaves have to go barefoot as a matter of course. For example, the Cape Town slave code states that, "Slaves must go barefoot and must carry passes." This was also seen in states that abolished slavery later in history, such as Brazil, as most images from the slavery period suggest that slaves were barefoot. In Zimbabwe, prisoners must be barefoot as well. Shoes have been considered as badges of freedom since biblical time." <Source>
Swan: The song "This One" by Paul McCartney features swans, Krishna and hand mudras. "The
appearance of a swan, an ethereal, otherworldly creature, floating
gracefully upon the calm waters that resemble the spirit world and the
ethereal feminine, packs a powerful symbolic punch even without any
prior knowledge of the myths and legends surrounding the bird that have
aided and abetted its significance. Its pure white color, its strength,
and its beauty make it a symbol of light, both of the direct light of
the sun, and the reflected light of the moon.
Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, the swan is believed to be silent until its moment of death, when its song is said to be the first and last sound it utters. Therefore, ":Swansong" has come to mean the final expression of an artists work, for example, or the late resurgence before a final demise. Curiously, though, the name "swan" comes from an Anglo-Saxon word sounder, which has the same root as "sound" or "sonnet".
Swans are said to mate for life and so are emblematic of fidelity and longevity.
In the UK, the swan is under the protection of the Crown. This legislation is believed to date back to the twelfth century, even today only the household of the ruling monarch is allowed to eat the meat of the swan. In Germany, oaths were taken upon the swan.
The swan is a symbol of the poet; Druidic bards wore cloaks made of swans feathers as a shamanic totem to enable them to contact the spirit of the muse. It was because of this that Ben Johnson refers to Shakespeare as the "sweet swan of Avon". In ancient Greece, the swan was the attribute of the muses and the symbol for Apollo, the god to whom poetry and song belong. Apollo could shape-shift into the form of a swan, and when he was born, seven swans flew around the island of his birth, seven times.
Two swans are frequently depicted as being joined by a chain. This imagery appears all over the world, and although there is likely some conjecture about what this symbol means, it is likely to signify the spiritual and material worlds that the bird symbolizes, because it moves in the elements of water, earth and air. Sometimes one of the birds appears with the solar wheel, signifying the fourth element, fire. Swans pulled the chariot of the Sun. Eros, too, the God of Love, traveled in a chariot drawn by swans in their guise as symbols of fidelity and love.
The
otherworldly appearance of the swan has led to its being regarded as
one of the shape-shifting birds, and stories from all over the world
have the swan transform into a beautiful human girl who will live among
humankind until circumstances conspire to return her to her own world
once again.
Hindu belief supports this idea supports this idea of the swan as symbolic of a creature that resides between two worlds. Because it moves in the elements of water and air, the swan represents both the spiritual and material world. Some myths have the goose as the bird that laid the egg from which the Universe hatched, but in India, the swan is given this honor: the Hamsa is a mythical water bird that symbolizes the union of spirit and matter and is symbolized with two swans. The Parama Hamsa represents the Supreme Self, and its name means Supreme Swan." (ISS) See also: The Cygnus Mystery Swan-goose
Star: I'm including star because of the choice made for Richard Starkey to take on the stage-name of Ringo Starr. It's notable that he is the only one who uses a stage name. Ringo Starr...Ringed Star. They also got a good bit of their start at The Star-Club in Hamburg. Songs with the lyric "star" include, Drive My Car, "I wanna be famous, a star on the screen," Act Naturally, "They're gonna make a big star out of me," and the alluded-to stars in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. As well there is John Lennon's Instant Karma "Well we all shine on Like the moon and the stars and the sun."
[Under Pentacle]: "Sometimes there is confusion between the pentacle and the pentagram. For the record, the pentagram is the five-pointed star symbol, whereas the pentacle is a more generic term for a mystical or magical symbol. [...]
The pentacle can be made of any material, although Trithemius (a fifteen-century abbot with a great knowledge of the occult) recommended 'virgin parchment' or a square plate of silver. Various symbols and signs that are appropriate for its intended use are then drawn or engraved on the pentacle[...]." (ISS)
[Under
Pentagram]: It is possible that the pentagram was discovered by very
early astronomical research, in the Tigris-Euphrates area, some 6000
years ago. [...] but it was Pythagoras who really brought the
five-pointed star to the prominent position it holds today.
If an apple is cut across it's 'equator' then the pattern of the seeds is revealed, a perfect five-pointed star or pentagram. The repercussions of this hidden magical symbol are far-reaching. Five, comprised of the feminine number 2 and the masculine number 3, is the number of harmony, of the union of opposites, and of marriage. It is also the number of humankind because of the five points of extremity of the human body. When Eve gave Adam the Apple of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, therefore, it was not just a piece of fruit she was offering him, but a potent symbol of wisdom. {More about Apples in my post, here}
Eating the fruit that contains the pentagram resulted in a profound awakening for Adam and Eve. They became not only aware of their own sexual nature, but they realized that they could make their own choices.
Not
only is the pentagram a symbol of power, but it is imbued with actual
power and is used in spell casting and the revelation of secrets. [...]
The ubiquity of this sign can't be stressed enough. It [sic] has associated not only with pagan practice but also with Christian mysticism, druidry, magic, sacred geometry, alchemy, the Kabbalah; it appears in the Tarot where it can represent the suit of coins, and its important in Freemasonry, where it is called the "Blazing Star".
One instance of its use was as a secret symbol whereby followers of Pythagoras could recognize one another, since, as Adam had discovered, it was the key to higher knowledge. [...]
In the Kabbalah, the pentagram represents the upper five Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, whose qualities are justice, mercy, wisdom, understanding, and transcendent splendor.
Freemasonry draws upon much of the Pythagorean symbolism of the Pentagram, although it is also seen as a reminder that Christ was spirit descended into matter, and as such represents the Star of Bethlehem.
The
inverted pentagram has been accorded a more sinister interpretation
that was ever intended; up until relatively recently, it didn't seem to
matter which way up the star landed, after all this symbol is like the
circle in that it has no beginning and no end. however, the symbol of
Baphomet makes use of the upside down pentagram.
The Pentagram is the sign of Venus, both the planet known as the morning star, and the Goddess. Over the course of four years and one day,, the planet describes the shape of a pentagram in the sky. Uniquely, Venus is the only planet whose movements trace such a graphically recognizable symbol, a secret sign written in the sky." (ISS)
"The
divinities representing planets [Zeus, Hermes, Ares etc.] in art are
often shown with a star, another symbol of divinity. [...]
The five-pointed [sic- Eight-pointed] star, an ancient emblem of the Assyrian warrior Goddess Ishtar (a divine personification of the planet Venus), became a more widespread symbol of both military and spiritual transcendence [...]." (1,001S)
"BLAZING
STAR: Symbol of light; of Divine direction in the journey through life;
symbolizes a true Freemason who, by perfecting himself in the way of
truth (knowledge), becomes like a blazing star. In English lodges,
symbolizes sun which enlightens the earth, dispensing its blessings to
all mankind and giving light and life to all things." <Source>
Strawberry: Strawberry Fields Forever, also in the photo-collage from "The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics 2" by Allen Aldridge referenced in the Acacia and Ginkgo posts.
"The sacred strawberry is one of the fruits that grew in the Elysian Fields, the resting place of blessed souls. There is also strong Christian symbolism associated with the strawberry plant.
The 3 parts of the leaf are emblematic of the Holy Trinity, and the white flowers stand for the purity of the Virgin Mary and the innocence of Christ. The fruit of the strawberry has neither thorns nor pips and is eaten whole, thereby representing good deeds; the red color symbolizes the blood of Christ. Where strawberries grow at the feet of the Virgin in religious paintings, the plant carries all these different meanings.
The
strawberry, in its fruiting stage, is symbolic of fecundity ans
sensuality, both being aspects of any seeded fruit that are often
overlooked by the Christian church. In the interplay of the sacred and
the profane that is an intrinsic part of the allegorical perception of
nature, strawberries are symbolic of spiritual development as well as
physical sensuality.
There is a legend that mothers whose children have died should not pick strawberries before Midsummer Day, because this is the day the spirits of the dead children are taken strawberry picking. The mothers should leave the fruit for their children.[...]" (ISS)
"The
luscious strawberry, with its glorious red flesh and soft, swelling
heart-like shape, appears as a dominant emblem of carnal love in the
Gothic art of Hieronymus Bosch. His extraordinary triptych, The Garden
of Earthly Delights, shows couples biting greedily into the fruit,
oblivious to the retributive horrors depicted on the following panel,
Hell." (1,001S)
"The strawberry is a berry that is attached to many positive thing through symbolism and folklore. The flowers and berries together symbolize righteousness and spiritual merit in Christian art. The structure of the leaves, being trifoliate, represents the trinity. Pagan tradition echoes this in that the three leaves are thought to represent the three-fold Earth or Mother Goddess.In Victorian flower language, the berry symbolizes perfection and “sweetness in life and character.” It also represents modesty because the berries are often found under the leaves.[...]
In mythology, Strawberries are connected to the Norse goddess of love, Freyja. Also, a Norse legend exists where the spirits of children enter the afterlife by hiding in strawberries that are taken to heaven by Frigga, Oden’s wife." <Source>
Sun: Beatles song titles include Here Comes the Sun, Sun King, Good Day Sunshine, I'll Follow the Sun and from the Love album "Nus Gnik". There is also Paul McCartney's Good Times Coming/Feel The Sun, Sun is Shining, and Ou Est la Soleil. Also there is the association with Cirque Du Soleil with the Love Album Show. See also Dawn and Sunflower for more relationships
"Although the Sun is generally masculine element that balances
the feminine Moon, there are nevertheless several Sun Goddesses as well
as Sun Gods. For many, though, the glory of the Sun makes it the
absolute physical manifestation of the Godhead- or the Supreme Being- and
therefore beyond mere sex. The sun also equates to the Eye of God, as
depicted, for example, in the sun-like rays of the All Seeing Eye of the
Masonic tradition. Some tribal peoples see the sun as the "good," right
eye of this Divine Being, whereas the moon is the "bad," left eye.
