Yellowjackets Symbol: The Complete Picture

Prelude

What is and what is not create each other.

Difficult and easy complement each other.

Tall and short shape each other.

High and low rest on each other.

Voice and tone blend with each other.

First and last follow each other.

- Lao Tzu

Meaning lies in the confrontation of contradiction—the coincidentia oppositorum. That's what we really feel, not these rational schemas that are constantly beating us over the head with the "thou shalts" and "thou should." but rather a recovery of the real ambiguity of being and an ability to see ourselves as at once powerful and weak, noble and ignoble, future-oriented, past-facing.

- Terence McKenna

In my previous post, I argued that the symbol of cultus in the Yellowjackets tv series represents the diva triformis (three-formed goddess), with her Greco-Roman personification as Artemis-Diana. However, right from the beginning, there was another closely related narrative around the representation that was secretly developing in the background. So yesterday, in the state of insomnia, I let the thought wander to its destination, and the result became this piece. The starting point of that parallel narrative was the symbol of sickle.

"Hey, didn't you tell us that it represents the goddess Ceres-Demeter? Oh come on now, don't tell us that you were wrong!," you'd probably ask. Relax, I wasn't wrong, but there was one thing that I wasn't sure about, and I couldn't find any reliable explanation through my limited search. The issue was this: what would happen to the meaning/representation of a symbol, if we transform it into its mirroring image and rotating it?

The Symbol as the Saturn-Kronos

So why would I be interested in the mirrored symbol? Well, because there's another prevalent symbol in mythology literature and alchemy, depicted by the sickle but mirrored with respect to the sickle that represents Ceres. This sickle (or sometimes identified with scythe) represents none other than the Greeks' god of time, king of the Titans, Kronos (Cronus), 'The Horned One,' or Romans' Saturn, The Great Father.

Ceres' symbol

Saturn's symbol

So apparently, my earlier hypothesis is doomed now, if mirroring does not change the meaning, and if rotation by 180 degrees transforms it into its opposite/shadow meaning. I knew a bit about rotation for specific alchemical symbols, but I wasn't sure about the general case. Also in some cases, I saw that the symbols had the chiral symmetry.

Symbol as The Great Father-Mother

Good noows everyone, we're safe! How? Because, since the ancient times, The Great Seed (The Great Father) and The Great Womb (The Great Mother) were inseparable from each other, and the father was also The Child. This is why we have the concept of Man-Child, and the goddess is both mother and consort of the god. Such instances were specially abundant in the Egyptian mythology. For example, Isis was the mother and the wife of Horus. In the Book of the Dead, we read [1]:

the company of the gods, who were among the followers of Horus when he existed in the form of his own child

In Greek mythology, Ouranos (Romans' Uranus) was the son and the husband of Gaia. Speaking of titans and titanesses, it's worth noting that the association of sickle to Kronos is related to his childhood story. Apparently, there was a strife between Ouranos and Gaia over the wrongdoings of the husband to their children, so one day Gaia makes a sickle and tells her children to castrate their father Ouranos. Kronos, who already had his eyes on his father's throne, accepts the job and cuts off Ouranos' penis in an ambush.

The Mutilation of Uranus by Saturn
©Giorgio Vasari/Wikipedia

Now getting back to the track, we can see that the the great god was identified/presented with his mother who was also his consort, and the child-god was identified with his father-god. This was seen as the cycle of rebirth, implying the immortality of the great god [2]. The symbol of this unison was nothing but the sun-in-crescent on top of the triangle that we discussed in the previous post. So the symbol of cultus in the show not only represents the diva triformis, the mother goddess, but also represents The Great Father.

Interestingly, there's another related instance of the primordial male-female unity in deities of the ancient cultures. It was represented as the concept of hermaphrodite or androgyny, i.e. possession of both male and female genitals and characteristics in a single body.

Primordial androgyne cleavage, Greek vase, 4th century BCE
©Wikipedia

In this context, The Great Father's body was The Great Mother, as well as his consort. For example, in Egyptian mythology, the sun-god Atum, who was considered to be the first god, was called The Great He-She [3].

