> Stephen Tempest writes:
> >I would say "nice" but i'm not sure it's quite the right word...
> >that picture actually manages to make the Goddess look more
> >creepy and disturbing than the Bat she's riding on! Definite
> >hints of spider there.
>
> You know of spiders with sixteen legs?
Actually, the Seven Pairs of Arms (capitalized because I am sure that the Lunar Iconographers would, if they wrote in English) could imply another seven pairs of legs! This should be viewed as if it were Hindu statuary - the different arms are metaphorical more than physical, and at least a couple would seem redundant or trivial to non-initiates.
> I presume this is the Red Goddess in her aspect as Yara Aranis,
> Goddess of the Reaching Moon, scourge of the Pentan nomads.
>
> >Will ILH-2 explain the symbolism of the things she's holding?
>
> Scimitar - Lunar weapon of choice.
> Bow and Arrow - use your enemies weapons against them.
Which enemies? Bow and Arrow were Dara Happan weapons long before the original Pentan conquest, after Muz*arm bought it. The riden horse was their unique weapon.
> Scythe - death.
> The red disk is probably supposed to be a human heart.
It looks like a Moon Disk to me.
> I don't know about the gold disk.
Either a Solar disk or else a wheel (albeit a very large one)
Also, two arms in Blessing (and incidentally reducing the image rating to PG, by covering her breasts), and three pairs in different meditation poses (I will let any Illuminates or Hindu group members explain their individual meanings).
What is the meaning of the headphones on the Scythe?
> The bat is also a Rinliddi death god warped by chaos.
But primarily the Steed of The Goddess.
Since She is *not* crushing or eating a horse or rider, and since YA doesn't ride the Steed of The Goddess anywhere that I know, I think that it is an attempt to display The Goddess in all of her current Aspects (and leaving out some of the past Incarnations, like Gerra, especially).
If it is not YA, then i might question the scythe being simply death, as opposed to a more agricultural image (the aspect currently controlled by the Great Sister, of managing harvests and distribution comes to mind).
There is probably something to having one pair hold the Sun/Moon disks, one pair blessing, vs. two pairs with weapons, and three meditating, but I will let a Lunar partisan explain why she seems far more interested in her personal mediation than in her worshippers' welfare.
Powered by hypermail