June 21, 2014

Shrine of Cancer

 
Blessings of the Solstice and the Sun entering the sign of Cancer! This photo is of the Shrine of Cancer in the Temple of Isis, Clonegal Castle. The statue is the Goddess Juno of the midsummer moon. By Her is a ceramic figure of Her peacock. Real peacock feathers show their starry eyes of the sky. Juno stands on an appliqued representation of the Spider Goddess Arachne, Who spins the Cosmic Web of the Universe.
 
Olivia Robertson writes in "Sophia, Cosmic Consciousness of the Goddess": "Cancer was held by the Sages to be the House of the Moon, as the Moon was believed to have been in Cancer at the Creation. It was respected as Horoscope of the World, as the sign nearest the Zenith. The learned Berossos declared that our earth shall be submerged when all planets are grouped in Cancer. The Chaldean Magi and the Platonists taught their disciples that souls descend from Heaven into human bodies through Cancer, the Gate of Humanity. There is a deep meaning concealed in the very sign of Cancer, two curved '6' forms embracing each other - resembling the Eastern Yin-Yang symbol of positive and negative energies moving in contrary cyclic paths of the Serpent. Holding Cancer aloft in the sky is the Seven Headed Monster Hydra, sacred to the Chaldean Dragon Goddess of Creation, Tiamat."


Archival Link: Photos of Zodiac Shrines

(photo copyright Minette Quick, shrine commentary by Olivia Robertson and MQ.)