Athena: Difference between revisions
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[[Category:Greek Mythology]] | [[Category:Greek Mythology]] | ||
==Interpretation by C. W. Leadbeater== | |||
<blockquote>Pallas Athene, the grey-eyed goddess of wisdom, was a magnificent and splendid | |||
Being, who practically governed Athens in the old days through her devotees. Her | |||
influence was enormously stimulating, but she was not so much an embodiment of | |||
compassion or of love, as is the Blessed Virgin Mary, but rather of efficiency | |||
and of that perfect accuracy of form that is the essence of all true art...There was practically no emotion connected with Pallas Athene; we had an intellectual appreciation of her greatness, an intense devotion along mental lines, a splendid enthusiasm in following her; but we should not have ventured upon anything like personal affection. She kept Athens in perfect order, directing it, governing it, brooding over its people with her wonderful inspiration; and she watched the development of her city with the closest interest, determined that it should be ahead of Sparta and Corinth and the other cities of Greece.<ref>Leadbeater, Charles Webster. ''Glimpses of Masonic History'' (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1926), 139-140.</ref></blockquote> | |||
==Athena and the Cosmic Mind== | |||
Archaic literature speaks voluminously of the sons of God as | |||
being "mind-born." The myth of the generation of Pallas Athena, Goddess of | |||
Wisdom, directly from the forehead of Jove, carries the same connotation. | |||
For the production of archetypal creative ideas the God-Mind needs no | |||
immediate implementation by matter. The Father produces his mental | |||
children directly from his brain alone. | |||
==Athena and Theosophy== | |||
<blockquote>Theosophy is, then, the archaic Wisdom the esoteric doctrine once known in | <blockquote>Theosophy is, then, the archaic Wisdom the esoteric doctrine once known in | ||
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Nebo, the Thoth of Memphis, the Hermes of Greece; in the appellations, also, of | Nebo, the Thoth of Memphis, the Hermes of Greece; in the appellations, also, of | ||
some goddesses -- Metis, Neitha, Athena, the Gnostic Sophia finally the Vedas, from | some goddesses -- Metis, Neitha, Athena, the Gnostic Sophia finally the Vedas, from | ||
the word "to know"<ref>Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. A Modern Pararion (Los Angeles, CA: Theosophical Company, 1981), 263.</ref></blockquote> | the word "to know".<ref>Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. A Modern Pararion (Los Angeles, CA: Theosophical Company, 1981), 263.</ref></blockquote> | ||
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
<references/> | <references/> | ||
Revision as of 16:14, 27 July 2012
Interpretation by C. W. Leadbeater
Pallas Athene, the grey-eyed goddess of wisdom, was a magnificent and splendid
Being, who practically governed Athens in the old days through her devotees. Her influence was enormously stimulating, but she was not so much an embodiment of compassion or of love, as is the Blessed Virgin Mary, but rather of efficiency
and of that perfect accuracy of form that is the essence of all true art...There was practically no emotion connected with Pallas Athene; we had an intellectual appreciation of her greatness, an intense devotion along mental lines, a splendid enthusiasm in following her; but we should not have ventured upon anything like personal affection. She kept Athens in perfect order, directing it, governing it, brooding over its people with her wonderful inspiration; and she watched the development of her city with the closest interest, determined that it should be ahead of Sparta and Corinth and the other cities of Greece.[1]
Athena and the Cosmic Mind
Archaic literature speaks voluminously of the sons of God as being "mind-born." The myth of the generation of Pallas Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, directly from the forehead of Jove, carries the same connotation. For the production of archetypal creative ideas the God-Mind needs no immediate implementation by matter. The Father produces his mental children directly from his brain alone.
Athena and Theosophy
Theosophy is, then, the archaic Wisdom the esoteric doctrine once known in
every ancient country having claims to civilization. This "Wisdom" all the old writings show us as an emanation of the divine Principle; and the clear comprehension of it is typified in such names as the Indian Budh, the Babylonian Nebo, the Thoth of Memphis, the Hermes of Greece; in the appellations, also, of some goddesses -- Metis, Neitha, Athena, the Gnostic Sophia finally the Vedas, from
the word "to know".[2]