Pan / Priapus
XV THE DEVIL
PAN was the god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. He wandered the hills and mountains of Arkadia playing his pan-pipes. Pan was the god of the wild, hunting and companion of the nymphs. He was depicted as being half human, while having the legs and horns of a goat, just like a faun; his Roman counterpart was Faunus. It is unclear as to who his parents were; his father may have been Zeus, Dionysus, Hermes, or Apollo. His mother may have been a nymph called Dryope, Penelope who later became the wife of Odysseus, or Aphrodite.
There were no temples attributed to Pan, but he was rather worshipped in natural settings such as caves. It was believed that he often chased nymphs in order to seduce them, but he was always turned down due to his ugly appearance. Moreover, the word 'panic' derives from the name of the goat-like deity. Pan's angry voice was so frightening, that caused panic to anyone who was unlucky to be close enough to hear it.
According to a myth, one day he came across a beautiful nymph called Syrinx. He tried to seduce her, but she managed to run away. Followed by the god, she sought refuge among her sisters, who transformed her into a reed. When the wind started blowing, a melody was produced. Pan, not knowing which reed Syrinx was transformed into, took seven or nine of them and joined them side by side in decreasing length, thus creating his musical instrument that bore the name of the nymph.
In Greek religion and mythology, Pan (/ˈpæn/;[1] Ancient Greek: Πάν, Pan) is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, and companion of the nymphs.[2] His name originates within the Ancient Greek language, from the word paein (πάειν), meaning "to pasture."[3] He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. He has been associated with the figures of the Devil and Baphomet.
With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism.[4] In Roman religion and myth, Pan's counterpart was Faunus, a nature god who was the father of Bona Dea, sometimes identified as Fauna; he was also closely associated with Sylvanus, due to their similar relationships with woodlands. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan became a significant figure in the Romantic movement of western Europe and also in the 20th-century Neopagan movement
In Greek mythology, Priapus (/praɪˈeɪpəs/;[1] Greek: Πρίαπος, Priapos), was a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term priapism. He became a popular figure in Roman erotic art and Latin literature, and is the subject of the often humorously obscene collection of verse called the Priapeia.
Priapus was described as the son of Aphrodite by Dionysus, or the son of Dionysus and Chione,[2] perhaps as the father or son of Hermes,[3] and the son of Zeus or Pan, depending on the source.[4] According to legend, Hera cursed him with impotence, ugliness and foul-mindedness while he was still in Aphrodite's womb, in revenge for the hero Paris having the temerity to judge Aphrodite more beautiful than Hera.[5] The other gods refused to allow him to live on Mount Olympus and threw him down to Earth, leaving him on a hillside. He was eventually found by shepherds and was brought up by them.
Priapus joined Pan and the satyrs as a spirit of fertility and growth, though he was perennially frustrated by his impotence. In a ribald anecdote told by Ovid,[6] he attempted to rape the goddess Hestia but was thwarted by an ass, whose braying caused him to lose his erection at the critical moment and woke Hestia. The episode gave him a lasting hatred of asses and a willingness to see them destroyed in his honour.[7] The emblem of his lustful nature was his permanent erection and his giant penis. Another myth states that he pursued the nymph Lotis until the gods took pity on her and turned her into a lotus plant.[8]
PHYSICAL FORM
Supernatural assaults in dreams and nightmares.
nightmare panic, masturbation, predation, rape and nympholepsy, instinct and synchronicity, and Pan's female lovers (Echo, Syrinx, Selene, and the Muses) show the goat-god at work and play in the dark drives and creative passions of our lives.
Supernatural assaults in dreams and nightmares.
nightmare panic, masturbation, predation, rape and nympholepsy, instinct and synchronicity, and Pan's female lovers (Echo, Syrinx, Selene, and the Muses) show the goat-god at work and play in the dark drives and creative passions of our lives.