To our ancestors, when the sun tipped over the edge of the sky on the western horizon it disappeared into the Land of the Dead. They believed, therefore, that as well as being the bringer of life, the Sun could also take life away- Godlike powers indeed. [...] As such, the Sun becomes a malevolent force. Generally, however, the heat and light of the Sun are seen worldwide to be celestial gifts conferred to our planet and all the life to which it plays host.
The Sun is
personified, symbolically, in many differing ways, including the petals
of flowers (particularly the Sunflower), [...] For the Druids, the Stag
represents the Sun. In alchemy, gold is the metal of the sun." (ISS)
"As the celestial body that outshone all others, the sun became an inevitable symbol of royalty. In the long Egyptian history of Sun worship, Pharaohs were so identified with the sun itself that even priests of the great reforming Pharaoh Akhenaten described him as being formed from soar rays. The symbolic links between royalty and the sun were transferred to the metal and hue Gold. At their accession , rulers of the Inca empire in Peru were once covered in resin sprayed with gold dust, hence the Amazonian legends of E Dorado (the gilded ones). At their death they were embalmed as 'children of the sun' and seated in temples on golden thrones.
Sixteenth-century English courtiers made play with the idea of Henry VIII as the sun around which they revolved, and in the following century the architecture and statuary of Versailles were designed to symbolize the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV as the Sun King.
(under
Divinity) The sun was seen everywhere as the center of the universe and
has been worshiped as an actual divinity in innumerable cultures and
traditions, if not always as the supreme deity. The Emperors of Rome
abandoned the cult of Sol, their sun deity, only when Constantine
converted to Christianity in 324ce. So popular with the Roman army was
the male solar cult of Mithraism based on the Indo-Iranian sun god) in
the 3rd century, that the Emperor Aurelian names 25 December as the
birthday of Mithras, the 'Unconquerable Sun'- a choice of date which was
soon taken over by Christianity as the emblematic birthday of Jesus,
the new God of Light.
In Peru and Egypt, where sun cults reached their highest form of development, the supposed kinship between the monarchy and the 'father' god, allowed kings to claim divine status for themselves.
Purely
as a symbol of divinity, the sun is often seen as the principle agent
of a supreme being. In Christian, Islamic and Hindu tradition, it
represents the Eye of God, an embodiment of his all-knowing, all-seeing
power and a guiding force radiating love and life-force. Dante declared
that no other visible thing was more suitable a symbol of God himself.""
(1,001S)
Sun Flower: Referred to in "Free as a Bird", was worn by John in "Blue Jay Way", the Wizards caps in Magical Mystery Tour have Sunflowers on them, and Peter Brown stated that George put one on Brian Epstein's coffin when he was buried.
"As its name signifies, the sunflower has close solar
associations, not only because of its appearance, but because of its
habit of turning its head to follow the sun during its journey across
the sky. The sunflower has magical powers, too, and adorned the crowns
of Roman Emperors, thereby conferring the ruler with the potent power of
the Sun that the flower held within it. The sunflower was later adopted
by the Christian Church to denote the saints, prophets, and apostles; as
the flower follows the Sun, so the true believer follows God.
Greek
legend had it that a nymph Clytie and the Sun God, Helios, were in
love. but Helios cast aside poor Clytie for another lover. Clytie died
of grief and was transformed into a sunflower, destined to live alone
and having to follow the course of her former love. Therefore the
sunflower, as a symbol has adopted an aspect of Clytie's personality:
the inability to get over some the emotions or to "let go."
The Seed head of the sunflower contains a magical symbol. It shows a perfect example of the golden spiral that has been created naturally. The shape is one of the cornerstones of sacred geometry." (ISS)
"
Sunflowers are symbolic of adoration. Sunflowers turn their heads to
the sun, which is the origin of their common name. Sunflowers belong to
the genus helianthus,
a reference to Helios, the sun god. [...] Sunflowers are native to the
Americas and are the state flower of Kansas and the national flower of
Russia. Sunflowers bloom from July through September. Sunflowers are
traditionally bright yellow with a central disk or reddish brown." <Source>
"Ovid tells the tale of a nymph, Clytie,
who pined away for the love of Helios,the Sun, until she was
transformed into a flower whose face always turns to follow her love
through the sky. This heliotrope was probably not what we call the
sunflower, which is named for its appearance rather than its behavior,
but the sunflower has long been linked to the unrequited devotion of a
lover, or to the longing of the earthbound soul for its heavenly home. A
sonnet attributed to Dante laments the disdain of his mistress: ‘‘Nor
did she who turns to see the sun / and changed, preserves her unchanged
love, /ever have as bitter fate as I’. Blake’s evocative little poem
‘‘Ah! Sun-flower’’ takes the flower, ‘‘weary of time, / Who countes
the steps of the Sun,’’ as an emblem of ‘‘the Youth pined away with
desire’’and ‘‘the pale Virgin shrouded with snow,’’ who arise from their
graves. Blake may have been prompted by an account of the neo-Platonic philosopher Proclus,
who cites the heliotrope as a symbol of souls who long for spiritual
illumination. The same source seems to have led Bronson Alcott to choose
the name The Dial (i.e., sundial) for the journal of the
Transcendentalists." <Source>
<Interesting stuff here about Sunflowers and Michael Jackson> }
Walrus:
"I am the Walrus" ("No You're Not!" said little Nicola). The Walrus was
Paul. If it's not Paul in the walrus costume in George Harrison's "When
we was Fab", then who is it? What's up with all the smoke and mirrors around the walrus??
"Both in Chukotka and Alaska, the aurora borealis is believed to be a special world inhabited by those who died by violence, the changing rays representing deceased souls playing ball with a walrus head.
Because
of its distinctive appearance, great bulk, and immediately recognizable
whiskers and tusks, the walrus also appears in the popular cultures of
peoples with little direct experience with the animal, particularly in
English children's literature. Perhaps its best-known appearance is in
Lewis Carroll's whimsical poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" that
appears in his 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass. In the poem, the
eponymous antiheroes use trickery to consume a great number of
oysters.[...]
Another appearance of the walrus in literature is in the story "The White Seal" in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, where it is the "old Sea Vitch—the big, ugly, bloated, pimpled, fat-necked, long-tusked walrus of the North Pacific, who has no manners except when he is asleep". <Source>
"Walruses have their part in Inuit mythology. In one of the stories explaining
the northern lights, the flickering patterns in the sky are thought to represent
people who have died and travelled to the other world, where they engage in
a game of soccer or football. As they dance across the sky, the sky-players
use a walrus head as a ball, kicking it back and forth. If they kick it just
right, the tusks get stuck in the snow and the head stands still.
Another legend, the story of Arnakpaktuq or Arnaqtatuuq, tells how a shaman decided to be reborn as many different species of animals, in order to find out how they lived. At one point he lived as a walrus. He said that the walruses were friendly and pleasant to live with, except that they kissed a lot and their kiss (perhaps used to suck molluscs off the bottom of the ocean) was very powerful.
A third myth, widespread across the whole Arctic, tells of how walruses were created from the third finger joints of Sedna, when her father cut them off." <Source>
Other notable Walrus associations: "Barry White, who was popularly known as 'The Walrus of Love'. Supermarine Walrus- a British amphibious aircraft of World War II, Westland Walrus- a British reconnaissance aircraft of the 1920s, HNLMS Walrus- two submarines of the Royal Netherlands Navy,
HMS Walrus- the name of two ships and one submarine of the Royal Navy, SS Walrus-
a 19th century vessel that operated in Australia as a floating,
illegal, moonshine still, before being replaced by the legal, Beenleigh
Rum Distillery, USS Walrus- three submarines of the United States Navy, Walrus class submarine- a type of submarine currently operated by the Royal Netherlands Navy." As well, "The Walrus is a Canada general interest magazine; Walrus (comics) is a minor Marvel Comics supervillain of Spider-Man." <Source>
AND...then there is this: [From: The Lion, the Witch and the Walrus Images of the Sorcerous North in the 16th and 17th centuries, Stefan Donecker (European University Institute, Florence)]
"In the 15th century legendary Saga of Hjálmþér and Ölver (Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvers), the two heroes and their companion, Hörðr, flee the wrath of evil King Hundingr. In a feat of amazing saga shapeshifting, the king transforms himself into a walrus and pursues the heroes' ship:
[...] Despite his untimely demise, Hunding the walrus is a worthy representative of the many strange beasts and creatures that were believed to dwell in the north.[...]
Both in the Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus as well as in his famous map of the north, Carta Marina (1539), Olaus describes and visualizes a vast array of fearsome animals that dwell in the north, on land and in the sea, many of which are said to prey on hapless human beings. Again, the mighty walrus is not missing, and it is described as a particularly dangerous creature:
Vicki Ellen Szabo has pointed out that Olaus' impressive accounts of walruses, whales and similar sea monsters were deeply rooted in medieval traditions that perceived such creatures not only as symbols of evil and paganism, but even as factual agents and associates of the devil. The archetype of all such infernal maritime monsters was the biblical Leviathan, which was commonly equated with the great fish that had swallowed Jonah, and whose gaping mouth came to signify the entrance to hell." <Source>
Zebra: zebra Crossing, zebra on George Martin's Coat of Arms.
