@amber.of.the.sea
"Among the many symbols connected to the moon, the crescent moon in particular, is the cup. An enduring image, the cup is thought
"Among the many symbols connected to the moon, the crescent moon in particular, is the cup. An enduring image, the cup is thought to brim with the elixir of immortality, the drink of deathlessness that refreshes life. This symbolism is further understood when the moon is viewed as a being in a βconstant state of emptying and refilling; you see it fill every month, and then unload its ambrosia onto the earth and fill again.β Curiously an early Akkadian seal dating to c.2350-2150 B.C., shows a serpent drinking from the crescent moon laid on its side. In the Orphic tradition, the Moon Goddess Cybele is engraved on their jewels offering a cup to a snake.
Robert Graves in his book The White Goddess explains that βthe most familiar icon of Aegean religion is a Moon-woman, a Star-son and a wise spotted Serpent grouped under a fruit-tree.β Joseph Campbell explains further that βit is a peculiar twist of our biblical tradition that the serpent is condemned, as are women and nature. For other cultures the serpent, while dangerous, is one of the three great symbols of the power of life in the field of time. Serpent, bull, moon β this is a basic triad of paired symbols.β
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From my book The Bronze Serpent
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Artwork: Thief of the Moon. 1924, by Norman Lindsay (1879-1969)
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#bookstagram #engraving #goddess
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2026-03-11 | 6,033 likes | 28 comments
