Symbol Dictionary Sl-Sp
Sleipnir: See Animals.
Sneeze: Similar to the shadow, the ancient Indo-European world believed humans had multiple souls, one of which was an air or breath-soul that was in danger of being expelled from the body by a sneeze. Thus the Roman pagans coined the saying “God bless you” or Gesundheit, “May you have health” as a verbal charm against losing their breath-soul. Similarly, the practice of covering the mouth when yawning was meant to prevent the loss of the air-soul. See Shadow.
Solomon’s Seal: See Hexagram.
Son of Man: The concept of a “god made wholly in the image of man,” according to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983). The term was applied to Vishnu, the Persian Messiah Yima the Splendid, and then to Christ. These Sons of Man were supposed to be able to defeat death, whereas sons of women were destined to die.
Soul: Theologians and philosophers alike have theorized on the soul. The earlier Germanic term for soul Seele denoted “the feminine Ultimate Reality,” was called psyche, pneuma, anima, alma, was ruled by the Goddesses Kore, Sophia, Metis, Sapientia, Juno; and it was believed that every man had a feminine soul (Walker, 1983). According to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), “The philosophers reasoned that if God=air=soul, then the air within a breathing person was an inner God judging his actions, an interior conscience.” The Egyptians associated the seven souls of a human aakhu, ab, ba, ka khaibut, khat, and ren (primordial life spirit or blood, heart from the mother’s heart, the ghost after death, the reflected self, the shadow, the physical body, and the name respectively), with the Seven Hathors, guardians of the planetary spheres. The Greeks attributed the souls to gods such as the spirit to Psyche who married Eros the body. The breath or air-soul was particularly important to the Brahman who believed it was the only soul provided by the father and many deities performed miracles using their breath.
South: See Directions.
Speaking in Tongues: Also called Glossolalia, “speaking in tongues” refers to a spiritual or religious experience in which a person experiences a trance or sense of ecstasy that is accompanied with spontaneous speaking of a language unknown to the speakers conscious mind. They are thought to be temporarily possessed by the divine spirit, according to Walker, in her book The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983). The Biblical St. Paul was known for his ability to speak in tongues and the practice has connections to Buddhism as Walker (1983) explains, “The idea originally came from Buddhists who claimed that when Buddha addressed gods, demons, men, and animals, each heard the Enlightened One speak in the language he could understand.”
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Sphinx: The sphinx was a “two-face Goddess of birth and death” sometimes depicted with two heads and two foreparts, according to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983). Sometimes called xerefu and akeru, the Lions of Yesterday and Today, The Goddess Hathor took the form of a Sphinx, asking men the riddle, “What goes on four legs at dawn, two legs at midday, and three legs at sunset, and is weakest when it has the most support,” who she killed if they could not answer. |
King Oedipus finally solved the riddle as either man or the sun god Ra who daily made his way across the sky turning into an old man by night, both of whom crawl on four legs at birth or “dawn,” two legs during “midday” or most of life, and use a crutch or third “leg” at “sunset” or the end of life (Walker, 1983). See UMS Wizards, Magical Creatures and Adepts course.
Spider: See Animals.