"The zebra’s gifts include seeing in black and
white, clarity without filters, balance, agility, uniqueness, power,
sureness of path, keeping up individuality within the herd.
The zebra's black and white stripes camouflage it against predators, who often cant identify individuals in the herd. However to the herd members the patterns are unique from zebra to zebra, helping to identify one another - they are as unique as our fingerprints. Blending into a crowd without losing your individuality is one powerful aspect of Zebra. Zebras also help us to be supportive members within our communities. These abilities protect them from danger, as well as their agility and speedy.
The stripes also represent the blending and balancing of opposites, yin yang, harmony - enabling us to see a deeper truth.[...]
Questioning reality and illusion is common
amongst people with zebra medicine, though an over analytic intellect
can be a hindrance for some with this totem. In others the imagination
must be awakened.
The zebras pattern of black on white, or white on black implies that what you see is not always what you get. Occult knowledge seen and unseen, dimensional shifts, new journeys and worldly endeavours are all aspects of this.
Zebras are master magicians, who utilise the energy of light and dark to shift realities and expand our consciousness, helping us see past our preconceived beliefs as they lead us into the mystery and magic of the unseen. Zebras seek balance in what they do, and they are sure of themselves, standing confidently in the middle of opposing forces." <Source>
"Aside from the western joke linking zebras to newspapers, the zebra plays no role in western symbolism. [...] surprisingly, even in Africa where the animals live, zebras play only minor symbolic roles. The exception is the Songye people of Central Africa who make distinctive masks called kifwebe. Up to the 1970's these masks served as agents of social control, exorcizing negative forces and enforcing allegiance to rulers." <Source>
Although, we might ask ourselves of the Abbey Road album- is it a zebra-crossing or is it a checkerboard?
Free As a Bird (a little music for your reading pleasure)
Birds: Birds
are a frequent image in Beatles' lyrics, with songs like, "Black Bird",
"Blue Jay Way", "And Your Bird Can Sing", Paul's, "Jenny Wren", "Birds
of Paradise", and "This One", which sounds like "This Swan" and features
lyrics and imagery about swans. As well, Ringo recorded, "Bye-Bye
Blackbird", Paul recorded, "Cold Turkey", and their post-mortem (John's
at least) swansong, "Free as a Bird". As well, the Magical Mystery Tour
features a green bird (parrot?) as one of the 4 "mystery animals". "[Birds'] primary symbolic function is as messengers from the spiritual realms, from the gods. Arguably, the generic symbolism of the bird is one of the most universal of any." (ISS)
Blackbird: Obviously, "Black Bird singing in the dead of night, take the broken wings and learn to fly...take these sunken eyes to see....".
"Birds
robed in black do not give up their secrets easily. They love to watch
us marvel over their messages. Black birds demand our commitment to
learning their wisdom, and do not reveal their meanings unless they are
convinced we've devoted ourselves completely to the path of
understanding (both dark and light sides of) energy.This concept correlates to lunar themes too. The symbolic meaning of blackbirds is eternally linked to the "dark vs light" phases of the moon. I'm talking nocturnal awareness. Illumined lunar understanding which requires a different use of the senses. Sense which can only be utilized when transformative devotion is made. A commitment to higher knowing (flight) and an acceptance of the void (infinite vastness that eludes the ego and rational mind).
This is a fundamental concept of alchemy which is: Transition and Transformation. The bird is symbolic of life in the heavens (higher ideals, higher path of knowing) and the color black is symbolic of pure potential. Between the two, there is no limit to human transformation - all we have to do is close the shutters of the rational mind, and start sojourning with our darkly feathered friends.
Black birds (in general) are archetypes of living life in higher realms, and are symbolic of: Higher Intelligence, Higher Thought, Higher Ideals.
This is because birds are (metaphorically and mythologically speaking), situated in proximity to the higher energies of the Universe. This also positions them as heavenly or divine oracles and messengers in cultural myths across the globe.
Blackbirds and birds of black or dark colors are special among their airy clan as they are the symbolic of:: Mystery, Magic, Secrets, The Unknown Pure Potential, Non-obvious Perception"<follow link to internet source>
Dawn: The Arising of the Sun after the darkest hour of the night is a common theme with the Beatles with: Here Comes The Sun, (Here Come the) Sun King, Good Day Sunshine; and George's Rising Sun.
"Seval is the noble red rooster who heralds each dawn, calling all to awake and arise. He is a symbol of the imminence of spiritual unfoldment and wisdom. As a fighting cock, he crows from Lord Skanda's battle flag."<Follow like to source site>
This calls to mind the sound of the Rooster at the beginning of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise; and if you follow the link about the Goddess Aurora you will learn, "Wanting to be with her lover for all eternity, Aurora asked Jupiter to grant immortality to Tithonus. Jupiter granted her wish, but she failed to ask for eternal youth to accompany his immortality, and he became forever old. Aurora turned him into a grasshopper". Grasshoppers can be heard at the beginning of Sun King. Lovely! All linked together from learning about Dawn!
From original poster: "Track from the album Brainwashed released in 2002 shortly after George's passing. Jeff Lynne produced and polished up George's basic track along with George's son Dhani! I added rare pics of George, shots taken just before he died."
Eggs (Eggmen):"I am the Eggman, they are the Eggmen, Goo Goo G'Joob!"
"The egg is as powerful in its symbolism as it is potent as a life-force. The World Egg is a ubiquitous symbol for the egg from which the Universe is said to have hatched, an idea that appears in creation myths from all parts of the world. The Celts, Hindus, Egyptians, Greeks and Phoenicians and many more agree about this idea.
The form this cosmic hatching takes is variable though. Often the egg risen from primeval waters and is incubated by a bird; in Hindu belief, this is the Hamsa, a goose [(See link after "swan" entry)]. When the egg hatches, the yolk and the white become heaven and earth.[...]
The egg is a symbol of new life, and this idea is borne out with chocolate eggs at Easter, which in itself is a celebration of the pre-Christian fertility goddess, Eostre, who also gives her name to the hormone estrogen. The subsequent celebration of Christ's death and resurrection meant that the egg kept its significance as a symbol of immortality and rebirth.
In alchemy, the Philosopher's Egg symbolizes the seed of spiritual life, and depicts the place wherein a great transformation takes place. " (ISS)
"To ancients in all lands, the egg was the symbol of generation and immortality. In Scandinavia and Russia clay eggs were put in tombs to ensure life after death. A similar idea was signified in ancient Egypt by the winged egg floating above the mummy, carrying the soul to another birth. The Chinese believed that the first archetypal man sprang from an egg dropped by Tien, a great bird. The alchemists spoke of the philosophical egg which combined all the elements of life, the container of thought and matter. The Greeks thought of the egg as the seven-fold vault of space, a symbol originally compounded in the dual septenary planes of the Cosmic Egg of Hindu tradition.
Reverence for the egg is evoked by its form as well as by its mystery. Its elliptical form describes the movement of heavenly bodies and of the earth itself. It describes the sphere of light that surrounds all living things. It is in the oviform that the potency of spirit in matter manifests. The Katakopanisad teaches that in the Spiritual Egg, Purusha or Divine Spirit stands before primordial matter and from their union springs the great Soul of the World." <Read more at Sources site>
And then there's "Humpty Dumpty", the great Eggman, and his famous last words, "Goo Goo g'Joob"; which are a little less clearly sourced then many folks believe it to be, most likely from Finnegan's Wake, "GooGoo Goosth", but attributed by the Beatles-fans as being the last thing he says after falling off the wall, "He was an Egg, afterall".
Ginkgo Biloba: The ginkgo leaves are shown above the heads of the Beatles in a photo-collage in the "Beatles Illustrated Lyrics", along with Strawberries, Roses and Acacia Leaves
"The ginkgo, native to China, figures prominently in Asian art as well as the Art Nouveau movement of the late nineteenth century, two fields of interest for the Smithsonian’s Sackler and Freer galleries. Ancient Chinese artists often depicted the Buddha’s Dragon Tree as a ginkgo. Chinese monks brought the ginkgo to Japan, where it was widely planted in temple gardens. In Japanese decorative art, the ginkgo’s distinctive fan-shaped leaf has carried symbolism along with its singular beauty: the ginkgo has been a symbol of longevity (the tree can live for a thousand years) and of a more profound endurance (four ginkgos survived the blast at Hiroshima and are still growing today)." <Source>
"Immortality is also symbolized in China by the Ginkgo, believed to be the oldest of all tree species to have survived unchanged. It was also grown around temples for this reason." (1,001S)
"Ginkgo is believed to have nootropic properties, and is mainly used as memory and concentration enhancer, and antivertigo agent." <Source>
Hand: Hands are a common "clue" for "Paul is Dead" theorists. There are a number of pictures with a hand above his head, which has led to speculation as to what this might mean. Also, Paul's "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" song features a second half singing about, "Hands across the water, Hands across the sky".
"Word origins frequently give clues as to the nature of objects and ideas. The Latin word for hand is manus, which carried the same root as the word, among others, "manifestation"; a clear indication that to be "manifest" is to be held in the hand or created by the hand. [...] In the Kabbalah, the left hand of God signifies justice, and his right hand, mercy. Blessings and benedictions are given with the right hand.[...]
This right-left symbolism of the hand occurs several times. The right hand is associated with cleanliness and the left, with dirt, and in some countries to offer someone your left hand is an insult.
" Definition of HAND OVER HEAD (archaic) : without heed of what one is really doing : rashly, recklessly" <Source>
"The laying on of hands is a religious ritual that accompanies certain religious practices, which are found throughout the world in varying forms.[...]
