MYSTERY CENTRES - HANDS - SYMBOLS - INITIATION Although there is no doubt that these richly symbolic hands were used for magical purposes, precisely to what use they were put is in dispute. Perhaps they were used as amulets, or 'power-centres', since almost all the symbols appearing on them relate to the ancient gods, or to the various Mystery Religions that were so popular in pre-Christian times. It is sometimes claimed that they are ex voto objects, but Elworthy has shown this not to be the case. The drawings are from Elworthy, Horns of Honour and Other Studies in the By-Ways of Archa
MYSTERY CENTRES - HANDS - SYMBOLS - INITIATION Although there is no doubt that these richly symbolic hands were used for magical purposes, precisely to what use they were put is in dispute. Perhaps they were used as amulets, or 'power-centres', since almost all the symbols appearing on them relate to the ancient gods, or to the various Mystery Religions that were so popular in pre-Christian times. It is sometimes claimed that they are ex voto objects, but Elworthy has shown this not to be the case. The drawings are from Elworthy, Horns of Honour and Other Studies in the By-Ways of Archaeology, 1900. The hands are of metal - usually of bronze - and stand about 6 inches high. The gesture made by the hand is of the kind which we would now regard as being one of benediction, with the small finger and ring finger pent over: the indications are that this was one of the gestures used in the ancient mysteries. In the Hindu mudras it is the gesture of Vishnu. The plethora of symbols found on these hands is sufficiently intriguing to make these ritual objects among the most puzzling and mysterious to have survived from the ancient world. [Top pair] This example was discovered near Brescia, in the nineteenth century, and is now in the city Museum. The distinctive Wheel-Cross in the centre of the palm is said by Elworthy to be symbol of Jupiter, but it is more likely to be a symbol of Apollo, the Sun god. The ram is one of the symbols of Jupiter. The pinecone, mounted on the thumb, was sacred both to Serapis and Cybele (at whose processionals, the pine-cone was carried in reverence). In ancient Chaldea, it was believed that the Tree of Knowledge was a pine-tree. The serpent (here resting its head between the thumb and index finger) was, like the lizard that also appears on this hand, a symbol of both the wisdom and self-imposed silence of the initiate, or the Wiseman: it was also symbol of the demi-god, Asculapius. It is interesting to observe that the
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Keywords: -, archival, archive, art, artistic, artwork, book, centres, doubt, esoterica, hands, historic, historical, history, illustration, image, initiation, mono, mystery, paranormal, richly, symbolic, symbols
