The celestial horse
From one world to another
The Celts held the horse in great esteem and gave him a top place in their mythology. The reverence towards the “horse goddess” Epona, often represented sitting on the back of a horse, has no equivalent in the Greco-Roman mythology. This privileged place reflected the role held by the horse in the passage from one world to another. The reverse of a golden stater of the “Parasii tribe”, dating back to the 1st century before our era, will allow us to deepen that symbol.
As a nocturnal animal, the horse was originally a creature of night, obscurity and darkness that progressively became a creature of day, light and Heaven. One fine day, the horse of the night world awakened man to the divine mysteries. Symbol of the different states of the being, he assists the person in the quest of his own reality:
- Coming out from obscurity, the animal describes the physical being still unaware of his true nature;
- The momentum of the horse towards light depicts the psychical being in search of the accomplishment of his human nature;
- The elevation towards Heaven, notably under his winged and/or white form (Pegasus), pictures the full spiritual realization of the being.
Throughout the crossing of the various states, the horse accompanies the being in the discovery of the mysteries. This is how the horse became “the noblest conquest of mankind”. This throws King Arthur riding in search of the Grail into relief. Having become intimately linked, man and animal are as one during this quest.
The image of the being united to the animal is provided by the “knight” 1 or the driver of the chariot mostly pulled by two horses. The charioteer holds the reins in one hand and the stick in the other. Having become guide in his turn, he represents the god or the hero crossing the space on his vehicle.
Source: National Library - medal exhibition room (Paris)
At the beginning of the quest, the obscure world represents the ignorance that the divine light only can dissipate. Going from the obscure world to full light means to become aware of his own reality and have no more doubts on the way to follow. Then, the being leaves the wandering to darkness and discovers his luminous path. Then, he dashes towards the celestial heights as Pegasus, the symbol of the accomplished being. After having attained the firmament and the spiritual realization, he will go into the Other, often underground, World to find in the depths of darkness, not the obscurity, sign of ignorance, but the real source of full clarity. He will be in a position to discover the undifferentiated Principle of the divine light that illuminates the being's consciousness. The access to the other World means the death of ignorance and the life of full consciousness. This is where everything originates from and this is where everything goes back.
We should emphasize that the convex form of the Celtic coins is not only technical, but also symbolic. In fact, they generally show on the obverse (the convex side) a face representative of the outer or human world and on the reverse (the concave side) a symbolic figure evocating the inner or spiritual world.
The passage from the inner to the outer world and vice versa is also underlined by the number 7 counting the groups of buttons, pearls or stars on the concave side of the stater and suggesting constellation drawings.
The number 7
The number 7 (= 1 + 6) represents at once unity (1) or the Principle and the world manifestation or creation (6). Indeed, the Principle or the Centre deploys according to the six directions of the space to occupy it in totality. In the opposite drawing, the vertical axis links up the celestial northern and southern Poles while the horizontal plan is associated with the four directions of the equatorial plan.
The real meaning of the septenarius lies in the Centre or the Unity of the Principle and its senarius manifestation. Many examples of the septenarius can be found in various customs and traditions.
How this manifestation emerges finds an answer in the Tao Te King saying: “One (unity) produced two (duality), two produced three (unity + duality) and three produced all numbers”. In fact, everything emerges from the Unity in a dual form and every duality is resolved into the Unity, the source of it. Let us note that the Principle, symbolizing the Whole, contains everything, including its manifestation. To distinguish the Principle from its manifestation is only a way of saying for, in reality, they are only One.
The Ursa Major and the Pleiades
The Ursa Major and the Pleiades, representing respectively the Celtic and Greek traditions, appear on the reverse side of the golden stater. Drawn in the form of 7 stars, they evoke the Principle and its manifestation.
The symbolism related to Ursa Major is naturally dealing with the Pole, the northern celestial Pole. Indeed, two stars of the constellation are in a line with the polar star represented by one of the pearl at the centre of the coin. For the population living in the northern hemisphere, the polar star symbolizes the motionless point around which stars and “wanderings” of the manifested world are turning. Consequently, the Pole symbolizes the Principle and the stars turning around the manifestation of the world in movement.
If the Ursa Major is related to the Pole, the Pleiades are far away from It. They are located in the Taurus's constellation of the Zodiac, close to the equatorial plan. If the Ursa Major symbolism is associated with winter solstice or north, the Pleiades are more related to autumn equinox or west. It follows that the centres, holders of the Knowledge on Earth, differ in the Celtic and Hellenic traditions.
The guardian Centre of the Knowledge in the Celtic tradition is the hyperborean region, the polar mountain, preserving the original or primeval tradition. In the Greek tradition, the centre was situated in the ocean, in Atlantis. The Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, were also called Atlantes. Nevertheless, Atlantis represented a secondary spiritual centre, image of the hyperborean Centre and unique holder of the primeval tradition. That is what the golden stater suggests: all traditional forms come from the polar one, of which the Celtic tradition offers the best example.
Bibliography
- René Guénon:
- “Symbols of Sacred Science”, Sophia Perennis Et Universalis Publisher 2004;
- Notably, chapter 24 on the Boar and the Bear.
- “The King of the World”. Sophia Perennis Publisher;
- In particular, chapter 10 on the names and symbolic representations of the spiritual centres.
1 return From the Latin “equites”, word used by Caesar to designate the (Gallic) Celtic warrior class without any connection with the medieval or feudal chivalry.