In Christian churches, this practice is used as both a symbolic and formal method of invoking the Holy Spirit primarily during baptisms and confirmations, healing services, blessings, and ordination of priests, ministers, elders, deacons, and other church officers, along with a variety of other church sacraments and holy ceremonies.[...]
Aaron and the High Priests who succeeded him symbolically transferred the sins of the Children of Israel to a sacrificial goat by the laying on of hands: Leviticus16:21.[...]
 | |
| Just a few of the hundreds of Mudras and partial meanings |
Honey: Songs include A Taste of Honey, Honey Don't, Honey Pie, Wild Honey Pie ALSO- Paul McCartney's Honey Hush, John Lennon's Album Milk and Honey, lyrics from his song, One Day (At a Time) {Cause you're the honey and I'm the bee}, Clean Up Time {Making bread and honey}, George Harrison's song, She's My Baby {She pours herself a drink. Says, "honey, honey, honey ain't no time to think"}, and Ringo Starr's song You Belong to Me {"oh, i will, honey"}- which I think is a hilarious rejoinder to, "Honey Don't.
"Legislation requires that all packaged food carry a "best before" date, but this seems to be particularly unnecessary in the case of honey, since jars of the stuff found in the tombs of Egyptian kings from several thousand years ago have proved to e perfectly edible even now. It could well be because honey is so long lasting, and because it is used as a preservative, that it is a symbol of immortality and used in funeral rites. [...]
The sweetness of honey is believed to confer gifts of learning and poetry. We'll never know if the story that Pythagoras existed on honey alone is true, but the fact that the rumor exists is in accord with his God-like status. [...]
Honey is said to be an aphrodisiac and to encourage fertility and virility, wealth and abundance, and is a symbol of the Sun, partly because of the flowers from which its made but also because of its color." (ISS)
"
A basic foodstuff, but which can also be a drink - like milk with which
it is often associated -, honey is a symbol of richness and sweetness
in all traditions. In the sacred texts of East and West, milk and honey
flow like a stream through the promised land. The Celtic traditions
celebrate mead as an immortal beverage. In Greek mythology, in which
honey is the drink of the gods of Olympus, it is the symbol of
knowledge, learning and wisdom , it is a food reserved for the elect,
the initiated, and to exceptional people in this world and the next.
Greek tradition claims that Pythagoras ate nothing but honey throughout
his entire life. All the great prophets refer to honey in the Scriptures. Speech is honey, it represents softness, justice, virtue and divine goodness. The Koran uses holy terms to talk of bees and honey :"Honey is the first blessing that God gave the earth". Virgil calls honey the celestial gift of the dew, dew itself being a symbol of initiation. Honey even designates supreme bliss and the state of Nirvana. Symbol of all sweetness, the honey of knowledge creates the happiness of mankind.
The perfection of honey makes it a major element in many religions rituals. For the Egyptians, honey was the tears of the god Râ and was a part of all the religious offerings in pharaonic Egypt. In Islam, according to the Prophet, it restores sight, preserves health and resuscitates the dead. For the American Indians, it plays a great part in ceremonies and the rites of initiation and purification. A source of inspiration, honey gave Pindar the gift of poetry and Pythagoras the gift of science.
In modern psychoanalytical thinking, honey symbolizes the "higher self" , the ultimate consequence of work on one's inner self. As the result of the transmutation of ephemeral pollen into a delicious food of immortality, honey symbolizes the transformation by initiation, the conversion of the soul, and the complete integration of the person." <Source>
"Bees were called by the Greeks and Romans the Birds of the Muses. The golden bees were supposed to have gathered honey for the poets on thyme-covered Mount Hymettus to sweeten their verses.[...]
Hindu poetry is literally drenched in honey. Madhukara (honeyborn) had three meanings: bee, lover and moon. There are many romantic Hindu tales associated with honey. [...]
Hippo: Mainly seen on the Cover of the Magical Mystery Tour, and in the movie, itself. It's a source of great mystery as to who was in the walrus costume, and who was in the other costumes, as covered by another blogger at Wizards, Buses and the Physiodelic Church. There is a ton of speculation around what the Walrus symbolizes, and that leads to wondering what the other animals symbolize, as well (See by post on Birds to learn more about the Parrot, and the up-coming posts about the Hare and Walrus).
It was generally believed that the creature generally preferred to mate with its own mother, while the Egyptians gave one of their evil deities, Typhon, the head of a hippopotamus. Generally, the animal is felt to be a cowardly and irreligious character." (ISS)
""The hippopotamus symbolizes brute animal strength in the Book of Job, where it appears under the name of Behemoth, a land creature corresponding to the Leviathan of the deeps. Both appear as awesome symbols of forces that illustrate the puny strength of humankind and its need for divine help.
"A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo and was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young. The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults." <Source>
The hippopotamus is sacred in both Egyptian and African traditions. Its name means ‘Water Horse’, and it spends nearly all day in the water, and when not in water obviously on land. This is the ancient realm of birth, power, creation, imagination, and healing." <Source>
"The
Hippopotamus symbolizes both fertility and destruction.[...] Pregnant
Egyptian women depended on the hybrid, but largely hippopotamus goddess
Taweret for protection and Amenti, "the bringer forth of waters" was one
of the several Egyptian aspects of The Great Goddess. The male hippo,
by contrast, because it frequently did damage to crops was a
manifestation of inimical forces in the world and was linked to the evil
Seth." <Source>Horse (Dark Horse / Pony): (Also see entry for Night) Images relating to horses come from the Beatles song, I Dig a Pony, George Harrison's song and Album, Dark Horse, and the scene in "Penny Lane" where the Beatles ride horses around Liverpool.
"[...] The horse belongs to the Sun and the element of fire. Horses proudly draw the chariot of the Sun God. At the same time the horse also belongs to the moon and the element of water, since it carried on its back the God of Oceans, too. [...] In Greece there is a sacred well, called Hippocrene (the Horse's Well), which is shaped like a horseshoe and is dedicated to the muses. Pegasus, the Winged horse, was said to have created this particular sacred well.
The horse symbolizes life and death, darkness and light, good and evil, depending on the context in which it is seen. As well as being a bringer of life, it is also a psychopomp, a creature that guides dead souls on the journey to the next life. As well as having spiritual significance, like the dog with which it shares many characteristics, their horse is valuable in purely practical terms, too. It represents power and wealth, since having a horse- or many horses- confers superiority on the owner, not only in terms of monetary value but in the distances he is able to cover and the speeds at which he can travel. This leads to another aspect of the horse- it is a symbol of freedom. Despite the fact that it can be trained the horse is not inferior to man bit is his equal.
The color of a horse, too carries great significance. Where a white horse appears, it is a symbol of virginal, the spiritual, and the godly. The Buddha, for example, chose to ride a white horse. The Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, is depicted on a white palfrey. The black horse, conversely often symbolizes death and the dark forces. A golden horse is emblematic of the sun and solar deities.
[...] A mare generally leads herds of horses, and the Horse Goddesses include Epona, the mother-Goddess of the ancient Britons, and Rhiannon. The sacred status of horses meant that the sacrifice of such creatures was a rare and profound event, and even today, there is repugnance among many people at the thought of eating horseflesh; not eating an animal is a sure sign that it is regarded as sacred." (ISS)
"All of these heady aspects of valor were associated with the Horse in Celt animal symbolism. In fact, so much so, the Celts hailed the Horse as the beast belonging to the sun god, and assigned it a place with the goddess Epona (see Celtic Gods & Goddesses for more information on Epona).[...]
In Hindu Brihadaranyaka, the Horse is linked to Varuna and as such, is equated to the cosmos. Additionally, a white horse is believed to be the last incarnation of Vishnu.
Buddha is said to have left this physical plane riding a white horse. Also in Buddhism a winged horse is often depicted carrying the Book of Law.[...]
Black Horse: Mystery, death, night, secret, messenger of esoteric knowledgeWhite Horse: Light, sun, day, vitality, illumination, resurrection, messenger of birth" <Source>
"A
dark horse is a little-known person or thing that emerges to
prominence, especially in a competition of some sort or a contestant
that seems unlikely to succeed." <Source>
"I Dig a Pony" (I Dig Epona?) from the rooftop concert starts at 3:47
"along with the rose and the lotus, the lily comprises a sacred trinity of the most important flower symbols in the world.
The lily is a symbol of the Goddess, in whatever form she may take, and the Babylonian Goddess Lilith- reputedly the first wife of Adam- who was later demonized by the Christian church, takes her name from the name of the lily or the Lilu (Lotus). The flower is also sacred to Astarte, whose name in parts of Europe is Eostre, which gives us the word, "Easter"; hence the lilies which have become a symbol of a much older association. [...]
The lily- particularly the calla lily- is also a symbol of resurrection, which is why it is used at funeral and sometimes appears on gravestones." (ISS)
"The flower most commonly associated with funeral services in the popular mind is the lily. Lilies are often interpreted as a symbol of the innocence that has been restored to the soul of the departed. A white stargazer lily symbolizes sympathy and any type of white lily expresses majesty and purity." <Source>}
Lotus: The Lotus comes up in various Beatles images, especially associated with the Maharashi. Also- Tara Brown's car was a Lotus Elan.
"Both the otherworldly appearance of the [lotus] flower and its growing circumstances make it obvious that the flower is somehow very special indeed. It's therefore no surprise that the flower is one of eight auspicious symbols in both Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist iconography.
Because the lotus retreats back into the water during the hours of darkness only to rise again above the surface of the water at dawn, the Egyptians saw it as a symbol of death and rebirth.
[...] Lotus has 8 petals, symbolizing the four cardinal directions and the four inter-cardinal directions, as well as the rulers of the eight directions of the universe, or Ashtadikpalas. [...]
