Southern Death Cult (Eye in the Hand)

In my recent thread on Common Creation Mythology of the Egyptians and Maya i looked at how both shared a common interest in the stellar region below the Belt of Orion as the place of First Creation.

Here we can consider the exact same stellar location in terms of the Creation Myths of the North American Indians who identified Orion as a severed hand, with the region associated with First Creation, or the Portal of the Heavens, represented by the Eye within the hand.

The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (traditionally Southern Death Cult, later also as Southern Cult or Chiefly Warfare Cult) is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture that coincided with their adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom-level complex social organization from 1200 CE to 1650 CE

The Hand and Eye Motif is a human hand with an eye gazing out from the palm, yet another symbol of deity. It was one of the most common motifs in Mississippian symbolism and may be related to the Ogee Motif, suggesting it represents a portal to the Otherworld.

en.wikipedia.org...

In his “Path of Souls” contribution Lankford considers a cluster of icons (eye-in-hand, winged serpent, bones, skullsand raptor) once associated with a Mississippian “death cult”.

They represent, he contends “the Milky Way as the path onwhich souls of deceased must walk.” Weaving together nativebeliefs in dual souls, accounts of soul journeys, a portal to heaventhrough the Hand Constellation (a.k.a. Orion’s Belt), and thecorrelation of the “path of souls” with the great serpent hebrings the reader full-circle to Moundville “death” motifs asicons of a cosmic death journey of the soul.

Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms: Interpretations of Mississippian Iconography


www.socarchsci.org...

The path traveled is to the west toward the setting sun and according to the now understood legends, the trip lasts four or more days. During the trip there are some choice points where the soul can decide to return to its body. But when it reaches the edge of the disk of the earth it stands at a watery shore, with the underworld below the watery surface and the upper realm above in the night sky. If the soul chooses to go to the realm of the dead (located through the sky above) it must make a journey across the sky but must first make a leap of faith from the earth into the sky into a small portal located in an area Native tribes called the “Hand Constellation.”

“The portal in the hand must be entered by a leap at the optimum time, which is a ten minute window which occurs once each night from November 29, when the hand vanishes into the water (the underworld) in the West just at dawn, to April 25, when the hand sinks at dusk not to be seen again for six months


The Hand Constellation is actually the bottom half of the Orion Constellation. The three belt stars represent a severed wrist. A host of Native tribal legends and practices discuss the severed hand and how it happened. Legends say that an attempt was made to catch souls entering the portal and the hand was cut off.. . .

Archaeotrek Article

many anthropologists now believe that The Hand constellation, made up of the lower half of Orion, was considered a portal to the Otherworld in Southeastern US cosmology.

The Lakota and other Plains Indians also saw a star grouping they called The Hand in the bottom half of what we call Orion

In researching some Mississippian sites, experts have suggested that marks on the palm of the hands symbolized points where the spirit may enter or leave the body..

misfitsandheroes.wordpress.com...




Studies thus far then have identified the Hand within the eye with a potential transition through the portal into the Heavens or Underworld in the West, the onset of the seasonal timing for this will be correspondent with the Khoiak Sokar festival of ancient Egypt, as they are both based upon relative position of Orion in the night sky, they will also share agricultural associations.





What the articles don't mention is that such portals were two way points of transition, that when in the East this would be a point of transition from the Heavens or Underworld to Earth, to manifest thus involving some degree of Divinity, generally in conjunction with having attained this through rebirth process.




Any tradition of First Contact with the Divine involving this symbolism will involve Deities entering from this portal, the region of the Sjy from which the Gods first arrived, as will be seen the Eye in the Hand motif is of global significance, of extreme importance in widespread cultures, for example see Hamsa hands...


Hamsa Hand...Near Eastern

In terms of oldest known examples, i'd suggest Catal Hoyuk from the early Neolithic...







This webpage from which i sourced soem images does a great job in presenting the extent of this weird and wonderful symbol;

www.darkfiber.com...


What always needs to be kept in mind though is that the portal can provide access to Earth from the Heavens or the Underworld, thus it can be seen in a negative context in popular culture, such as the Eye of Sauron from whence all the horrors of Hell are unleashed.