Guess who else was a hermaphrodite? You're right, Kronos, as well as Hekate! In one of the spells of the ancient Greek Magical Papyri, Kronos is invoked as [4]:

I call you, the great, holy, the one who created the whole inhabited world, against whom the transgression was committed by your own son, you whom Helios bound with adamantine fetters lest the universe be mixed together, you hermaphrodite, father of the thunderbolt, you who hold down those under the earth

In another spell, the unison of Hekate with Hermis is invoked as Mene, a name for the Moon:

Mene, O light-beloved

Hermes and Hekate at once,

Male-female child together

One of the modern examples of the hermaphrodite deity is the Baphomet, the deity representing the equilibrium of opposites, who was originally worshipped by the Knights Templar, the large order of devout Christians in the Middle Ages. As Eliphas Levi describes it [5]: 

There exists in nature a force which is much more powerful than steam. This force was known to the ancients: it consists of a universal agent whose supreme law is equilibrium, and whose direction is concerned immediately with the great arcanum of transcendental magic. This agent, which barely manifests itself under the trial and error of the disciples of Mesmer, is exactly what the adepts of the Middle Ages called the first matter of the great work. The Gnostics represented it as the fiery body of the Holy Spirit, and it was the object of adoration in the secret rites of the Sabbath or the Temple, under the hieroglyphic figure of Baphomet or the Androgynous Goat of Mendes.

 

Baphomet, by Eliphas Levi (1856)

©Wikipedia

It's interesting to note that in general, androgyny was associated to a range of deities, specially those who were associated with the Moon. In Plato's Symposium, Aristophanes notes [6]:

the sexes were three, and such as I have described them; because the sun, moon, and earth are three; and the man was originally the child of the sun, the woman of the earth, and the man-woman of the moon, which is made up of sun and earth

G. S. Faber also write about this union in the Intelligent Being as the creator deity who [7]:

was sometimes esteemed the animating Soul and sometimes the husband of the Universe, while the Universe was sometimes reckoned the body and sometimes the wife of the Intelligent Being: and, as the one theory supposed a union as perfect as that of the soul and body in one man, so the other produced a similar union by blending together the husband and wife into one hermaphrodite. as the great god was also a goddess, and as the great goddess was also a god; each of them by whatever name they may be distinguished, is alike pronounced to be one and all things.

In Corpus Hermeticum (Hermetica), which is a cornerstone of Hermetic tradition, a dialogue between Asclepius and the wise Hermes Trismegistus reads [8]:

H: God, the only and the all, completely full of the fertility of both sexes and ever pregnant with his own will, always begets whatever he wishes to procreate.

A: Do you say that god is of both sexes, Trismegistus?

H: Not only god, Asclepius, but all things ensouled and soulless, for it is impossible for any of the things that are to be infertile. For each sex is full of fecundity. If you call it Cupid or Venus or both, you will be correct.

In the previous post, we saw the strong presence of diva triformis in the Gnosticism. It's not surprising that the concept of the hermaphrodite god also shines brightly in this tradition. For example, in the Three Forms of First Thought we read [9]:

I am androgynous. I am mother and father. I copulate with myself. I copulate with myself and with those who love me, and through me alone all are standing firm. I am the womb that gives shape to all by bearing light shining in splendor. I am the coming eternal age.

 

The hermaphroditic King and Queen and the Tree of the Moon

Johann Daniel Mylius, Philosophia Reformata (1622)

©IMAGO/United Archives International

Kybele
©The Virgin of the World

 

Janus, Roman god of gateways and transitions
©philgloballink.wordpress.com

 

In summary, not only the symbol of the cultus represents The Great Mother, but it also represents The Great Father, who is in our case, Saturn-Kronos.

Cronus Hermaphrodite, by David Hare (1972)

©Tamarind Institute

Intermezzo: Veil

Saturn was also among the veiled gods, and in fact, one of his symbols aside from sickle/scythe is the veil, since the Romans thought of Saturn as the father of Truth [10]. As you might recall from the previous post, we had the similar theme for The Great Mother Isis.