In Hindu iconography, the lotus is seen as the base of the earth from which the holy mountains (such as Kailash and Meru) rise. The stalk of the flower is associated with the world axis which rises up through this sacred mountain." (ISS)
Marigold: "The King of Marigold was in the kitchen / Cooking breakfast for the Queen / The Queen was in the parlor / Playing piano for the children of the King."
"Marigolds are known as the "Herb of the Sun" and are symbolic of passion and creativity. The Welsh believed that if marigolds were not open early in the morning, then a storm was on the way. Marigolds have been used as love charms and incorporated into wedding garlands. Water made from marigolds was thought to induce psychic visions of fairies if rubbed on the eyelids. In some cultures, marigold flowers have been added to pillows to encourage prophetic or psychic dreams.
My statement on the meaning of meat: meat denotes sacrifice:
In some manner, when you are seeing or thinking about meat, you are
observing sacrifice. Meat is the result of lost life. Meat comes about
through the process of living, and then dying- whether it be from
intentional sacrifice (like the Druidic "Year King" or a sacrificed
lamb), or through homicide, accident or slaughtering for the
transference of the energy from one life to provide energy for the
consuming life. Meat is also associated with sexuality through the Latin
root "Carne" meaning "flesh" which arises in words like carnivore and
carnal. Because of the specific meaning of meat, as opposed to corpse,
as being the transferring of the protein energies collected in one
lifetime to feed and provide protein energies to another, living, life
and therefore sustaining that life; it also indicates rebirth,
reincarnation (there's carne again), or the passing on of life to the
next one. Other interesting information about meat:
Dionysis and the Maenads from the Dionysian mystery Religions: "Dionysus [...] was the god of the grape harvest, wine making and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. [...] He is a god of epiphany, "the god that comes," and his "foreignness" as an arriving outsider-god may be inherent and essential to his cults. [...] He is an example of a dying god .
The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a mature male, bearded and robed. He holds a fennel staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known as a thyrsus. Later images show him as a beardless, sensuous, naked or half-naked androgynous youth: the literature describes him as womanly or "man-womanish."[...] His procession (thiasus) is made up of wild female followers (maenads) and bearded satyrs with erect penises. Some are armed with the thyrsus, some dance or play music.[...] This procession is presumed to be the cult model for the human followers of his Dionysian Mysteries. In his Thracian mysteries, he wears the bassaris or fox-skin, symbolizing a new life. Dionysus is represented by city religions as the protector of those who do not belong to conventional society and thus symbolizes everything which is chaotic, dangerous and unexpected, everything which escapes human reason and which can only be attributed to the unforeseeable action of the gods.
He was also known as Bacchus[...], the name adopted by the Romans and the frenzy he induces, bakkheia. His thyrsus is sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey. It is a beneficent wand but also a weapon, and can be used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. He is also the Liberator (Eleutherios), whose wine, music and ecstatic dance frees his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subverts the oppressive restraints of the powerful. Those who partake of his mysteries are possessed and empowered by the god himself. His cult is also a "cult of the souls"; his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings, and he acts as a divine communicant between the living and the dead.[...]
Initiates worshipped him in the Dionysian Mysteries, which were comparable to and linked with the Orphic Mysteries, and may have influenced Gnosticism. Orpheus was said to have invented the Mysteries of Dionysus. " <Source>
Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by him into a state of ecstatic frenzy, through a combination of dancing and drunken intoxication. In this state, they have complete control over the human species where they would make them lose all self-control, begin shouting excitedly, engage in uncontrolled sexual behavior, and ritualistically hunt down and tear to pieces animals—and, at least in myth, sometimes men and children—devouring the raw flesh or heart.[...]
Orpheus: "Son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope, Orpheus was a wonderful musician from Thrace who was married to the beautiful Eurydice. He played the lyre and sang so well that the wild animals were tamed and the rivers stopped to listen. [...]
The most famous story about Orpheus is about his wife's death. Eurydice was bit by a snake and descended into Hades. Orpheus then followed her to the kingdom of death, and managed to soften Hades heart with his beautiful music. Hades agreed to let Eurydice go, if Orpheus promised not to look at her until they had reached daylight. When they were almost there, Orpheus thought he could no longer hear his wife's footsteps, and looked back, only to see the screaming Eurydice being pulled back into the underworld.
Orpheus was also one of the Argonauts in Jason's expedition for the Golden Fleece. He manage to save the crew from the terrible Sirens by singing more beautifully than them.[...]
"Orpheus was famous for two things - he revealed the ways of initiation, and he taught men to abstain from killing.[...]
And in cultural relevancy, we have an exhibit A: "Carolee Schneemann [...] is an American visual artist, known for her discourses on the body, sexuality and gender. [...] Schneemann's works have been associated with a variety of art classifications including Fluxus, Neo-Dada, the Beat Generation, and happenings.[...]
[Film] The 1964 piece Meat Joy revolved around eight partially nude figures dancing and playing with various objects and substances including wet paint, sausage, raw fish, scraps of paper, and raw chickens. It was first performed in Paris and was later filmed and photographed as performed by her Kinetic Theater group at Judson Memorial Church. She described the piece as an "erotic rite" and an indulgent Dionysian "celebration of flesh as material."Meat Joy is similar to the art form happenings in that they both use improvisation and focused on conception, rather than execution." <Source>
"Meat Joy" is super weird. Watch at your own risk, Lol.
Moondog: Moondog
has an old association with the Beatles, being one of their earliest
names (Johnny and the Moondogs). Also, the lyric in, I Dig a Pony, "I pick a moon dog/Well you can radiate everything you are/Yes you can radiate everything you are/ Oh now".
At 2:45 in this video, during The Kennedy Awards televised program, Alec Baldwin is giving a speech about Paul and says, "Paul, we honor you tonight for your career as a Beatle, the leader of Wings, and incredible solo performer, creator of our favorite songs, and, yes...as a Moon dog, too." Paul is wearing a Rainbow-coloured ribbon lanyard around his black suit lapel, looking like a moondog'd moon.
"A moon dog, moondog, or mock moon,is a relatively rare bright circular spot on a lunar halo caused by the refraction of moonlight by hexagonal-plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. Moondogs appear 22° to the left and right of the moon. They are exactly analogous to sun dogs, but are rarer because to be produced the moon must be bright and therefore full or nearly full. Moondogs show little color to the unaided eye because their light is not bright enough to activate the cone cells of humans' eyes." <Source>
"Moon Ring Weather Folklore: Folklore has it that a ring around the moon signifies bad weather is coming, and in many cases this may be true. So how can rings around the moon be a predictor of weather to come? The ice crystals that cover the halo signify high altitude, thin cirrus clouds that normally precede a warm front by one or two days. Typically, a warm front will be associated with a low pressure system which is commonly referred to as a storm." <Source>
The similar phenomenon called coronas are produced by water droplets and they are much smaller and more colorful than 22° halos." <Source>
From, Symbolic mythology and translation of a lost and forgotten language By
John Martin Woolsey, "Sirius was called the dog star because it watched
the rise of the Nile, and Anubis, the moon dog, was the watchman of the
night, and so the star became the star of Anubus". (quick Reader on wiki basic of Anubis, the Egyptian jackal-headed guide, protector and embalmer to the dead)
<Interesting history of the etymology of the term Rock and Roll here>
but the excerpt pertaining to the musician and conflict regarding the
name Moondog, "In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed would
begin playing this type of music for his white audience, and it is Freed
who is credited with coining the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the
rollicking R&B music that he brought to the airwaves. The term,
with its simultaneous allusions to dancing, sex, and the sound of the
music itself, stuck even with those who didn't absorb all the meanings.Originally Freed used the name Moondog for himself and any concerts or promotions he put on. This arose from the fact he used a piece of music called "Moondog Symphony" by the street musician Moondog as his repeated opening music for his radio show. Moondog subsequently sued Freed on grounds that he was stealing his name. Since Freed was no longer allowed to use the term Moondog he needed a new catch phrase." [see source above] Please do go check out this link to read about one of the Albums by Moondog, called Moondog. I'd be interested in hearing track 7.
Night: The song John Lennon wrote for young Julian Lennon, "Good Night" (sung by Ringo Starr) from the White Album, Hard Days Night, The Night Before. Also in relation to Dark Horse, Paul McCartney's No More Lonely Nights, Every Night, Beautiful Night; Wings' When The Night; John Lennon's Whatever Gets You Through the Night, Sleepless Night> (How do you sleep? How?); George Harrison's Last Night, P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night), (Traveling Wilbury's) Where Were You Last Night , Ringo Starr's Night And Day, Woman Of The Night, Tango All Night, Mystery Of The Night (some authored, some just preformed by Ringo, but he was always more the performer than the writer, no? Ringo's music is all in his song choices).
"The Greeks personified night as a mother Goddess, Nyx, who was the mother of the sky as well as the daughter of Chaos. Nyx governed all things nocturnal: sleep, dreams, death, night-loving animals, and occult matters. She is depicted being drawn across the dark sky by four black horses, and followed by the Fates and the Furies. This may be the Greek representation of night, bits shared by the other cultures, too; the Mayans used the same hieroglyphic symbol to describe the concepts of night, death and darkness. Latterly, the night has become synonymous with matters belonging to the subconscious, and we speak of a difficult time as being a 'dark night of the soul."
