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"The Virgin of the World"

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Post  Pemphredo Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:00 pm

Hello

"The Virgin of the World" is part of the popular philosophical literature of Hermes Trismegistus of Roman Egypt. This is some esoteric or theosophic stuff with elements from Egyptian mysteries and Greek and Jewish wisdom. Well, at least I understand it like that. "The Virgin of the World" (Korē Kosmou) is part of it. It's quite interesting view on cosmogony and so I liked to share it with you. You can read the full text here:

http://yperboreia.org/korekosmou.pdf

A summary:

Isis tells her son Horus about the creation of the world as she was told by Hermes who has been witness of the creation. God the Creator made men, but the daimon Momos told God that men just would disappoint God. God ignored Momos but soon he would notive that Momos was right. Men made war and destroyed the earth. The four elements Earth, Water, Fire and Air came to God to complain about men. So God sent Osiris and Isis to the humans to teach them agriculture and give them laws.

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Post  Erodius Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:56 am

The Virgin of the World is sublimely beautiful. It shows wonderfully the connection and agreement between the Egyptian Mysteries, the esoteric Judaism of Enoch, and even tells the same basic origin story as we have in the Orphic religion, in merely a simplified form and with Egyptian names — though the roles of the characters are nearly identical.

In the Virgin of the World: God creates universe and the world, egoism/greed/impiety infects the world, the powers of the world are pained and seeks a solution from God, God sends Osiris and Isis (and their child, Horus) to bring law and righteousness back to the world.

In the Orphic story: the Supreme God creates the universe, in the universe are Heaven and Earth, egoism/greed/impiety infect the earth, the earth is pained and seeks a solution from the Supreme, earth restores the powers of the Supreme to the earth, but the sin of egoism remained, so the presence of the Supreme on earth sends Phersephatta (Cora/Proserpine/Φερσέφονη) and Eubulus/Zagreus (and their child, Chthonic Mercury/the Messenger/Terrestrial Apollo) to bring order and righteousness back to the world to save the beings.

Furthermore, Isis was considered the Egyptian form of Ceres/Cora, while Osiris was readily and easily equated with the Orphic Zagreus, and Apollo was known to be the same as Horus.

I say, this is the same story we tell — just an Egyptianized version. Wink 
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Post  Pemphredo Fri Aug 02, 2013 4:38 am

I'm so glad you liked it! (... you cant imagine how other peoples in other fora react on this... ).

I think it's amazing beautifull too and it's fine to see the connection to the Orphic teachings. It really IS the same story. Names are changeable, the power behind the names, that's important.

OT: Another example for Orphic influence on Egyptian/Isiacistic religion/mythology might be the genealogy of Anubis. Plutarch tells he's the son of an drunken Osiris and Nephthys. Well no matter with that. But regarding the Orphic Hymn of Hermes Khthonios one's wondering why his parents are said to be Dionysos and Aphrodite, instead of Zeus and Maia (I first thought that this hymn ist just particular to Hermes' function as Psychopompos, just as there is a hymn to Zeus and to Zeus the Thunderer). But looking on Egyptian mythology (or better: Plutarch's version) one understands this genealogy: Hermes Khthonios is Anubis, Dionysos (=Zeus Khthonios) is Osiris and Aphrodite, who is mostly equated with Hathor, is Nephthys. So I think without comprehension of Egyptian mythology one could not understand the hymn to Terrestial Hermes. (If Orphism has influence on Egyptian Religion or Egyptian Religion on Orphism is a totally irrelevant question for me.)

Well, however: I'm glad you liked it and thanks for telling the same Orphic story!

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Post  Erodius Fri Aug 02, 2013 1:23 pm

(... you cant imagine how other peoples in other fora react on this... )

Oh, I can. Hermetic texts make many people uncomfortable for a host of reasons. First, they indicate a harmonious union of Judaism with Hellenism and Egyptian religion, as well as blurring the line between monotheism and polytheism. They also convey a strong and forward moral and religious message, rather than being the sort of simple-minded fables as a veneer for merely natural occurrences that less cultivated students of Classical religions associate with them.

OT: Another example for Orphic influence on Egyptian/Isiacistic religion/mythology might be the genealogy of Anubis. Plutarch tells he's the son of an drunken Osiris and Nephthys. Well no matter with that. But regarding the Orphic Hymn of Hermes Khthonios one's wondering why his parents are said to be Dionysos and Aphrodite, instead of Zeus and Maia (I first thought that this hymn is just particular to Hermes' function as Psychopompos, just as there is a hymn to Zeus and to Zeus the Thunderer). But looking on Egyptian mythology (or better: Plutarch's version) one understands this genealogy: Hermes Khthonios is Anubis, Dionysos (=Zeus Khthonios) is Osiris and Aphrodite, who is mostly equated with Hathor, is Nephthys. So I think without comprehension of Egyptian mythology one could not understand the hymn to Terrestial Hermes. (If Orphism has influence on Egyptian Religion or Egyptian Religion on Orphism is a totally irrelevant question for me.)

Orphic theology says that Bacchus is simply the enthroned Terrestrial Jove/Pluto [Grk: Ζάς-Χθόνιος], while Maia, as well as the Second-Venus/Ἀφροδίτη are hypostases of Night. The terrestrial Venus/Night is called Maia, while the terrestrial Jove is Eubuleus-Bacchus. So, according to the theology, (Jove+Maia=Mercury [the mouthpiece of the Logos of Jove])=(Bacchus+Venus=Chthonian Mercury/Anubis). Orphism teaches that all of the Divine Powers exist and are present at every ontological level — hence, there is a terrestrial Venus, a solar Venus, a lunar Venus, etc. all the way down to there being hypostases of the Gods in even the cells of the body, even atoms. There are the Gods in every egg — the universe is an egg, the solar system is an egg, the earth is an egg, the body is an egg, the cell is an egg, the atom is an egg.

As far as the root of the similarities, I think it would be willful ignorance not to investigate this. What made the Orphic religion unique in its early time was its universality. It rejects the foolish notion that different gods govern different nations and countries to say, instead, that the gods who are genuine gods are the gods of the entire universe. That Truth has nothing to do with where you are from, or your social status, or gender, or anything else like that. Truth is true whether you are in Egypt, or Greece, or India, or Persia, or anywhere else. There are a variety of theories as to how the similarities came about, one historical view is that Orphism is an eastern religion that came to the Greek world very early, probably from the Thracians living in what is now the southeastern Bulgaria/northwestern Turkey (Phrygia) area, and was thoroughly Hellenized, another is that Orphism arose as a codified union of Egyptian, Greek and Persian religion. However, from the insider/adherent's religious perspective, rather than the historian's view, it is our teaching that the Theologian was sent by the Divine to restore true religion to the peoples who had forgotten it. As such, we would say that the parallels between the three primary religious traditions of the ancient Western world (Greek, Egyptian and Persian) are the result of the fact that they all spring from the same source, with the three nations eventually latching onto only one segment of the Creation Story, and forgetting the other chapters. We do not believe that Orpheus founded a 'new religion', but merely revived the original one.
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Post  Thrasyvoulos Fri Aug 02, 2013 3:18 pm

Thank you for sharing this! A very interesting and beautiful read ^^ and as Erodius noted, I did see several common threads in it with Judeo-Christian theology, even down to the Supreme Being's promise of a savior/messiah for the fallen.

I think I'll forward this to a few of my friends. None of them are Hellenists in any sense, but they all take great interest in religion in general.

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