Forlong - Rivers of Life

234
Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands.
was “bearing away the bell;” she was a “fountain sealed” (Canticles iv. 12), “a
closed garden,” the virgo intacta, not at all the Shidah hdc, Lady or Spouse, whom
we have in this figure; for, says Inman, ydc shaddai is a “field,” “my mother” or
“female;” El-shadai “the all powerful one;” but Shad dc is the breast or pap, and
shadah hdc, that which pours out; so we see clearly the Abraham’s God—EL-SHADAH
was simply the male SHEDDER, or Jupiter Pluvius; and that the Ephesians correctly
represented the same idea in their Shadah or Di-Ana, which I here give from the aame
clear-sighted author, who also calls her the Ishtar of
Mesopotamia and the Bhāvani of India. Her embattled
crown and doorway denote universal motherhood;
her open hands and outspread arms supporting
salacious lions, the bounties she is willing to grant to
all; whilst winged figures, kissing-birds, serpents, and
roses, complete a picture which was well fitted to make
the ancient world cry out; “Great is Diana of the
Ephesians!”
The early Christian sect of Ophites evidently desired
to harmonise Christianity and the old mythologies, for
we find them also calling the Serpent the Agatho-demon,
“the Love-God” or demon of love. In Egypt it symbolised
Kneph, in Greece Apollo; and, through Kekrops,
was the father of the ancient races of Attica, and the
symbol sacred to Athena—the virgin-goddess and
“Protectress of the state.”
Some tales of Apollo represent him as killing the
mighty Python, but this is only when the narrators
are alluding to the scorpion as Typhon, just as the
mythology of India represents their Apollo (Krishna)
killing the great snake in the Yamoona. Bryant tells us
correctly that Apollo and the Python were the same, and
Fig 107.—SHADAH OR DIANA OF EPHESUS.
that the hill where both were worshipped as one god was
called Tor-ophis, or shortly Tripos—the Sun-Serpent
or serpent-hill. The etymology of the word shows in
what light the Serpent or Sun-God was regarded: Ops is power and dominion;
Opulens is wealthy; Opus is work; Optics is from Optomai, “I see,” hence the
Serpent is Power, Wisdom, Light, and therefore a fit type of creation and generative
power. The Priestesses of the Delphic Tripos especially sang their god’s praise on
the seventh or Sol’s day, and thus united the two faiths.
If the ancient Romans called the entrance to his dwelling-place Vestibulum, so has
the Christian adopted what architects call Vesica as the favourite window for the house