"Night is a highly ambivalent symbol, but peace and refuge from care are among its positive emblematic meanings. In art its Greek personification, Nyx, is shown as a winged mother of two children, a white one representing sleep a dark one representing death. Sleep was personified in Greek mythology by a youthful god, Hypnos, who sometimes appears in art wearing a poppy in his hair, symbolizing the narcotic-like tranquility of deep sleep." (1,001S)
In the Dharmic religions such as Hindu and Buddhism, the fact that the layers of the onion can be peeled away, and that it has no central core, makes it analogous with the ego; eventually, there is barrier to the spirit world and all is One. The first line of the Onion Song by Marvin Gaye reflects this sentiment; 'The world is just a great big onion...'." (ISS)
"Onions, members of the lily, or allium, family, are one of the oldest known cultivated vegetables and are among the world’s most popular vegetables[...]
Our word "onion” comes from the Middle English “unyun”, which in turn comes from the French “oignon”, ultimately deriving from the Latin "unio", meaning one or unity, because an onion grows as a single bulb.[...]
In ancient Egypt, the onion symbolized eternity because of its circle-within-a-circle structure. Paintings of onions appear on the inner walls of the pyramids and in the tombs of both the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom.
The onion is mentioned as an Egyptian funeral offering and is depicted on the banquet tables of the great feasts. Frequently, a priest is pictured holding onions in his hand or covering an altar with a bundle of their leaves or roots.[...]
'It was for bringing the cook tulip-roots instead of onions.'
—The reason the Queen of Hearts wants to behead the Seven-of-Spades in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
You peel it off one layer at a time;
And sometimes you weep.”
—Carl Sandburg, American poet" <Source>
Parrot: "Possibly the best-known quality of the parrot is
its ability to talk, or more specifically mimic. To learn something
"parrot fashion" is to memorize something without necessarily knowing
what it means. It is not determined whether the parrot famed as a pet of
Julius Caesar that was taught to shriek "Hail Caesar" whenever its
master was near, was fully aware of what it was saying.[...] There's a
traditional series of folktales, originally written in Sanskrit, called
"Tales of a Parrot,' which is a "chain" of stories similar in style to
the Arabian Nights. In this morality tale, the parrot relates 70 stories
to stop a woman from taking the wrong path in life." (ISS)}
Pepper: Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, also George Harrison's Thanks for the Pepperoni.
Peppercorns were a much-prized trade good, often referred to as "black gold" and used as a form of commodity money. On the other hand, because of a peppercorn's individual size, the term "peppercorn rent" refers to a token payment made for something that is in fact being given.[...]
Black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death in 1213 BCE.[...]
As pepper supplies into Europe increased, the price of pepper declined (though the total value of the import trade generally did not). Pepper, which in the early Middle Ages had been an item exclusively for the rich, started to become more of an everyday seasoning among those of more average means."<Source>
From a paper on Irish Serpent Symbolism, Appendix, symbolism in other cultures (Egyptian, here), "APEP / APOPHIS (The Egyptian serpent of darkness. This is the origin of terms such as Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Sergeant Pepper, and Pepsid, etc.)." <Source> I haven't been able to find more on this statement, yet, but will continue to look and update as I triangulate this bit of information. Though, I thought this was interesting, "In the tomb of Ramesses VI in the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank at Thebes (modern Luxor), Apophis is shown with twelve heads above its back representing those he has swallowed who are freed, if only briefly, when he is vanquished." <Source>
Like Set, Apep was also associated with various frightening natural events such as unexplained darkness such as solar eclipse, storms and earthquakes. They were both linked to the northern sky (a place that the Egyptians considered to be cold, dark and dangerous) and they were both at times associated with Taweret, the demon-goddess. However, unlike Set he was always a force for evil and could not be reasoned with." <Source>
The
Rabbit and the Hare are almost inter-changeable for many, So they are
listed here together. One of the animals on the Magical Mystery Tour was
a Hare, the White Rabbit is core for my Wonderland angle, and then we
have the line from Paul McCartney's Band on the Run, "Well, the
undertaker drew a heavy sigh seeing no one else had come, And a bell was
ringing in the village square for the rabbits on the run." Because of its fecundity and gregarious nature, the rabbit is a symbol for peace and love by some Native Americans. There is a courtship ritual called the Rabbit Dance." (ISS)
The hare is renowned for its fertility, and it is in this guise that it is simplified as the Easter Bunny. The springtime goddess Eostre governed over the cycles of fertility, and so her symbol was the egg; hence the chocolate eggs given to children at Easter. [...]
The fact that the animal is not eaten is generally s sign that it has sacred status. [..] Pre-Christian Celtic people similarly regarded the hare as something too sacred to consider eating; they were kept as pets. [...]" (ISS)
" Rabbit, Hare- Guile, Quick-Thinking, Humility, Strengthening Intuition, Releasing Fear, Overcoming the Past, Resolution to Change, Fertility, New Life, Alertness, Nurturing, Rebirth, Balance." <Source>
Rain: Most famously, the Beatles' song, Rain, but also Fixing a Hole (where the rain gets in!), Penny Lane (in the pouring rain), Hey Bulldog (Sheepdog standing in the rain), I'll Follow the Sun (for tomorrow may rain), Across the Universe (words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup), I Am the Walrus (if the sun don't come, you get a tan from standing in the English rain), The Long and Winding Road (that the rain washed away), Two of Us (wearing raincoats). As well, we also have Paul McCartney's song, Driving Rain, Too Much Rain, Rainclouds and a number of songs by John and George that use the lyric, "Rain".
"Vital symbol of fecundity linked to divine blessings or punishments. Emblem of purity." (CESS)
Rain drops can symbolize heaven's tears and the accompanying lightening can be seen as heaven's anger (for example, thunderbolts were the favored weapon of Zeus, etc.). Rain is a symbol for tears, sorrow, anger, cleansing, renewal, forgiveness and more -- usually on a heavenly, worldly or very large sort of personal scale. This is not a visual symbol for small sorrows or everyday events." <Source>
"Large drops of rain warn that there has just been a death. If rain falls on a funeral procession, the deceased will go to heaven. " <Source>
See "Moondog" for a approaching storm symbolism.
Raven: Though
not mentioned specifically by the Beatles in lyrics, I would argue the
imagery of "Blackbird", for many people leads to the visualization of a
Raven or Crow, especially with the "dead of night" setting; therefore I will include some Raven symbolism. Since
Edgar Allen Poe is prominently on the Sgt. Pepper's album cover, and he
is most notably known for his poem "The Raven", I feel the raven is
rightly tied in. "The raven belongs to the most intelligent of all the birds. To give some idea of its intelligence, if the average IQ for a human being is measures at the 100 mark, then the average IQ of a raven is 138. Its linguistic skills are legendary, and it is possible that the raven can understand as well as imitate human words. It is this intelligence, and the playful nature of the raven. that makes it the ultimate symbol of the trickster. [...]
More sinisterly, the raven is seen as a harbinger of death, as personified in the Morrigan, the great Battle Goddess of Celtic myth who takes the form of a raven. The raven is a carrion bird and was often to be seen at the site of battles, making a grim meal of the bloody remains of the defeated army. In addition, the spooky black appearance of the bird certainly lends itself to the dark imagery posited by horror stories. In the Mahabharata, the bird is a messenger of death, but paradoxically to those of a Western sensibility, this does not mean that the bird is a symbol of ill omen. [...]
The
ravens at the Tower of London are a symbol of protection par
excellence. Birds have been kept in this spot for a thousand years, due
to the ancient legend that the country would be safe from invaders while
the Ravens remained there. Indeed this idea is so firmly entrenched in
the national psyche that when the raven population dwindled during the
Second World War, Winston Churchill arranged that ravens be "imported"
from Wales to keep the country safe.Despite its color, the Ancient Greeks had the raven as a solar symbol, and it is dedicated to the Goddess Athena and the God Apollo." (ISS)
Countless cultures point to the raven as a harbinger of powerful secrets. Moreover, the raven is a messenger too, so its business is in both keeping and communicating deep mysteries.
Raven symbolism of wisdom and knowledge-keeping is connected with the Welsh hero Bran, the Blessed whose name means raven. Bran was the holder of ancestral memories, and his wisdom was legendary. So much so, that he had his head (the vessel of his powerful wisdom) removed and interred in the sacred White Mount in London. Ravens are still roosting there (in the Tower of London), and they're thought to keep Bran's wisdom protected and alive by their presence." <Follow link to source site>; Also- It's very worthwhile to learn more about Bran as a Celtic oracle here:More about Bran and Celtic Skulls Symbolism}
"[...] The rose is a natural mandala or wheel, the layers of petals describing a perfectly symmetrical circle around its yellow center, itself reminiscent of the Sun.
"Roses were scattered on Roman graves as funerary emblems of mourning to symbolize not only the painful brevity of human life but also the hope of life continuing in a world beyond this" (1,001S)
(Please
note that this video is not an actual Paul McCartney video, I believe
it is from the Iamaphoney studios. However, below I have the origins of
this song)
Paul also later recorded a very strange song called Shoes. Shoes are kind of a big part of the PID story, and we'll examine the story behind the Abbey Road shoes more in a later post.
I'll also note here the line in George Harrison's song, Beware of Darkness, "beware the soft shoe shuffler". There is also the line from John Lennon's Serve Yourself, "You're lucky to have a damned pair of shoes!" and the line from his song Crippled inside, "you can shine you're shoes/and wear a suit/you can comb your hair/and look/quite cute/you can hide your face/behind a smile/one thing you can't hide/is when you're crippled inside". John does a cover of Blue Suede Shoes, George does a cover of Old Brown Shoe.
I was unable to find any link between mafia meanings of barefoot, and I determined that people in Europe were sometimes buried without shoes, but this wasn't always the case, and you can find examples of antique burial slippers.
