The Rainbow Serpents

Originally posted by seagrass

The Minoans (my personal favorite) have a snake goddess.

If you´ve looked into the Minoans a little, could you tell something about their preoccupation with bulls? It might relate to other things.

Note: Below is a metaphysical interpretation


Yes, Rams and Bulls (and minotaurs too) seems to be a pervasive concept in this category used by the ancients whom I think all possessed a dim clairvoyance that only a few possess today. But this dim clairvoyance allowed them to see those beings and creatures who reside in a dimension other than our physical one
hence why see so many visual representations of this beast (as well as other creatures too) in prehistoric and ancient artistic renderings and sculpture.

I first started out asking the question, "What does the Ram symbolize?", but I'm seeing images of Rams in my movies, (here's one of them that showed up directly on playback ... but as is so often the case, only one side of the face is defined -the right side - where the other side fades off)


... as well as other creatures too, some of whom bear some resemblance to the quintessential greys too and so on.. (and these beings are seen directly on playback) and because of this, it then became very apparent to me that the ancients were only drawing and shaping forms in clay of those things they actually would see with their very own eyes during their waking states! But these beings/creatures were not physical yet this is not to say that sometimes such beings did not manifest in such a way to sometimes seem physical... In other words, they would "materialize" into our dimension. What they were composed of ... well, that's another topic that I won't go into here now but there are several possibilities in this area.

(What I find interesting is that we are seeing the same animals, creatures and beings in ancient artwork across all cultures!)

But another thought is that perhaps the ancients, and this was first presented by Rudolph Steiner, when they would fall to sleep, didn't see darkness like we do now but instead were transported into another world outside the physical where those beings, people and creatures that inhabited that world were just as real to them and even physical to them as what their world was like in their waking state. And all of the ancients experienced this... not just the shamans. But when they would "wake up" those same beings of Dreamtime also manifested into their physical world too but not in physical form though perhaps sometimes they manifested that way too at times... (just like those reports of alien greys who many are saying, like Clifford Stone, for example, that they are physical beings -- yet are transdimensional also).

Just throwing out some idea's here for food for thought. But whatever the case may be, I see no harm in looking "outside the box" on this subject matter.


[edit on 8-6-2008 by wang_ke_~]

Gobekli Tepe has snake images as well as boars and other types of animals carved into the monoliths. Also a woman giving birth or some kind of sexual meaning.
I suppose where ever snakes are, which seems to be in every county except Antarctica, they are revered.
Sky, you said that the Minoans had a pottery bowl with a serpent guarding a bull. The Egyptians certainly considered the bull important. We know how India feels about them. We think aliens are interested in them. Do bulls and cows need protection?
My family raises cows. They are interesting to watch. They can take pretty good care of themselves if they need to. IMO



here is another article concerning women and snakesSnake earrings of India

Their language has never been deciphered. So they base much of their knowledge from their art and pottery. Much of their understanding of the Minoans is based on Greek Mythology.

"Minoan life was ruled by a King and nobles who governed all aspects of Minoan life, including trade, art, and religion. The government of the Minoan was theocratic, and the religion of Minoan was matriarchal and centered around the worship of several goddess and high priestesses. Accordingly the Minoans took part in many ritual acts, including "bull leaping". Bull leaping involved mid-air leaping, onto the back of a charging bull."

"The oldest signs of inhabitants on Crete are ceramic Neolithic remains that date to approximately 7000 BC."


" A few Cretan names are preserved in Greek mythology, but there is no way to connect a name with an existing Minoan icon, such as the familiar serpent-goddess. Retrieval of metal and clay votive figures— double axes, miniature vessels, models of artifacts, animals, human figures—has identified sites of cult: here were numerous small shrines in Minoan Crete, and mountain peaks and very numerous sacred caves— over 300 have been explored (Kerenyi 1976 p 18; Burkert 1985 p 24f)— were the centers for some cult, but temples as the Greeks developed them were unknown (Burkert 1985). Within the palace complex, no central rooms devoted to cult have been recognized, other than the center court where youths of both sexes would practice the bull-leaping ritual."

Some sort of CULT in a CAVE? sounds familiar.


"Minoan sacred symbols include the bull and its horns of consecration, the labrys (double-headed axe), the pillar, the serpent, the sun-disk, and the tree."