EMOTIONAL IMAGE
Lucifer Complex - the enemy within
Lucifer Complex - the enemy within
Bruno Wagner
INTELLECTUAL IDEA
The Christian demonization of a randy but otherwise benign nature god seems quite clear to one living in a secular century, and it must have been irritating to those who believed in him if they realized the purpose behind it at the time. From all ancient sources and archaeological evidence, Pan was obviously a greatly revered, rather than greatly feared, being at one point. It was only the ascetic values of the Judeo-Christian tradition that doomed him to play the role of the ultimate bad guy. Indeed, "it is a strange comment on a changed morality that this god... should have been turned by the Christian theologians into a devil" (Woods 86), for he was the god of all nature, and thus behaving naturally -- not as the incarnation of evil.
The Christian demonization of a randy but otherwise benign nature god seems quite clear to one living in a secular century, and it must have been irritating to those who believed in him if they realized the purpose behind it at the time. From all ancient sources and archaeological evidence, Pan was obviously a greatly revered, rather than greatly feared, being at one point. It was only the ascetic values of the Judeo-Christian tradition that doomed him to play the role of the ultimate bad guy. Indeed, "it is a strange comment on a changed morality that this god... should have been turned by the Christian theologians into a devil" (Woods 86), for he was the god of all nature, and thus behaving naturally -- not as the incarnation of evil.
Edward Burne - Jones 1833-1898
Pan and Psyche, 1872-74 The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
Pan and Psyche, 1872-74 The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
SPIRITUAL MYTH
Filled with envy at the sight of the palace and the riches it contained, her two sisters maliciously convinced Psyche that she was being fooled, that her husband was a fearsome monster, and that she had to escape!
"But he's so kind, so gentle," she argued. "He cannot be a monster. I would know!"
"He's fooling you, Psyche. Trust us." They returned home, dissatisfied with their own lives, and jealous of Psyche's.
Psyche cried and cried, but one night, she took a lamp in one hand and a dagger in the other, and crept into her host's bedroom. Instead of the monster she expected to find, she saw Eros, a handsome young man, with two white wings. She was not frightened at all.
A drop of oil from the lamp she held fell on the sleeping god. He woke instantly. He saw his Psyche, leaning over him with a dagger in her hand. With great sorrow, he spread his wings and flew away.
Psyche crumbled to the floor. How foolish she had been to listen to her sisters. She ran outside, to the river. She threw herself into the water. She expected to drown. But Pan, the god of shepherds, pulled her safely from the water.
"Aphrodite is the goddess of love. Ask for her help," Pan advised her.
...But Psyche seized his [Eros's] right leg with both hands just as he rose above her. She made a pitiable appendage as he soured aloft, following in his wake and dangling in company with him as they flew through the clouds. But finally she slipped down to earth exhausted. As she lay there on the ground, her divine lover did not leave her, but flew to the nearest cypress-tree, and from its summit spoke in considerable indignation to her.
‘Poor, ingenuous Psyche, I disregarded my mother Venus' instructions when she commanded that you be yoked in passionate desire to the meanest of men, and that you be then subjected to the most degrading of marriages. Instead, I preferred to swoop down to become your lover. I admit that my behavior was not judicious; I, the famed archer, wounded myself with my own weapon, and made you my wife--and all so that you should regard me as a wild beast, and cut off my head with the steel, and with it the eyes that dote on you! I urged you repeatedly, I warned you devotedly always to be on your guard against what has now happened. But before long those fine counselors of yours will make satisfaction to me for their heinous instructions, whereas for you the punishment will be merely my departure.’
As he finished speaking, he soared aloft on his wings. From her prostrate position on the ground Psyche watched her husband's flight as far as her eyes allowed, and she tortured her heart with the bitterest lamentations. But once the sculling of his wings had removed him from her sight and he had disappeared into the distance, she hurled herself headlong down from the bank of a river close by. But that kindly stream was doubtless keen to pay homage to the god who often scorches even the waters, and in fear for his person he at once cast her ashore on his current without injuring her, and set her on its grassy bank.
