Tartarus = Tortoise!

I always thought "Tartarus" was Hell - not really the Devil-with-pitchfork and eternal fire roasting one's butt kind of place (although some people really do deserve such a place for eternity!), but a place similar to my old Catholic conception of Purgatory, which was where unbaptised babies went when they died, a sort of dread place, not really described.  As a young girl in a Roman Catholic school (I was 8), I remember being herded into St. Rose's Chruch on November 2nd to pray for the poor lost souls in Purgatory.  I also remember that there was a formula, although I no longer remember the formula - but it was this: if I said a certain number of prayers in a certain period of time, I saved one soul from Purgatory.  To my eyes it seemed we all prayed our butts off to save those poor souls.  We were limited in time - I think it was 3 hours - and then we were herded out of the church by our nuns back to school to finish the day.  We were not allowed to finish the day in church, I don't know why -- although as an adult I figure the nuns must have thought we weren't really praying after a certain point, we were just pretending!  Well, I did pray my butt off - just in case - but even at 8 years of age I had my doubts :)  On the other hand, I did not want to be personally responsible for even one small unbaptized baby spending an eternity in Purgatory if I could save it with my prayers.  I guess it was evident even then that it was my destiny to become a pagan Christian. 

Whatever...  So - knock me over with a feather, darlings, when I popped open my edition of Barbara G. Walker's The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.  I randomly selected the "T's" tonight and came upon the entry for Tartarus:

Tartarus
Greek name of the underworld, related to tartaruga, "tortoise," because archaic Hindu tradition claimed the earth was supported by Vishnu in the form of a tortoise. The tortoise was a totem of the Underground God, sometimes incarnate in Pan or Hermes who invented the tortoise-shell lyre to create universal harmony.(1) In alchemy, the Underground God became spiritus tartari, spirit of Tartarus, a description of tartaric acid, or simply tartar.

Notes:
(1) Jung & Kerenyi, 78.

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The old legend about the tortoise being the foundation of the earth is Indo-European. Duh! I guess I already knew that, but reading it again tonight turned on new light-bulbs in my brain.

Is this connected to the ancient Chinese Lo-Shu legend that introduced the world's oldest known 3x3 perfect magic square?

4 9 2
3 9 7
8 1 6

(Image: by Linda Braatz-Brown). Sum the rows up across, down, diagonally, they all equal 15.  If you sum the "1" and "5" together you get "6."  All those sixes.  Demonology! 

The Lo-Shu, according to Tony Smith, dates back to 4,200 years ago (c. 2200 BCE).

Notice how there are thirteen "divisions" on the shell of the tortoise.  Thirteen is a number sacred to the Great Goddess. 

Friday the 13th

Hola darlings! I am in a whirlwind of activity. On Sunday I will be in Chicago from practically dawn to well after dusk helping Shira Evans with the SOS Childrens Village Computer Labs project -- and so everything must get done tonight and tomorrow. Raked tonight, clean-up is next, I've got meetings scheduled with two brokers tomorrow because I decided to investigate selling this place and benefit from the $6,500 credit if I can ink a deal by 4/30/10 and close by 6/30/10 and hopefully put away a tidy sum in doing so by downsizing; on Monday I've got a painter coming to do the upstairs bath and big bedroom. I have much to do to get ready for the painter! Carpets and furniture being cleaned next weekend in preparation for Mr. Don's Christmas visit. I must schedule estimates for quotes on painting the great room, which soars two stories tall and I assume will take a crew working on scaffolding just to get paint on, and that's after some minor drywall repairs are done first. Whew! I also have miscellaneous repairs (such as doggy-chewed drywall from many years ago on the basement steps that I never repaired or replaced) to be completed. The huge old mirror in the bathroom is GOING! I'm getting a framed oval mirror that will match the finish of the new light fixture I had installed in the spring. I've finally decided to have a new floor put in the upstairs bath too - got to talk to the handyman about that. I expect the place will look so great when I'm finished I won't want to put it on the market after all :) Today is Friday the 13th, the Day of the Goddess. It was probably not a coincidence that the very first time I set eyes on my sister-of-the-heart, Isis, was on Friday, August 13, 1999, in Las Vegas when I flew in to watch the FIDE Knock-Out World Chess Championship at Caesar's Palace. Here's an old post from The Goddesschess Weave that Isis did way back when! Georgia Albert - 08:33am Jul 11, 1999 MST (#1086 of 1107) Reminder: We will be having a meeting at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas Nevada, August 13th, 1999, 8 PM. For further information please E-Mail me or Jan for details. Remember more the merrier. LOVE G May Manna Always be with You. It was the first time Isis and I met face to face, and the first time I'd been to Vegas since 1983. I may as well have travelled to Mars, it was that changed. I didn't recognize a single thing! I arrived the morning of Friday, August 13, 1999. I had a wonderful time there with Isis and Michelle, and watched many games of the FIDE Knock-Out World Chess Championship at Caesar's Palace while I was there (and got a sore butt doing so. Almost all of the games I watched went a full six hours). I did a whole series of posts covering that World Championship which we incorporated into its own archive. I'd intended this post to be a sort of review of some of the posts we did in The Weave at Goddesschess about the number 13 and the history of Friday the 13th (i.e., why some cultures consider it an unlucky day while others consider it fortuitous), but I'm too tired now to do it. I wish I was 33 again :)