Apech

Caduceus - staff of Hermes

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37 minutes ago, Apech said:

 

Mine isn't long enough to tie in a knot ... 

 

get a longer tie then ;

 

 

7rBK6BR.jpg?1

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35 minutes ago, Apech said:

 

Mine isn't long enough to tie in a knot ... 

Mine neither...but that's not the point is it? And forgive me for being a bit harsh apech  I love a good joke  but just not tonight...

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And what followed was so expected...unfortunately!

Edited by oak

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15 minutes ago, Nungali said:

61277cfaf037b_ScreenShot2021-08-26at12_29_55.png.7ee226773f85643392df400a41891c2b.png

 

Is the one on the right a cobra ?   It does not appear to have a hood ?  But has a beard . Is the one on the left  the way a cobra is always depicted, with a flared hood, or is that specifically to hold the  Sun disc   ( if it is a sun disc ) ?  .... and it isn't bearded .

 

Hmmmmm .... ?

 

( I just did a quick image search of  ancient Egyptian depiction of cobras and they all appear to be hooded, without beards  .)

 

 

 

 

Good point - it's not a cobra - also there appears to be griffon graffitti or something - no idea where this is from but looks quite late.

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26 minutes ago, oak said:

Mine neither...but that's not the point is it? And forgive me for being a bit harsh apech  I love a good joke  but just not tonight...

 

got a 'headache '  ?

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18 minutes ago, Apech said:

 

Good point - it's not a cobra - also there appears to be griffon graffitti or something - no idea where this is from but looks quite late.

 

Hmmmmm ....   ;

 

Two  different  ( seem to be representing different things or aspects )  snakes either side of a griffon .

 

Screen Shot 2021-08-26 at 12.29.55.png

 

and two griffins either side of some snakes ;

 

220px-Ningizzida.jpg&key=fa6d3628a6dc1d5

 

 

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19 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

got a 'headache '  ?

It's your sad life Nungali. Live with it.

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1 minute ago, oak said:

It's your sad life Nungali. Live with it.

 

Are you genuinely offended?  If so I apologise.  I like to mix serious with humour.  That's generally how I post.

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20 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

Hmmmmm ....   ;

 

Two  different  ( seem to be representing different things or aspects )  snakes either side of a griffon .

 

Screen Shot 2021-08-26 at 12.29.55.png

 

and two griffins either side of some snakes ;

 

220px-Ningizzida.jpg&key=fa6d3628a6dc1d5

 

 

 

Well, no idea what to make of that combination.

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1 hour ago, Nungali said:

( if it is a sun disc ) ? 

 

 

the griffon in the background seems to be having its way with the sun disc. 

 

 

 

Edited by manitou

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7 minutes ago, oak said:

It's your sad life Nungali. Live with it.

 

Sad ? 

 

Far from it .    I am very happy to live with it as it is and as it unfolds .       I dont think it is actually me that is the sad one .

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5 minutes ago, manitou said:

 

 

the winged creature in the background seems to be having its way with the sun disc.  A griffin?

 

 

 

 

 

Not tonight  .....

 

Sun disc has a headache .

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On 8/25/2021 at 10:16 AM, Taomeow said:

About knots, what immediately came to mind is DNA knotting.  I've always associated the caduceus with the ancient knowledge of the Great Cosmic Serpent, the DNA, and the knots in those depictions add a twist (no pun intended) that demonstrates the knowledge may have been deep.  In "our" science, DNA knotting is a fairly recent discovery (1981). 

 

An intro to DNA and knot theory: http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~gross/bioed/webmodules/DNAknot.html

 

Someday I'll try to find the time to look closer at DNA gyrase, an enzyme possessing the unique ability to catalyze the introduction of negative superhelical turns into closed-circuit double-stranded DNA and untie the knots.  I sense a connection to some funky magic therein...  

 

 

 

 

Don't forget, as you're unpacking this, that the writhe decreases in a stepwise fashion as gyrase acts.  :D

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50 minutes ago, manitou said:

 

 

Don't forget, as you're unpacking this, that the writhe decreases in a stepwise fashion as gyrase acts.  :D

 

Nah, when it gets tired unpacking the knot it just bites through it and spits out the stubborn part.  True story.  

Edited by Taomeow
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2 hours ago, Apech said:

 

Are you genuinely offended?  If so I apologise.  I like to mix serious with humour.  That's generally how I post.

 

Not offended Apech.

Just had some hope that my observation could have serious feedback.

Most days I enjoy your sense of humour. No need for apologies from you, ok? Peace.

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apparently the ahamkara mudra “will help  you strengthen your will to face difficulties without fear” [from the article mentioned above]

 

by the way, notice the left hand fingers 

the artist positioned the fingers in the manner in which (s)he did deliberately 

everything in the image is symbolic

Edited by Ano Eremita

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9 hours ago, oak said:

 

Not offended Apech.

