08-31-2013, 01:21 AM
Seems to me to the same as the Cherubic animals or "Living Creatures" seen to be guardians of the Throne of God or sometimes represented as his "chariot" or vehicle of motion.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/tbr/tbr023.htm
Also notice that the center has a fish with wings. Fish is a symbol commonly associated with Jesus, but also refers to much more ancient symbolism.
Of note is as a vehicle for reincarnation or as the Great Mother or womb.
http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/fish_symbol.htm
Oh, and though I am pretty sure that is a bull and not a goat, the sacrifice of goats is often tied back to the mention of Azazel whom the Hebrews sacrificed a goat to in order to calm or quell him, possibly identifying him as a desert demon of sorts. There are, of course, many traditions where they may have sacrificed goats.
However, the concept of sacrifice has been twisted, I believe, as I think that most talk of sacrifice in ancient scriptures is symbolic of the natures, especially animal natures, in humans themselves. One of the ways in which the Zodiac can be understood is as archetypes of the composite animal of man and so in many texts where they refer to sacrifice of these animals it was not literal but metaphorical.
Blood itself is an ancient symbol of spirit or the divine life energy in all things, so the metaphorical sacrifice of an animal in this context indicates the releasing of divine energy that is bound up in the animal nature. The sacrifice allows the spirit of that animal to "purify" or free the energies of the individual through the release of attachment from the animal natures.
Of course, you could sacrifice an animal and gain a release of energy literally, but I do not think that would be at all the same of what it would mean within the individual as a philosophical or magical expression. I think a lot of actual sacrifice came from the misinterpretation of this concept.
http://archive.org/stream/initiatesofflame00hall
http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/tbr/tbr023.htm
Also notice that the center has a fish with wings. Fish is a symbol commonly associated with Jesus, but also refers to much more ancient symbolism.
Of note is as a vehicle for reincarnation or as the Great Mother or womb.
http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/fish_symbol.htm
Oh, and though I am pretty sure that is a bull and not a goat, the sacrifice of goats is often tied back to the mention of Azazel whom the Hebrews sacrificed a goat to in order to calm or quell him, possibly identifying him as a desert demon of sorts. There are, of course, many traditions where they may have sacrificed goats.
However, the concept of sacrifice has been twisted, I believe, as I think that most talk of sacrifice in ancient scriptures is symbolic of the natures, especially animal natures, in humans themselves. One of the ways in which the Zodiac can be understood is as archetypes of the composite animal of man and so in many texts where they refer to sacrifice of these animals it was not literal but metaphorical.
Blood itself is an ancient symbol of spirit or the divine life energy in all things, so the metaphorical sacrifice of an animal in this context indicates the releasing of divine energy that is bound up in the animal nature. The sacrifice allows the spirit of that animal to "purify" or free the energies of the individual through the release of attachment from the animal natures.
Of course, you could sacrifice an animal and gain a release of energy literally, but I do not think that would be at all the same of what it would mean within the individual as a philosophical or magical expression. I think a lot of actual sacrifice came from the misinterpretation of this concept.
http://archive.org/stream/initiatesofflame00hall
![[+]](https://www.bring4th.org/forums/images/collapse_collapsed.png)