Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Temple >

Entities related to sight

Wanderer

21:16 / 20.10.04

Can anyone think of any deities that could be called on in regards to sight? I have a friend being treated for a fairly serious eye infection, and any push I could give him toward recovery would be good.

grant

16:56 / 27.10.04

Weird -- all the "sight" stuff that comes to mind all has to do with blindness or maimed eyes. Too much inner sight vs. outer sight in the myth-world, I guess.

I'll have more of a think.

Sekhmet

17:18 / 27.10.04

Some of the deities related to eagles or hawks, perhaps? Horus, or one of the Native American gods with "eagle-eye"? Look into different traditions for master hunters and archers with keen vision, or warriors who could kill at a great distance.

Odin is a thought, since according to the Eddas he was able to view the entire world from his High Seat, Hlidhskjalf... However, I'm not sure about the associations you might get with him, since he also gave up one of his eyes...

gale

19:31 / 27.10.04

This is kind of a "reverse lookup" approach, but you can search for medicinal herbs/plants that are used for eye problems and then find the diety associated with that plant.

Sir Real

11:34 / 02.11.04

Maybe Horus?

I'm not up on Egyption deities, but I know he's associated with the hawk, and they see well, right?

Papess

12:13 / 02.11.04

How about Iris?

Although personally, I think a healing deity would be a better choice. Someone like Avalokiteshvara...:

From his eyes come forth the sun and moon; from his brow, Mahesvara, the great god who creates life with a thunderbolt from his third eye; from his shoulders, Brahma and other gods; from his heart, Narayana, the soul of the universe; from his thighs, Sarasvati, the wife of Brahma and the goddess of wisdom, music, and science; from his mouth, the winds; from his feet, the earth; from his stomach, Varuna, an emanation from the sun initiating the cycles of nature and the embodiment of truth. He is a lamp to the blind, a parasol for those devoured by the heat of the sun, and a stream to the thirsty. He takes away all fear from those who are afraid; he is a doctor to the sick, and he is father and mother to the unhappy.

ONLY NICE THINGS

14:30 / 02.11.04

Given that the aim is to heal rather than to give your friend Bravestarr-style hawk vision, might I suggest Asclepius/Aesculapius? Ask him to help out, then dedicate a model of an eye to him when your friend recovers.

FinderWolf

14:50 / 02.11.04

Janus, the two-faced god who can see from all 360 degrees since he's got a face where most people have the back of their head? Dude's got 4 eyes. He always seemed cool to me.

ONLY NICE THINGS

15:10 / 02.11.04

Ah, so now we have a magic spell not only to cure the infection but also to give the afflicted hawk-like vision and four eyes. Why not rather invoke Argus, who will be 25 times more effective?

Actually, I have a question here, and it's something that is troubling me. If you don't know much about a deity, be it Janus or Horus, why are you recommending them? Is it just because you don't think magic works, so it doesn't really matter what you do as long as it seems on some level satisfying? Or is it that what you think about the deity is more important than what people might have thought about it in previous millennia? This is probably a chaos thing that I'm not getting, but it is starting to give me the fear...

Sekhmet

15:47 / 02.11.04

Hrrm. I didn't think we were recommending, so much as brainstorming ideas for the querent to look into.

However, I tend to agree with those who suggested healing entities might be more appropriate in a case like this one.

There have been a lot of these "tell me some gods what have to do with X" threads recently, with people just tossing out any names which seem remotely applicable... Perhaps we should instead take these as opportunities for somewhat deeper research and discussion?

Wanderer

18:43 / 11.11.04

Thanks for the info. I'll probably be trying something with Horus, esp. as Ive been trying to move into more traditonal ceremonial work (golden dawn, etc.).

sine

19:02 / 11.11.04

At the risk of minor thread rot, I do love the Fortean Times. This reminds me of the infamous Art Bell shadow people, somewhat.

Glandmaster

07:33 / 12.11.04

Archangel Raphael, which means "the shining one who heals," was also an early Chaldean God who came to be recognized by Jewish and Christian scholars as the Angel of Healing.

Regarding the healing powers attributed to Raphael, we have little more than his declaration to Tobias (Tobit, 12) that he was sent by the Lord to heal him of his blindness

Im glad that Raph is associated with healing but I thought of him as he is described as being surrounded by a cloud of eyes, however I cannot find a pic on the web and me scanner is bolloxed so I cant scan in the pic from my angel dictionary but way different from post 4th century winged dudes anyway...

Lord Morgue

09:32 / 14.11.04

Um, there was that guy with the 100 eyes from greek myth, but Hermes kakked him and Hera put the eyes on the peacock.
On the mundane level, Eyebright is a herb that will fix practically anything to do with eyes. Astringent, antibiotic, circulation, it does it all.

ONLY NICE THINGS

14:20 / 14.11.04

The guy with the 100 eyes is Argus. He's mentioned about, although not apparently clearly enough.

Eyebright sounds good. If you're going Egyptian, Thoth may be a better bet than Horus - again, that's a medicinal thing.

Lord Morgue

02:33 / 15.11.04

THANK YOU! Argos. Haven't read my Bullfinch's since I was knee-high to one, and Xena and Hercules are no substitute.
You know in Marvel's Thor, the plucked-out Eye of Odin grew to massive size, and occasionly narrates a story, Watcher-style?

Add Your Reply