The rustic god Pan chanced to be sitting at that moment on the brow of the stream, holding the mountain deity Echo in his arms, and teaching her to repeat after him all kinds of songs. Close by the bank nanny-goats were sporting as they grazed and cropped the river-foliage here and there. The goat-shaped god was well aware of the calamity that had befallen Psyche. He called her gently to him, lovesick and weary as she was, and soothed her with these consoling words.
‘You are an elegant girl, and I am a rustic herdsman, but my advanced years give me the benefit of considerable experience. If my hazard is correct--sages actually call such guesswork divine insight--I infer from your stumbling and frequently wandering steps, from your excessively pale complexion and continual sighs, and not least from your mournful gaze, that you are suffering grievous love-pains. On that account you must hearken to me: do not seek gain to destroy yourself by throwing yourself headlong or by seeking any other means of death. Cease your sorrowing, lay aside your sadness, and instead direct prayers of adoration to Cupidos [Eros], greatest of gods, and by your caressing attentions win the favor of that wanton and extravagant youth.’
Psyche made no reply to this advice from the shepherd-god. She merely paid reverential homage to his divine person, and proceeded on her way. After wandering with weary steps for a considerable distance, as night bell a certain path led her all unknowing to the city where the husband of one of her sisters had his realm. Psyche recognized it, and asked that her arrival be announced to her sister. She was then ushered in, and after they had greeted and embraced each other, her sister enquired why she had come.
Psyche began to explain. ‘You recall that plan of yours, by which you both persuaded me to take a two-edged razor and slay the beast who used to lie with me falsely claiming to be my husband, with the intention of later devouring my poor self with his greedy maw? I fell in with your proposal, but when the lamp which conspired with me allowed me to gaze on his face, the vision I beheld was astonishing and utterly divine; it was the son of the goddess Venus [Aphrodite], I mean Cupidos [Eros] himself, who lay peacefully sleeping there. I exulted at the sight of such beauty, and was confused by the sense of overwhelming delight, and as I experienced frustration at being unable to enjoy relations with him, the lamp by dreadful mischance shed a drop of burning oil on his shoulder. At once the pain caused him to start from his sleep, and when he saw me wielding the steel and the flame, he said: "This is a dreadful deed you have done. Leave my bed this instant, and take your goods and chattels with you. I shall now take your sister"--at this point he cited your name specifically--"in solemn marriage." At once he then ordained Zephyrus to waft me outside the bounds of his estate.’ http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Psykhe.html
Peter Paul Rubens - Pan reclining (c.1610)
Filled with envy at the sight of the palace and the riches it contained, her two sisters maliciously convinced Psyche that she was being fooled, that her husband was a fearsome monster, and that she had to escape!
"But he's so kind, so gentle," she argued. "He cannot be a monster. I would know!"
"He's fooling you, Psyche. Trust us." They returned home, dissatisfied with their own lives, and jealous of Psyche's.
Psyche cried and cried, but one night, she took a lamp in one hand and a dagger in the other, and crept into her host's bedroom. Instead of the monster she expected to find, she saw Eros, a handsome young man, with two white wings. She was not frightened at all.
A drop of oil from the lamp she held fell on the sleeping god. He woke instantly. He saw his Psyche, leaning over him with a dagger in her hand. With great sorrow, he spread his wings and flew away.
Psyche crumbled to the floor. How foolish she had been to listen to her sisters. She ran outside, to the river. She threw herself into the water. She expected to drown. But Pan, the god of shepherds, pulled her safely from the water.
"Aphrodite is the goddess of love. Ask for her help," Pan advised her.
...But Psyche seized his [Eros's] right leg with both hands just as he rose above her. She made a pitiable appendage as he soured aloft, following in his wake and dangling in company with him as they flew through the clouds. But finally she slipped down to earth exhausted. As she lay there on the ground, her divine lover did not leave her, but flew to the nearest cypress-tree, and from its summit spoke in considerable indignation to her.