Saturn veiled with sickle

©Naples Archaeological Museum

Saturn's veiled throne

©Louvre Museum

Shadow Ops

There's a mysterious and obscure Roman goddess called Lua, who is associated with Saturn as his consort, Lua Saturni, in earlier times. Due to the meaning of her name, she was also identified with Mother Destruction (Lua Mater), and the spoils of war, from bloody weapons of the enemies to their body parts, were offered to her. Some argue that she was the dark side of Ops, whose Greek equivalent was Rhea, sister and wife of Kronos.

Ops (Rhea), consort of Saturn (Kronos)

Nicolaes Braeu (1598)

©Noord-Hollands Archief

"Spill Blood, My Beautiful Friends"

We discussed the dark aspects of Artemis in the previous post, including the role of human sacrifice in her cultus. Here, we'll see that the blood rites not only were strongly present in the cultus of Saturn-Kronos, but also they had taken it to the next level. After all, what can we expect from a god who ate his own children, right?

Saturn devours one of his sons

Peter Paul Rubens (1638)

©Museo del Prado

Saturn eating his son

Francisco de Goya (1823)

©Museo del Prado

Instances of human sacrifices to Saturn-Kronos is well documented in the literature. It's been argued that it reached its peak at Carthage, when he was conflated with Baal (Baal Hammon) and later with Canaanite's El. You might've heard the stories about child sacrifices to the bull-headed Moloch (Baal), and we already saw how Baal with his consorts such as Tanit and Ashtoreth/Astarte conflated in different cultures with the father and the mother goddesses in later times. Although, there are stories noting that these blood rituals to the great god ended with Zeus.

To give a few examples, in Plato's Minos, we read [11]:

With us, for instance, human sacrifice is not legal, but unholy, whereas the Carthaginians perform it as a thing they account holy and legal, and that too when some of them sacrifice even their own sons to Cronos, as I daresay you yourself have heard.

Porphyry writes in De Abstinentia [12]:

For in Rhodes, on the sixth day of June, a man was sacrificed to Saturn; which custom having prevailed for a long time. For one of those men who, by the public decision, had been sentenced to death, was kept in prison till the Saturnalia commenced; but as soon as this festival began, they brought the man out of the gates of the city, opposite to the temple of Aristobulus, and giving him wine to drink, they cut his throat.

And we read in Plutarch's De Superstitione [13]:

Would it not have been far better for the Carthaginians to have taken Critias or Diagoras​ to draw up their law-code at the very beginning, and so not to believe in any divine power or god, rather than to offer such sacrifices as they used to offer to Cronos? No, but with full knowledge and understanding they themselves offered up their own children, and those who had no children would buy little ones from poor people and cut their throats as if they were so many lambs or young birds; meanwhile the mother stood by without a tear or moan; but should she utter a single moan or let fall a single tear, she had to forfeit the money,​ and her child was sacrificed nevertheless; and the whole area before the statue was filled with a loud noise of flutes and drums took the cries of wailing should not reach the ears of the people.

As a final example, Saint Augustine writes about the human sacrifices in the name of Saturn, who supposedly was the god of agriculture and harvest, and asks sarcastically [14]:

But Saturn surely, with all that great power, might have sufficed for seed. Why are other gods demanded for it, especially Liber and Libera, that is, Ceres?

And the list of examples goes on [15]. In addition, to get a symbolic sense of Saturn-Kronos relationship with death and the dark side, recall that beside sickle, scythe was also the symbol of Saturn-Kronos, and we already know that it's associated with death. After all, to quote Ovid [16]:

O Time, devourer of all things, and envious Age, together you destroy all that exists and, slowly gnawing, bring on lingering death.

 

The Shape of Things to Come

From the series, we know that the cultus still exists in the present timeline, but personally, I don't know whether it has gained substantial power via the help of Yellowjackets, or it was already powerful enough back in 1996 and the whole thing is just a power exercise or fun game. But if I were to draw a quick conclusion based on this two-part investigations, I would say that the cultus was powerful, but they needed a specific "key" for opening a specific "door" to a new "age" (of reign). One guess would be to consider the members of the Yellowjackets team as the necessary sacrifices for awakening the High Priestess who will either become the key, or will be able to obtain it, or will be able to locate it in the form of (a) prophecy. 

