Grandpa Kewl

Book Review – Patterns In Comparative Religion, Mircae Eliade

I liked the way the author was described in the title page – Sometime Professor in the University of Bucharest

This is the second or third book I’ve read by the same author.

The book itself is in somewhat ratty condition with someone elses notes and lines…looke like Gai Eaton, London Feb, 1953 (French Edition read in 1950). I found 2 photographic negatives in the pages of this book which I need to scan…..

Worth listing the chapter titles…

 

  1. Approximations: The Structure and Morphology of the Sacred
  2. The Sky and Sky Gods
  3. The Sun and Sun Worship
  4. The Moon and Its Mystique
  5. The Waters and Water Symbolism
  6. Sacred Stones, Epiphanies, Signs and Forms
  7. The Earth, Woman and Fertility
  8. Vegetation: Rites and Symbols of Regeneration
  9. Agriculture and Fertility Cults
  10. Sacred Places: Temples, Palace, “Centre of the World”
  11. Sacred Time and the Myth of Eternal Renewal
  12. The Morphology and Function of Myths
  13. The Structure of Symbols

Pages – 465.

I started this book on 2/23/2009 and finished on 3/16/2009.

A complex book, well worth reading.
Some of my notes:

“A thing becomes sacred in so far as it embodies (that is, reveals) something other than itself”

“Perfection in any sphere is frightening, and this sacred or magic quality of perfection may provide an explanation for the fear that even the most civilized societies seem to feel when faced with a genius or a saint.”

speaking of eroticism and nutrition…””For modern man they are simply psychological acts, whereas for primitive man they were sacraments, ceremonies by means of which they communicated with the force which stood for Life itself.”

“At Tel-Khafaje, in the oldest sanctuary known to us, the image of a bull is found next to that of the goddess mother.”

“The Moon becomes the universal measuring gauge.”

“A sacred thing, whatever its form and substance, is sacred because it reveals or shares in ultimate reality.”

“Any use of water with a religious intention brings together the two basic points in the rhythm of the universe: reintegration in water – and creation.”

“Above all, stone is.”

“…a cosmic tree…”  a personal note – an I the only person who has seen the vulva in the tree? I need a picture to illustrate….and then I’ll tell the story of its discovery.

Threads to trace…

Aphrodite and Ouranos
The Hunting of Ba’al”
Studies by Askar Almgren of cave-drawings
The texts of Ras Shamra
Iran – Yin
The Apocalypse of Moses
The Gospel of Nicodemus
The Life of Adam and Eve

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