Symbol Dictionary: P-Pa
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Palm Tree: See Trees.
Pandora: Like the Biblical Eve, the myth of Pandora was distorted by men to blame the evils of the world on women. Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), explains, “Pandora’s vessel was not a box but a honey-vase, pithos, from which she poured out blessings: a womb symbol like the cornucopia, anciently used as a vessel of death and rebirth.” Originally based on the Earth-goddess Rhea (the “All-Giver), the myth of Pandora was distorted by Hesiod, to say Zeus sent her to Earth to punish men with pain, strife, sickness, and all other affliction, and he included hope, so that man would not commit suicide but suffer longer. Zeus gave Pandora a vase full of these evils and in her curiosity she opened it, as Zeus knew she would, and released them into the world. Erasmus mistranslated her “vase” as “box” in the late medieval period.
Pangaea: See Paradise, below.
Paradise: Paradise unanimously is connected to divinity, immortality, and the virgin mother. Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), explains, “The Persian Pairidaeza (Paradise) was a magic garden surrounding the holy mountain of the gods, where the Tree of Life bore the fruit of immortality. Pairidaeza was also the divine Virgin who would give birth to the future Redeemer: the Mahdi, or Messiah, or Savior, of Desired Knight of Saracenic Grail myths.” The Hebrew’s version of Paradise was pardes, “garden” also with connotations to a virgin bride. Pagans and Christians also have versions of a Paradise:
- Eden: The idea of a tropical paradise in which work and hardship is unknown stems back to the Persian Heden, the primal garden in which the first couple lived in the golden age, located in the west, where the sun sets. Later Hebrew interpretations of Heden turned into the “Garden of Delights,” which was later transformed into the “Garden of Eden” by the New Testament (Walker, 1983).
- Himalaya: These mountains were known in Sanskrit (the root language for other Indo-European languages) as “Mountains of Paradise” and have inspired other cultures images of paradise, such as the German Himmel (Walker, 1983).
- Jambu Island: This is the Tantric version of the fairyland, Blessed Isles, and Eden, a paradise of Rose-Apple trees, likened to Shakti’s body. According to Barbara Walker, in her book The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), “The shape of Jambu Island is like a yoni, the Chariot or throne of Shiva. In its center is the Diamond Seat (vajrasana) or clitoris, where the Way of Awakening is demonstrated to the sexually and spiritually enlightened.”
- Mountain: Mountains, for many peoples have been a symbol of the Great Mother and provider of the natural world, probably because of the mountain’s connection with life-sustaining rivers and streams (associated with the menstrual blood of the Goddess). Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), states “Perhaps more than any other natural objects, mountains most often represented the Great Mother, in every land the mountains were identified with breasts, belly, or mons veneris of the Earth, as well as the paradise where gods live.” Mount Everest, is also called Chomo-Lung-Ma or “Goddess-Mother of the Universe,” and its nearby cousin, Annapurna is known as “Great Breast Full of Nourishmen.” The headwaters of the Ganges, Nanda Devi translates to “Blessed One.” The Himalayas translate to “Mountains of Heaven,” similar to Mount Olympus, home of the Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses. The Hindu version of Olympus was Mount Meru or Sumeru, translated “Good Mountain;” the Chinese had the Mount of Paradise; the Iranians called their Mountain-Mother High Haraiti; the Japanese tradition tells of a magic mountain, Fujihama; and the ancient Dravidian Mountain-Mother was called Hariti; The Persian home of the sun god Ahura Mazda was Mount Hara. Also, as Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002), point out, “Mountains are the meeting place between heaven and earth, where the gods can be encountered.” Such mountains include Mount Olympus, Mount Sinai, the Himalayas, and the four sacred mountains of the Navajo. See River.
Pangaea: Today scientists theorize that all the continents started out connected as one land mass they call Pangaea. However, the title Pangaea was borrowed from the pagan name for the mountain shrine to the Earth Mother in Thrace, translated as “Universal Gaea.” According to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), “She was also called Ida, Olympia, and Panorma, Universal Mountain Mother.”
Path: As a synonym for a spiritual journey, a spiritual path. According to Man, Myth And Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Mythology, Religion And The Unknown (1995), edited by Richard Cavendish, “The path or road or way is a frequently used symbol… The image of the ‘open road,’ running freely on across hill and dale, representing adventure, release, and freedom.” See Labyrinth. See also the section on Sacred Labyrinths.