"Never wear anything new to a funeral, especially shoes." <Source: Victorian funeral customs, fears and superstitions>
"At their most basic level, shoes represent human frailty.[...] In the western world, shoes were often associated with good luck and safe travel. The tradition of throwing old shoes at ships insured a sailor’s safe return and continues in the form of tying shoes to the Newlywed getaway car." <Source>
In gravestone symbolism, empty shoes symbolize the loss of a child. Usually one shoe is overturned. Thus shoes represent human frailty." <Source>
"In the Holy Bible's Old Testament, the shoe is used to symbolize something that is worthless or of little value. In the New Testament, the act of removing one's shoes symbolizes servitude. The Semites regarded the act of removing their shoes as a mark of reverence when approaching a sacred person or place. In the Book of Exodus, Moses was instructed to remove his shoes before approaching the burning bush:
“ Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy ground (Exodus 3:5). ”
The removal of the shoe also symbolizes the act of giving up a legal right. In Hebrew custom, the widow removed the shoe of her late husband's brother to symbolize that he had abandoned his duty. In Arab custom, the removal of one's shoe also symbolized the dissolution of marriage.[...]
Empty shoes may also symbolize death. In Greek culture, empty shoes are the equivalent of the American funeral wreath. For example, empty shoes placed outside of a Greek home would tell others that the family's son has died in battle." <Source>
Barefoot have several meanings. For example, nakedness of feet is a sign of mourning. God says to Ezekiel, the priest (Ezekiel 24:17) “Make no mourning for the dead......and put on thy shoes upon thy feet.” David is said to have gone from Jerusalem barefoot, when he fled from Absalom. It is also a mark of respect. In the Koran we find the passage “Surely I am your Lord, therefore put off your shoes......." (Ta Ha 20:12). Muslims do indeed leave their shoes at the door of a mosque before entering. In Christianity we find that Moses took off his shoes to approach the burning bush where the angel of the Lord called to Moses (Exodus 3:5); priests serving in the Tabernacle (a tent sanctuary used by the Israelites during the Exodus) did so with their feet naked, as they did afterwards in the Temple. This is likely what is referred to in our rituals.
The foot is said to represent the soul, as it serves to support the entire body and keep it upright. Demonic beings, for this reason, were often depicted with feet that differed to those of man, or were turned the wrong way. [...]
One
direction Pythagoras gave to his disciples was "Offer sacrifice and
worship with thy shoes off." Maimonides, the great expounder of the
Jewish Law, asserts that "it was not lawful for a man to come into the
mountain of God's house with his shoes on his feet, or with his staff,
or in his working garments, or with dust on his feet." The Druids also
practiced this by performing their rites barefooted, as did the
Peruvians before they entered the temple to worship the Sun." <Source> In the Book of Isaiah (20:2), Isaiah is commanded to remove his sandals as a sign of mourning. Shoes also play a part in the mourning period after a death. During the period of shiva, the seven days of mourning, leather shoes may not be worn. In Talmudic times, both the pall bearers and the mourners went barefoot." <Source>
"To go barefoot was a sign of great distress (Isa. 20:2, 3, 4), or of some great calamity having fallen on a person (2 Sam. 15:30). [...]
The word [barefoot] is found in the following passages: English Versions of the Bible, "He went barefoot" (2 Sam 15:30); "(Isaiah) did so, walking .... barefoot" (Isa 20:2); and like the Egyptians, "naked and barefoot" (Isa 20:3,4). It seems that David in his flight before Absalom "went barefoot," not to facilitate his flight, but to show his grief (2 Sam 15:30), and that Micah (1:8) makes "going barefoot" a sign of mourning [...]. The nakedness and bare feet of the prophet Isaiah (20:2) may have been intended to symbolize and express sympathy for the forlorn condition of captives [...].
Jastrow [...] presents a view worth considering of going barefoot as a sign of mourning and then of grief in general [...]. All these passages seem to imply the discomfort or going barefoot on long journeys, over stony roads or hot sands; but then, as now, in the Orient sandals seem to have been little worn ordinarily in and around the house." <Source>
"Many people in ancient times, such as the Egyptians, Hindus and Greeks, saw little need for footwear and, most of the time, preferred being barefoot. [...] The ancient Greeks largely viewed footwear as self-indulgent, unaesthetic and unnecessary. Shoes were primarily worn in the theater as a means of increasing stature, and many preferred to go barefoot.[...]
Bare feet have also come to symbolize innocence or childhood, and this may be one reason why hippies often went barefoot during the counterculture movement of the 1960s.[...]
It is also customary in Judaism and some Christian denominations to go barefoot while mourning. Some Christian churches practice barefoot pilgrimage traditions.[...]
It was an integral part of most slave laws ("slave codes") to mandate that slaves have to go barefoot as a matter of course. For example, the Cape Town slave code states that, "Slaves must go barefoot and must carry passes." This was also seen in states that abolished slavery later in history, such as Brazil, as most images from the slavery period suggest that slaves were barefoot. In Zimbabwe, prisoners must be barefoot as well. Shoes have been considered as badges of freedom since biblical time." <Source>
Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, the swan is believed to be silent until its moment of death, when its song is said to be the first and last sound it utters. Therefore, ":Swansong" has come to mean the final expression of an artists work, for example, or the late resurgence before a final demise. Curiously, though, the name "swan" comes from an Anglo-Saxon word sounder, which has the same root as "sound" or "sonnet".
Swans are said to mate for life and so are emblematic of fidelity and longevity.
 |
| Leda and The Swan - Leonardo da Vinci |
In the UK, the swan is under the protection of the Crown. This legislation is believed to date back to the twelfth century, even today only the household of the ruling monarch is allowed to eat the meat of the swan. In Germany, oaths were taken upon the swan.
The swan is a symbol of the poet; Druidic bards wore cloaks made of swans feathers as a shamanic totem to enable them to contact the spirit of the muse. It was because of this that Ben Johnson refers to Shakespeare as the "sweet swan of Avon". In ancient Greece, the swan was the attribute of the muses and the symbol for Apollo, the god to whom poetry and song belong. Apollo could shape-shift into the form of a swan, and when he was born, seven swans flew around the island of his birth, seven times.
Two swans are frequently depicted as being joined by a chain. This imagery appears all over the world, and although there is likely some conjecture about what this symbol means, it is likely to signify the spiritual and material worlds that the bird symbolizes, because it moves in the elements of water, earth and air. Sometimes one of the birds appears with the solar wheel, signifying the fourth element, fire. Swans pulled the chariot of the Sun. Eros, too, the God of Love, traveled in a chariot drawn by swans in their guise as symbols of fidelity and love.
Hindu belief supports this idea supports this idea of the swan as symbolic of a creature that resides between two worlds. Because it moves in the elements of water and air, the swan represents both the spiritual and material world. Some myths have the goose as the bird that laid the egg from which the Universe hatched, but in India, the swan is given this honor: the Hamsa is a mythical water bird that symbolizes the union of spirit and matter and is symbolized with two swans. The Parama Hamsa represents the Supreme Self, and its name means Supreme Swan." (ISS) See also: The Cygnus Mystery Swan-goose
Star: I'm including star because of the choice made for Richard Starkey to take on the stage-name of Ringo Starr. It's notable that he is the only one who uses a stage name. Ringo Starr...Ringed Star. They also got a good bit of their start at The Star-Club in Hamburg. Songs with the lyric "star" include, Drive My Car, "I wanna be famous, a star on the screen," Act Naturally, "They're gonna make a big star out of me," and the alluded-to stars in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. As well there is John Lennon's Instant Karma "Well we all shine on Like the moon and the stars and the sun."
"The
star is universally accepted as a symbol, and as a part of our everyday
language. To call someone a "star" is a great compliment. Our ancestors
believed that each star had its own spirit, maybe that of a deity, an
unborn soul, or the soul of a dead person that had a particularly
notable life, an idea that is completely in accord with our use of the
word to denote fame; however, there are always positive connotations
surrounding the word. The light of a star is only visible in
juxtaposition to the darkness surrounding it.[...] there are hundreds,
if not thousands of different star symbols. The number of points in the
star is an important part of the design. [...]" (ISS)
[Under Pentacle]: "Sometimes there is confusion between the pentacle and the pentagram. For the record, the pentagram is the five-pointed star symbol, whereas the pentacle is a more generic term for a mystical or magical symbol. [...]
The pentacle can be made of any material, although Trithemius (a fifteen-century abbot with a great knowledge of the occult) recommended 'virgin parchment' or a square plate of silver. Various symbols and signs that are appropriate for its intended use are then drawn or engraved on the pentacle[...]." (ISS)
If an apple is cut across it's 'equator' then the pattern of the seeds is revealed, a perfect five-pointed star or pentagram. The repercussions of this hidden magical symbol are far-reaching. Five, comprised of the feminine number 2 and the masculine number 3, is the number of harmony, of the union of opposites, and of marriage. It is also the number of humankind because of the five points of extremity of the human body. When Eve gave Adam the Apple of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, therefore, it was not just a piece of fruit she was offering him, but a potent symbol of wisdom. {More about Apples in my post, here}
Eating the fruit that contains the pentagram resulted in a profound awakening for Adam and Eve. They became not only aware of their own sexual nature, but they realized that they could make their own choices.
The ubiquity of this sign can't be stressed enough. It [sic] has associated not only with pagan practice but also with Christian mysticism, druidry, magic, sacred geometry, alchemy, the Kabbalah; it appears in the Tarot where it can represent the suit of coins, and its important in Freemasonry, where it is called the "Blazing Star".
One instance of its use was as a secret symbol whereby followers of Pythagoras could recognize one another, since, as Adam had discovered, it was the key to higher knowledge. [...]
In the Kabbalah, the pentagram represents the upper five Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, whose qualities are justice, mercy, wisdom, understanding, and transcendent splendor.
Freemasonry draws upon much of the Pythagorean symbolism of the Pentagram, although it is also seen as a reminder that Christ was spirit descended into matter, and as such represents the Star of Bethlehem.