Just had some hope that my observation could have serious feedback.

Most days I enjoy your sense of humour. No need for apologies from you, ok? Peace.

 

The type of knot is a reef knot - which is used in sailing I believe:

 

knots-reef.jpg

 

I can't see anything phallic about it - but it is certainly a way of joining two strands which according to most symbolism would be male and female - similar but the same as true lovers knot :

 

https://www.101knots.com/true-lovers-knot.html

 

the Egyptian image with a knot which I posted above is called 'sma' which means 'union' - in that case it is the union of the Two Lands of Egypt (North and South).

 

So it would seem to me that, provided there is a connection between the Hermes staff and Egyptian symbolism (which is quite possible if not likely) then the overall meaning is 'uniting two principles' - which is done not by merging them but by weaving them together.

 

 

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I'm pursuing this look at the Hermes staff along the lines of Hermeticism, a tradition which specifically links Thoth-Hermes- Mercury as a kind of lineage.  The OP image comes from 1st Century AD which is around the time when Hermeticism was emerging out of the Alexandrian melting pot.  Also at the same time we have Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, Judaic Kabbalah, Christian mysteries (and various heresies).  But I think that Hermeticism is the most important but often overlooked of these streams.  It is partly overlooked because in the 16/17 Century it was dismissed as a kind of fabrication - because its adherent's claims that it was ancient antediluvian knowledge when the texts themselves could be shown to be from 1st 2nd Century AD.  The irony is that while Hermeticism gave rise to science - it was science and rationalism which eventually buried it and labelled it as 'mysticism' and superstition.  Even today in the general mind there is a prejudice against it.  If you show someone a Buddhist stupa built to image the four/five elements they will think that very nice, if you should show them an alchemical diagram of the elements they will think it some kind of dangerous witchcraft and shrink back in horror.

 

In this way we denied our own magical heritage - even though the idea of the the great mage does live on in fiction e.g. Gandalf, Merlin and so on.

 

Just some personal context.

 

Wiki context:

 

Hermes (/ˈhɜːrmz/; Greek: Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves,[3] merchants, and orators.[4][5] He is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine, aided by his winged sandals. Hermes plays the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide"—a conductor of souls into the afterlife.[6][7]

In myth, Hermes functioned as the emissary and messenger of the gods,[8] and was often presented as the son of Zeus and Maia, the Pleiad. He is regarded as "the divine trickster,"[9] for which Homer offers the most popular account in his Hymn to Hermes.[10]

His attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, talaria (winged sandals), and winged helmet or simple petasos, as well as the palm tree, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish, and incense.[11] However, his main symbol is the caduceus, a winged staff intertwined with two snakes copulating and carvings of the other gods.[12] His attributes had previously influenced the earlier Etruscan god Turms, a name borrowed from the Greek "herma".[13]

In Roman mythology, Hermes was known as Mercury,[14] a name derived from the Latin merx, meaning "merchandise," and the origin of the words "merchant" and "commerce."[15]

Edited by Apech
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55 minutes ago, Apech said:

 

The type of knot is a reef knot - which is used in sailing I believe:

 

knots-reef.jpg

 

I can't see anything phallic about it - but it is certainly a way of joining two strands which according to most symbolism would be male and female - similar but the same as true lovers knot :

 

https://www.101knots.com/true-lovers-knot.html

 

the Egyptian image with a knot which I posted above is called 'sma' which means 'union' - in that case it is the union of the Two Lands of Egypt (North and South).

 

So it would seem to me that, provided there is a connection between the Hermes staff and Egyptian symbolism (which is quite possible if not likely) then the overall meaning is 'uniting two principles' - which is done not by merging them but by weaving them together.

 

 

 

Glad to know your opinion and learn something new with you, Apech! Cheers.

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3 hours ago, Apech said:

However, his main symbol is the caduceus, a winged staff intertwined with two snakes copulating and carvings of the other gods.[1

 

 

Interesting.  Does it go without saying that these snakes are copulating?  Does everybody but me know this? :mellow:  If the snakes are always copulating in a caduseus then it's not surprising that there's eye contact.

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26 minutes ago, manitou said:

 

 

Interesting.  Does it go without saying that these snakes are copulating?  Does everybody but me know this? :mellow:  If the snakes are always copulating in a caduseus then it's not surprising that there's eye contact.

 

Snake porn

 

snakes_mating.jpg

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6 hours ago, Apech said:

 

Snake porn

 

snakes_mating.jpg

 

 

My neighbour freaked out one morning, awoke to find a  mass of  ' coily python  togetherness'  in her  kitchen sink !  

 

 

Carpet-python1.jpg

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Taomeow said:

Strangely, FB just fed this ad into my feed:

 

Washable Works of Art

 

AI is getting loopy.    

 

 

Not so strange  .... when you consider how closely  you are monitored  and being  fed products  ( hence ' facebook feed' )  you might be interested in buying  .

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