"Minoan art suggests that the Minoans may have worshipped a Mother Goddess of fertility, a Mistress of the Animals, a protectress of cities, the household, the harvest, and the underworld. She was often represented by serpents. The Goddess was linked to the "Earthshaker", a male represented by the bull and the sun, who would die each autumn and be reborn each spring. Other illustrations have led to some theories that the Minoans also believed in animal-headed demons.


Although long thought to be a peaceful people, recent evidence uncovered at a temple structure near one of the palaces shows that the Minoans engaged in human sacrifice. To date, however, only one such archaeological find has been made.


Minoans buried their dead in pottery jars."

source

the Greek Medusa who turned into Athena sounds alot like Sophia/Lillith.
Athena
One of Athena/Medusa's animal totems is the owl, which is associated with wisdom. (repeating themes again)


"Serpents were highly worshipped in the ancient world by many different cultures and were not considered evil until the onset of Christianity two thousand years ago. They were revered for their wisdom and prophetic powers and because they shed their skin they were associated with transformation and regeneration. The prophetic abilities of serpent priestesses were probably due to the fact that they would inject themselves with snake venom to induce trance states of consciousness in order to deliver their oracles. The Amazons, fierce warrior women and equestrians of ancient Greece continued to worship snakes.

The Delphic Oracle priestesses were referred to as Pythia's (named after Pythons) though the source of their mind altering substances is still a matter for debate. "

Here is an association between the Minoan Snake Goddess and a Lioness Goddess. Could the Sphinx be a female god? Would explain why a male pharaoh might want to resculpt it.Minoan and Egyptian Snake Goddess'


"In her snake form, Wadjyt is sometimes identified as Weret-hekau, "Great of Magic", who, as the uraeus, a manifestation of the solar eye, rises from the forehead of Horus (the pharaoh). As the uraeus, Wadjyt and Weret-hekau were identified with the eye of Re. The Goddesses Tefnut and Bastet were also identified with the eye of Re. As both were commonly shown lioness-headed, so Wadjyt and Weret-hekau were also sometimes represented with lioness-heads. This has sometimes caused all these goddesses to be identified with the lioness goddess Sekhmet. "

Sky? you are interested in the Sarapeum


"In Egypt, the bull was worshiped as Apis, the embodiment of Ptah and later of Osiris. A long series of ritually perfect bulls were identified by the god's priests, housed in the temple for their lifetime, then embalmed and encased in a giant sarcophagus. A long sequence of monolithic stone sarcophagi were housed in the Serapeum, and were rediscovered by Auguste Mariette at Saqqara in 1851. The bull was also worshipped as Mnewer, the embodiment of Atum-Ra, in Heliopolis. Ka in Egyptian is both a religious concept of life-force/power and the word for bull."

"Bull Mythology Wiki
Mnewer? that's kinda funny (Manure)
[edit on 8-6-2008 by seagrass]

[edit on 8-6-2008 by seagrass]

[edit on 8-6-2008 by seagrass]

My impression was that the bull was honored in sport. From bull jumping to present day rodeo. Bull jumping still exists today. I assumed it had to do with the Olympic games and the evolution of it. But from the looks of it, some cultures believed that their life force had magical qualities. We see them sacrificed as well as held sacred. umm... why is the bullroarer called that? The roar of a bull? Bulls snort and roar to warn other bulls that they are in their territory. It proclaims thier place. Bulls don't really sound like the thing you are describing.. BTW Crocodile Dundee was on last night, so I heard the bullroarer.

I found something wierd.... a serpent-bull and having to do with giants (Titans) from a lost Greek epic.
Greek Myth

"OPHIOTAUROS (the "serpent-bull") was a monster born with the foreparts of a black bull and the tail of a serpent. It was slain by an ally of the Titanes in their search for a victory against Zeus. The Ophiotauros was probably placed in the heavens as the combined Constellations Taurus and Cetus (bull fore-parts with a sea-monster tail), alongside the kite as Lyra, and the altar Ara."


ancient spiral art
more about bull worship and goddess
another serpents through the ages article


[edit on 8-6-2008 by seagrass]

psychologically speaking, we like to surround ourselves with things that are important to us. Especially when it comes to art. From our grandmother's quilt (tradition and heritage) to our exploits ( fishing, baseball memorabilia, travel) to things we appreciate in nature (butterflies, bees, flowers) It is not unusual to have things that are needs and valuable to us in art around us too. We have pictures of food in our houses, hunters have deer prints on the walls.
I am sure that all these animals in ancient times were extremely important to their survival. If snakes had healing powers, it wouldn't surprise me to see snakes drawn in their caves. But what I don't get is why was the snake so important to ALL of these cultures. The bull was only important to some, not all it seems. I have never really thought of snakes as useful except to deter rodents.

