In the Wake of Poseidon ~ Garden of Worm

Chapter Four

- chapter 4 index -
pg. 1 - In the Wake of Poseidon | pg. 2 - The Devil's Triangle | pg. 3 - Garden of Worm
pg. 4 - World on the Scales

- page index -
Typhon | Osiris | Isis | The Devil's Triangle

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An interesting turn of phrase by Sinfield. Superficially, one might imagine the bottom of the sea where the remains of unlucky mariners are consumed by scavengers. In ancient times, the word "worm" was used to refer to an actual worm, a snake, or a dragon.

"The city of "Worms in Germany, according to tradition, is so called from the Lindwurm or dragon slain by Siegfried under the linden tree."

- Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

"…as the worm of corruption, it [the serpent] is the mightiest of all adversaries of the gods -- the special adversary of their light and creative power -- Python against Apollo" (19.363).

- John Ruskin

In The Devil's Triangle , a mythical voyage has been suggested by the names, Triton ("The Argonauts beseeched him to aid them in navigating safe routes and calm the waters of the great Deluge.") and Sceiron ("the violent wind that blows down on the travellers"). The Argonauts also encountered a Worm in a garden:

There were the Golden Apples wrought, that gleamed
In the Hesperides' garden undefiled:
All round the fearful Serpent's dead coils lay,
And shrank the Maids aghast from Zeus' bold son.
And there, a dread sight even for Gods to see,
Was Cerberus, whom the Loathly Worm had borne
To Typho in a craggy cavern's gloom
Close on the borders of Eternal Night,
A hideous monster, warder of the Gate
Of Hades, Home of Wailing, jailer-hound
Of dead folk in the shadowy Gulf of Doom.

- The Fall of Troy Book VI

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The "Loathly Worm" in this story was Echidna, Typhon's mate.

"both were so fearful that when the gods saw them they changed into animals and fled in terror. Typhon's hundred, horrible heads touched the stars, venom dripped from his evil eyes, and lava and red-hot stones poured from his gaping mouths. Hissing like a hundred snakes and roaring like a hundred lions, he tore up whole mountains and threw them at the gods."

- Encyclopedia Mythica

Both Typhon and Echidna can be referred to as "worms" in the ancient sense. In Garden of Worm , Peter Sinfield is alluding to Typhon.

"Typhon was associated with the wind that came up from the Sahara, the southern blast that destroyed everything that was vulnerable to his heat. Thus, a forceful wind came to be called a typhoon."

- The Book of Demons by Victoria Hyatt & Joseph W. Charles

Note, also, that "Typhon" is a simple anagram of "Python", Apollo's adversary at Delphi.

"Typhon was the father of destructive and fierce winds. He is derived from the Egyptian Set or Seth."

- Greek Mythology

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"In Egypt the devil was Set -- or, as usually called, Typhon -- and the good god was Osiris. Set and his legions fought against Osiris and against the human race."

- Devil by Robert Green Ingersoll

"Osiris plays a key role and is a central figure in the ancient Egyptian mysteries. It was Osiris who taught the people of the land of Egypt about farming. Osiris was and is one of the first "Green Men", in that he was also the god of vegetation. The term 'Green Man' refers to a class of deities from many different traditions."

- Osiris, Egyptian god of the underworld and of vegetation

"Osiris is he who is called Dionysos in the Greek tongue."

- Herodotus, The Histories

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The Egyptian equivalent of the other main character on the album cover, Demeter (the Mother Earth), is Isis.

"Isis, represented in the Song of Solomon by the dark maid of Jerusalem, is symbolic of receptive nature - the watery, maternal principle which creates all things out of herself after impregnation has been achieved by the virility of the sun."