In terms of positive context my favorite has association with the Near Eastern/Semitic tradition of the stars and hand of Orion, the Hamsa, with an all controlling Goddess;

Betelgeuse comes from yad al-jauza (mistranslated originally as bat al jauza) meaning “the hand of the Central One,” referring to a mysterious and powerful female entity who kneels in the night sky with the Milky Way at her shoulder Rigel comes from the Arabic rijl al-jauza, meaning “the foot of the Central One.” Belatrix, another star in the constellation, means a fierce female warrior

misfitsandheroes.wordpress.com...


but finds best expression in the all important central Asian Goddess Tara, here the open downward pointing right hand offers blessings, potential gifts, correspondance to rising in the East, the Left hand correspondent to setting in the West offers protection, sanctuary, within the Underworld. The translation in dance of the hand gestures represents the passage through time and space.




for those who were expecting the band, seeing as it's Christmas;





I'm sure in her you'll find the sanctuary..

Wow, you blew my mind again today! I've never heard of any of this eye in hand stuff before.

Is there any connection to the "Wedjat, Eye of Horus" to this - because, on the surface it looks like there could easily be a connection?

S&F

reply to post by Julie Washington


Yes because Horus recieves the eye shortly before being born at the mound of first creation (the Belt Stars], the solar aspect of the Eye would be the Eastern, the lunar aspect the Western, but the eye would originate at the point beneath the mound of first creation, ie where everyone else puts it in the lower half of Orion


The Maya triangulated the place of First Creation beneeath the Belt stars;





The hand constellation is thus;





so generally the eye relates to the position around the M42 galaxy, whether that or a particular star unknown.

Beings wearing the Eye Surround Motif resided in the Under World. This motif usually indicates the fork surrounding the entire eye of the image wearing it.

The origin of these eye markings is said to be from members of the falconidae family in Central America

Beings wearing the Forked Eye Surround Motif are understood to reside in the Above World. This motif often appears from the eye being the foremost part of the motif. It is derived from the eye markings of the Peregrine Falcon. A line attached to the motif is thought to represent weeping.

SYMBOLS OF THE SOUTHERN CULT


A falcon of the Heavens, a falcon of the Underworld,but what would make a falcon weep...???...perhaps the mice didn't taste very nice.

The Orion nebula...

reply to post by Julie Washington


There is indeed.

Couple this with my thread about the Triptych doorways, which confer the knowledge and information of the 'Eye', and we are onto something.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Kantzveldt


Hello there,

someone posted here i think this:
saturndeathcult.com...

Is this the same thing..???only todays version.???

peace
ekiusa

reply to post by ekiusa



No relationship, Southern Death Cult is a traditional term for Missisipian religious cults and the webpage you linked to is interchanging Saturn with Satan.



reply to post by VeritasAequitas




Here's the thing with 'Triptych Doorways', within the same cultures one can find examples were five are seen, but often it is three of the five only that are seen.

Originally posted by Kantzveldt

Beings wearing the Eye Surround Motif resided in the Under World. This motif usually indicates the fork surrounding the entire eye of the image wearing it.

The origin of these eye markings is said to be from members of the falconidae family in Central America

Beings wearing the Forked Eye Surround Motif are understood to reside in the Above World. This motif often appears from the eye being the foremost part of the motif. It is derived from the eye markings of the Peregrine Falcon. A line attached to the motif is thought to represent weeping.

SYMBOLS OF THE SOUTHERN CULT


A falcon of the Heavens, a falcon of the Underworld,but what would make a falcon weep...???...perhaps the mice didn't taste very nice.

The Orion nebula...

edit on 27-12-2012 by Kantzveldt because: (no reason given)

Hi kanztveldt ,
Can't help but notice the eye imagery, is very comet like, and some of the mound structures in the south east are aligned to the Taurid meteor showers, that are the remnants of comet enke, which is the remnants of an older and larger comet that has been breaking up for the last 20,000 years. This comet is the likely source for the "Clovis" impactor and the object that created burckle crater in the Indian ocean some 5000 or so years ago that is the origin of middle easten flood myths.

reply to post by punkinworks10



The eye motif is derived from the Aplomado falcon





If the Orion nebula represented a cosmic falcon they'd expect it to have the eye markings.