Rainbows in Mythology Wiki"The rainbow, a natural phenomenon noted for its beauty and inexplicability, has been a favorite component of mythology throughout history. The Norse saw it as Bifrost; Judeo-Christian traditions signs it as a covenant with God not to destroy the world by means of floodwater."
"According to the Biblical account, after Noah saved the animals from the Great Flood, a rainbow appeared. As the flood had killed all other living beings, the rainbow came to symbolize God's promise that he would never send another flood to destroy all of the earth and that never again would all living things be killed in the waters of a flood."In ancestral times in Japan, rainbows were often viewed as omens of bad luck because they represented snakes."

Actual Aborigine Quote: Our culture is focused on recording the origins of life. We refer to forces and powers that created the world as creative ancestors. Our beautiful world has been created only in accordance with the power, wisdom and intentions of our ancestral beings. The supernatural Beings, or Totemic Ancestors, that were half human. the ancestors tired and retired into the sky-clouds."Our attitude to what goes on up in the heavens is what rules us Aboriginals. Its similar to religion, whereby Christians believe in a religious world ruled by one God, but many "Saints", we believe the same only the many "saints" to us are planetary ones whom you in the the Western world refer to as ET or aliens.

We call them Wandjinas and Mimi Spirits, and have done so for thousands of years, until 1788, when an English concept of the above was interestingly enough (found to be) parralel to what we have practised for eons; that we commonly refer to as our Dreamtime, that began in the Milky Way." source
mimi spirit art



[edit on 8-6-2008 by seagrass]

Like KTK said, It will explode your head!

If it hasn't already been linked I think you should also look at this thread, there are some more great links and pics.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by interestedalways
Like KTK said, It will explode your head!

If it hasn't already been linked I think you should also look at this thread, there are some more great links and pics.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks for the link InterestedAlways, what a riot. That was a hoot. Looks like I have been a little redundant, but what the heck.. I am learning something. Looks like I am going to have to brush up on my comeback skills if I am going to survive around here..

Originally posted by seagrass
Thanks for the link InterestedAlways, what a riot. That was a hoot. Looks like I have been a little redundant, but what the heck.. I am learning something. Looks like I am going to have to brush up on my comeback skills if I am going to survive around here..

Hey, not at all.

I hadn't seen the other thread myself until I was looking for an image on google just today to post to this thread! What did I find? Our very own ATS hit!

It was well over a year old and well, face it..........Many of us don't search out really old threads! It is a new day and we have explored many new ideas here, IMO.

I have enjoyed your input on this thread and I learned alot myself from my own research and reading that of others bringing out a wide variety of sources!



[edit on 9-6-2008 by interestedalways]

It is amazing how much information is out there about it, and how it cross references to other things. I will never look at a snake the same way again. Now if those snakes do have healing powers they better go hide under some rocks. I don't think there are enough of them to go around!

And then it gets scary...
"May 18, 2006 — The feet of human embryos taking shape in the womb reveal links to prehistoric fish and reptiles, a new study finds. source
feathered dinosaurs



[edit on 9-6-2008 by seagrass]

Thanks people. I may not be responding but Im sitting back and reading with fascination. The summary of all this will deserve a book sooner or later.

Here is a nice ancient astronaut article.. to add to the collection

origins

Originally posted by seagrass

Sky, you said that the Minoans had a pottery bowl with a serpent guarding a bull. The Egyptians certainly considered the bull important. We know how India feels about them. We think aliens are interested in them. Do bulls and cows need protection?
My family raises cows. They are interesting to watch. They can take pretty good care of themselves if they need to. IMO

Thats not what I said, its what you said. And its a very interesting observation. The serpent protecting the Bull.

As far as sacredness and mythological relevance goes the bull seems to be second, right after serpent.