In fact, based on my hypothesis, i.e. by regarding the symbol as a representation of the unison of the diva triformis (e.g. the great goddess/Virgin goddess) and the great god (e.g. Saturn), together with the awakening priestess prophetess (sibyl), we might see some kind of a change/shift in the global (power) scene (or maybe a local one), at some point in the coming seasons. Take a closer look at this poem by Virgil and you'll see the picture that I'm seeing [17]:

Now is come the final era of the Sibyl's song;

The great order of the ages is born anew. 

Now the Virgin returns, the reign of Saturn returns; 

Now a new generation is sent down from high heaven. 

Now to this child in whom the iron race 

Throughout the world shall cease and turn to gold, 

Extend thy aid, holy Lucina, chaste and kind, 

For thy Apollo reigns. This glorious age

  

Now I do not want to come off as a conspiracy-head or whatnot at all. On the contrary, I'm just interested in the symbols and their meanings, focusing on their roles and interconnections in the "grand scheme of things." So I was kinda excited when I found some similarities between the meaning of the symbol, above poem and the Great Seal of the United States. Note that the seal itself is intended to convey the message of beginning a new era of independence and freedom for the country, as a collective, back in the days.

Reverse side
©Wikipedia

Obverse side
©Wikipedia

Notice the golden circle and the triangle (pyramid), the eye (of the great god), 13 layers of bricks, two outstretched wings (of the great goddess), two yellow ribbons (spikes) below a circular shape containing 13 stars, 13 arrows (Artemis), an olive branch (scepter/symbol of Eirene). The motto on the reverse side is an adaptation of the Virgil's poem that we saw, which reads: "A new order of the ages." And if I'm not mistaken, there were/are only 13 Yellowjackets teammates with names in the series who survived the plane crash. 

Official logo of NASA Moon landing program Artemis,
scheduled to land the first woman on the Moon in 2024,
the year of the Great American Eclipse
©NASA

The point is, maybe ultimately, when the collective Self wants to express the idea of emancipation from the constraints of the collective shadow by integration, it uses the pictorial vocabulary of collective unconscious and manifests its expression via this specific combination of symbols, or the ones alike. Remember the last thing Lottie said (as a prayer) after offering the bear heart as a sacrifice: "Let the darkness set us free."

Cumaean Sibyl

Jan Luyken (1684)

©Rijksmuseum

Eirene with Ploutos (1895)

©Wikipedia

The Joy of Life (1906)

Henri Matisse's idea of The Golden Age

©The Barnes Foundation

So with all these in mind, and in comparison with the Great Seal, it's very plausible that the great coming order of the ages could indeed be applied to our interpretation of the symbol as well, such that it could be (an abstraction of) the real motif behind the cultus. But the question is, would it be the golden light or would it be the iron dark?

Click here, if you'd like to read the third movement of the essay

References

1. Book of the Dead and other Egyptian Papyri and Tablets, by Various Translators, 2016
2. David N. Talbott. The Saturn Myth. 1980
3. mythology.net
   
4. Hans Dieter Betz. Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. 1986 [PGM IV. 3098-3102]
5. Julian Strube. The "Baphomet" of Eliphas Levi: Its Meaning and Historical Context. Correspondences 4, 37–79, (2016) [correspondencesjournal.com]
6. Plato. Symposium. Translated by Benjamin Jowett [classics.mit.edu]
7. George Stanley Faber. The Origin of Pagan Idolatry. 1816
8. Corpus Hermeticum. Hermes Trismegistus [ldysinger.stjohnsem.edu]
9. Three Forms of First Thought (Trimorphic Protennoia). Translated by Willis Barnstone [gnosis.org]
10. Plutarch. The Roman Questions [penelope.uchicago.edu]
11. Plato. Minos [perseus.tufts.edu]
12. Porphyry. De Abstinentia [tertullian.org]
13. Plutarch. De Superstitione [penelope.uchicago.edu]
14. Aurelius Augustine. The City of God. 2014 [gutenberg.org]
15. Samuel Macey. Patriarchs of Time. 1987
16. Ovid. Metamorphoses. translated by Brookes More. 1922 [topostext.org]
17. Virgil. The Eclogues of Virgil . Translated by John William Mackail. 1908 [wikisource.org]