The Pentagram is the sign of Venus, both the planet known as the morning star, and the Goddess. Over the course of four years and one day,, the planet describes the shape of a pentagram in the sky. Uniquely, Venus is the only planet whose movements trace such a graphically recognizable symbol, a secret sign written in the sky." (ISS)
The five-pointed [sic- Eight-pointed] star, an ancient emblem of the Assyrian warrior Goddess Ishtar (a divine personification of the planet Venus), became a more widespread symbol of both military and spiritual transcendence [...]." (1,001S)
Strawberry: Strawberry Fields Forever, also in the photo-collage from "The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics 2" by Allen Aldridge referenced in the Acacia and Ginkgo posts.
"The sacred strawberry is one of the fruits that grew in the Elysian Fields, the resting place of blessed souls. There is also strong Christian symbolism associated with the strawberry plant.
The 3 parts of the leaf are emblematic of the Holy Trinity, and the white flowers stand for the purity of the Virgin Mary and the innocence of Christ. The fruit of the strawberry has neither thorns nor pips and is eaten whole, thereby representing good deeds; the red color symbolizes the blood of Christ. Where strawberries grow at the feet of the Virgin in religious paintings, the plant carries all these different meanings.
There is a legend that mothers whose children have died should not pick strawberries before Midsummer Day, because this is the day the spirits of the dead children are taken strawberry picking. The mothers should leave the fruit for their children.[...]" (ISS)
"The strawberry is a berry that is attached to many positive thing through symbolism and folklore. The flowers and berries together symbolize righteousness and spiritual merit in Christian art. The structure of the leaves, being trifoliate, represents the trinity. Pagan tradition echoes this in that the three leaves are thought to represent the three-fold Earth or Mother Goddess.In Victorian flower language, the berry symbolizes perfection and “sweetness in life and character.” It also represents modesty because the berries are often found under the leaves.[...]
In mythology, Strawberries are connected to the Norse goddess of love, Freyja. Also, a Norse legend exists where the spirits of children enter the afterlife by hiding in strawberries that are taken to heaven by Frigga, Oden’s wife." <Source>
Sun: Beatles song titles include Here Comes the Sun, Sun King, Good Day Sunshine, I'll Follow the Sun and from the Love album "Nus Gnik". There is also Paul McCartney's Good Times Coming/Feel The Sun, Sun is Shining, and Ou Est la Soleil. Also there is the association with Cirque Du Soleil with the Love Album Show. See also Dawn and Sunflower for more relationships
To our ancestors, when the sun tipped over the edge of the sky on the western horizon it disappeared into the Land of the Dead. They believed, therefore, that as well as being the bringer of life, the Sun could also take life away- Godlike powers indeed. [...] As such, the Sun becomes a malevolent force. Generally, however, the heat and light of the Sun are seen worldwide to be celestial gifts conferred to our planet and all the life to which it plays host.
"As the celestial body that outshone all others, the sun became an inevitable symbol of royalty. In the long Egyptian history of Sun worship, Pharaohs were so identified with the sun itself that even priests of the great reforming Pharaoh Akhenaten described him as being formed from soar rays. The symbolic links between royalty and the sun were transferred to the metal and hue Gold. At their accession , rulers of the Inca empire in Peru were once covered in resin sprayed with gold dust, hence the Amazonian legends of E Dorado (the gilded ones). At their death they were embalmed as 'children of the sun' and seated in temples on golden thrones.
Sixteenth-century English courtiers made play with the idea of Henry VIII as the sun around which they revolved, and in the following century the architecture and statuary of Versailles were designed to symbolize the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV as the Sun King.
(under
Divinity) The sun was seen everywhere as the center of the universe and
has been worshiped as an actual divinity in innumerable cultures and
traditions, if not always as the supreme deity. The Emperors of Rome
abandoned the cult of Sol, their sun deity, only when Constantine
converted to Christianity in 324ce. So popular with the Roman army was
the male solar cult of Mithraism based on the Indo-Iranian sun god) in
the 3rd century, that the Emperor Aurelian names 25 December as the
birthday of Mithras, the 'Unconquerable Sun'- a choice of date which was
soon taken over by Christianity as the emblematic birthday of Jesus,
the new God of Light.In Peru and Egypt, where sun cults reached their highest form of development, the supposed kinship between the monarchy and the 'father' god, allowed kings to claim divine status for themselves.
Sun Flower: Referred to in "Free as a Bird", was worn by John in "Blue Jay Way", the Wizards caps in Magical Mystery Tour have Sunflowers on them, and Peter Brown stated that George put one on Brian Epstein's coffin when he was buried.
The Seed head of the sunflower contains a magical symbol. It shows a perfect example of the golden spiral that has been created naturally. The shape is one of the cornerstones of sacred geometry." (ISS)
<Interesting stuff here about Sunflowers and Michael Jackson> }
"Both in Chukotka and Alaska, the aurora borealis is believed to be a special world inhabited by those who died by violence, the changing rays representing deceased souls playing ball with a walrus head.
Another appearance of the walrus in literature is in the story "The White Seal" in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, where it is the "old Sea Vitch—the big, ugly, bloated, pimpled, fat-necked, long-tusked walrus of the North Pacific, who has no manners except when he is asleep". <Source>
Another legend, the story of Arnakpaktuq or Arnaqtatuuq, tells how a shaman decided to be reborn as many different species of animals, in order to find out how they lived. At one point he lived as a walrus. He said that the walruses were friendly and pleasant to live with, except that they kissed a lot and their kiss (perhaps used to suck molluscs off the bottom of the ocean) was very powerful.
A third myth, widespread across the whole Arctic, tells of how walruses were created from the third finger joints of Sedna, when her father cut them off." <Source>
Other notable Walrus associations: "Barry White, who was popularly known as 'The Walrus of Love'. Supermarine Walrus- a British amphibious aircraft of World War II, Westland Walrus- a British reconnaissance aircraft of the 1920s, HNLMS Walrus- two submarines of the Royal Netherlands Navy,
AND...then there is this: [From: The Lion, the Witch and the Walrus Images of the Sorcerous North in the 16th and 17th centuries, Stefan Donecker (European University Institute, Florence)]"In the 15th century legendary Saga of Hjálmþér and Ölver (Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvers), the two heroes and their companion, Hörðr, flee the wrath of evil King Hundingr. In a feat of amazing saga shapeshifting, the king transforms himself into a walrus and pursues the heroes' ship:
A little while after, they saw a great walrus making for them, angry and frightful to behold. “There”, said Hörðr, “is a creature very ill-disposed towards me, that I may not look upon. [...] You must not name my name while he is here, for if you do I shall die.” And he lay down in the hold, and they covered him with clothes.
[...] Despite his untimely demise, Hunding the walrus is a worthy representative of the many strange beasts and creatures that were believed to dwell in the north.[...]
Both in the Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus as well as in his famous map of the north, Carta Marina (1539), Olaus describes and visualizes a vast array of fearsome animals that dwell in the north, on land and in the sea, many of which are said to prey on hapless human beings. Again, the mighty walrus is not missing, and it is described as a particularly dangerous creature:
The Norway Coast, toward the more Northern parts, hath huge great Fish as big as Elephants, which are called Morsi, or Rosmari, may be they are so from their sharp biting; for if they see any man on the Sea-shore, and can catch him, they come suddenly upon hum, and rend him with their Teeth, that they will kill him in a trice. Therefore, these Fish called Rosmari, or Morsi, have heads fashioned like to an Oxes, and a hairy Skin, and hair growing as thick as straw or corn-reeds, that lye loose very laregely. They will raise themselves with their Teeth as by Ladders to the very tops of Rocks, that they may feed on the Dewie Grasse, or fresh Water, and role themselves in it, and then go to the Sea again.
Vicki Ellen Szabo has pointed out that Olaus' impressive accounts of walruses, whales and similar sea monsters were deeply rooted in medieval traditions that perceived such creatures not only as symbols of evil and paganism, but even as factual agents and associates of the devil. The archetype of all such infernal maritime monsters was the biblical Leviathan, which was commonly equated with the great fish that had swallowed Jonah, and whose gaping mouth came to signify the entrance to hell." <Source>
Zebra: zebra Crossing, zebra on George Martin's Coat of Arms.
The zebra's black and white stripes camouflage it against predators, who often cant identify individuals in the herd. However to the herd members the patterns are unique from zebra to zebra, helping to identify one another - they are as unique as our fingerprints. Blending into a crowd without losing your individuality is one powerful aspect of Zebra. Zebras also help us to be supportive members within our communities. These abilities protect them from danger, as well as their agility and speedy.
The stripes also represent the blending and balancing of opposites, yin yang, harmony - enabling us to see a deeper truth.[...]
The zebras pattern of black on white, or white on black implies that what you see is not always what you get. Occult knowledge seen and unseen, dimensional shifts, new journeys and worldly endeavours are all aspects of this.
Zebras are master magicians, who utilise the energy of light and dark to shift realities and expand our consciousness, helping us see past our preconceived beliefs as they lead us into the mystery and magic of the unseen. Zebras seek balance in what they do, and they are sure of themselves, standing confidently in the middle of opposing forces." <Source>
"Aside from the western joke linking zebras to newspapers, the zebra plays no role in western symbolism. [...] surprisingly, even in Africa where the animals live, zebras play only minor symbolic roles. The exception is the Songye people of Central Africa who make distinctive masks called kifwebe. Up to the 1970's these masks served as agents of social control, exorcizing negative forces and enforcing allegiance to rulers." <Source>
Although, we might ask ourselves of the Abbey Road album- is it a zebra-crossing or is it a checkerboard? 
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