‘Poor, ingenuous Psyche, I disregarded my mother Venus' instructions when she commanded that you be yoked in passionate desire to the meanest of men, and that you be then subjected to the most degrading of marriages. Instead, I preferred to swoop down to become your lover. I admit that my behavior was not judicious; I, the famed archer, wounded myself with my own weapon, and made you my wife--and all so that you should regard me as a wild beast, and cut off my head with the steel, and with it the eyes that dote on you! I urged you repeatedly, I warned you devotedly always to be on your guard against what has now happened. But before long those fine counselors of yours will make satisfaction to me for their heinous instructions, whereas for you the punishment will be merely my departure.’
As he finished speaking, he soared aloft on his wings. From her prostrate position on the ground Psyche watched her husband's flight as far as her eyes allowed, and she tortured her heart with the bitterest lamentations. But once the sculling of his wings had removed him from her sight and he had disappeared into the distance, she hurled herself headlong down from the bank of a river close by. But that kindly stream was doubtless keen to pay homage to the god who often scorches even the waters, and in fear for his person he at once cast her ashore on his current without injuring her, and set her on its grassy bank.
The rustic god Pan chanced to be sitting at that moment on the brow of the stream, holding the mountain deity Echo in his arms, and teaching her to repeat after him all kinds of songs. Close by the bank nanny-goats were sporting as they grazed and cropped the river-foliage here and there. The goat-shaped god was well aware of the calamity that had befallen Psyche. He called her gently to him, lovesick and weary as she was, and soothed her with these consoling words.
‘You are an elegant girl, and I am a rustic herdsman, but my advanced years give me the benefit of considerable experience. If my hazard is correct--sages actually call such guesswork divine insight--I infer from your stumbling and frequently wandering steps, from your excessively pale complexion and continual sighs, and not least from your mournful gaze, that you are suffering grievous love-pains. On that account you must hearken to me: do not seek gain to destroy yourself by throwing yourself headlong or by seeking any other means of death. Cease your sorrowing, lay aside your sadness, and instead direct prayers of adoration to Cupidos [Eros], greatest of gods, and by your caressing attentions win the favor of that wanton and extravagant youth.’
Psyche made no reply to this advice from the shepherd-god. She merely paid reverential homage to his divine person, and proceeded on her way. After wandering with weary steps for a considerable distance, as night bell a certain path led her all unknowing to the city where the husband of one of her sisters had his realm. Psyche recognized it, and asked that her arrival be announced to her sister. She was then ushered in, and after they had greeted and embraced each other, her sister enquired why she had come.
Psyche began to explain. ‘You recall that plan of yours, by which you both persuaded me to take a two-edged razor and slay the beast who used to lie with me falsely claiming to be my husband, with the intention of later devouring my poor self with his greedy maw? I fell in with your proposal, but when the lamp which conspired with me allowed me to gaze on his face, the vision I beheld was astonishing and utterly divine; it was the son of the goddess Venus [Aphrodite], I mean Cupidos [Eros] himself, who lay peacefully sleeping there. I exulted at the sight of such beauty, and was confused by the sense of overwhelming delight, and as I experienced frustration at being unable to enjoy relations with him, the lamp by dreadful mischance shed a drop of burning oil on his shoulder. At once the pain caused him to start from his sleep, and when he saw me wielding the steel and the flame, he said: "This is a dreadful deed you have done. Leave my bed this instant, and take your goods and chattels with you. I shall now take your sister"--at this point he cited your name specifically--"in solemn marriage." At once he then ordained Zephyrus to waft me outside the bounds of his estate.’ http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Psykhe.html
Peter Paul Rubens - Pan reclining (c.1610)
Ernst Klimt - Pan Consoling Psyche.
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FAIR USE NOTICE
This site may contains some copyrighted material which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.