- Manly P. Hall, Masonic, Hermetic, Quabbalistic & Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy

"Great Mother of the Gods, in ancient Middle Eastern religion (and later in Greece, Rome, and W Asia), mother goddess, the great symbol of the earth's fertility. As the creative force in nature she was worshiped under many names, including Astarte (Syria), Ceres (Rome), Cybele (Phrygia), Demeter (Greece), Ishtar (Babylon), and Isis (Egypt). The later forms of her cult involved the worship of a male deity (her son or lover, e.g., Adonis, Osiris), whose death and resurrection symbolized the regenerative power of the earth."

- Great Mother of the Gods

"The character of Osiris is allegorically clear from his iconography and rituals. Many identify Osiris with the Sun, and Isis with the Moon"

- Plutarch - On Isis and Osiris

"The goddess Isis can also be seen in the Temperance trump. According to Walker (108), her name and several of her titles (Queen of Heaven, Great Mother) have appeared as names of this trump, and O'Neill (220) mentions a Renaissance image of Isis in which she carries a water vessel and has one foot on earth and the other in the water.

Since ancient times Isis has been associated with the Nile, and her resurrection of Osiris and reunion with him has been taken to symbolize the periodic flooding of the Nile (Plutarch, Isis & Osiris 39-40). This story contains the common mythological theme of feminine love bringing rebirth; recall Ishtar and Tammuz, Aphrodite and Adonis (Walker 109); in some myths Dionysos was resurrected by Demeter, his lover, or by Athena (Kerenyi, Gods of Greeks 274)."

- The Pythagorean Tarot by John Opsopaus

"Set was the evil brother of Osiris and Isis. When he was born, he was covered with red hair. He was jealous of Osiris and tricked him into a box which he threw into the Nile. When it was recovered by Isis, Set had Osiris' body cut into fourteen pieces and scattered throughout the land. Set represented the spirit of evil and destruction, the arid desert, drought, and darkness. He was the opposite of all that was Osiris."

- Tome of Egyptian Mythology

"The Two Brothers, the Good and Evil Principles, appear in the Myths of the Bible as well as those of the Gentiles, and Cain and Abel, Typhon and Osiris, Esau and Jacob, Apollo and Python, etc., Esau or Osu, is represented, when born, as 'red all over like an hairy garment.' He is the Typhon or Satan, opposing his brother."

- Devil by Robert Green Ingersoll

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And so we have the three constituents who make up The Devil's Triangle : Isis, Typhon and Osiris and their Greek counterparts Demeter, Hades and Dionysus. On the album cover, Hades is the sinister horn-helmeted warrior in the lower left-hand corner.

Typhon or Hades is also equivalent to the Devil.

"The first inquiry is whether the term Devil, as here used, actually represents the malignant Deity of the Christians, or an antagonistic, blind force -- the dark side of nature. By the latter we are not to understand the manifestation of any evil principle that is malum in se, but only the shadow of the Light, so to say. The theories of the kabalists treat of it as a force which is antagonistic, but at the same time essential to the vitality, evolving, and vigor of the good principle. Plants would perish in their first stage of existence, if they were kept exposed to a constant sunlight; the night alternating with the day is essential to their healthy growth and development. Goodness, likewise, would speedily cease to be such, were it not alternated by its opposite. In human nature, evil denotes the antagonism of matter to the spiritual, and each is accordingly purified thereby. In the cosmos, the equilibrium must be preserved; the operation of the two contraries produce harmony, like the centripetal and centrifugal forces, and are necessary to each other. If one is arrested, the action of the other will immediately become destructive."

- Isis Unveiled by H.P. Blavatsky vol 2, ch 10, part 1

In the album's title, Poseidon represents the duality of nature, but primarily its destructive aspect.

"Poseidon, in Greek religion, god of the sea, protector of all waters. Powerful, violent, and vengeful, he carried the trident, with which he caused earthquakes. He was the husband of Amphitrite and the father of many sons, most either brutal men (e.g., Orion) or monsters (e.g., Polyphemus)."

- Great Mother of the Gods

"Most scholars know of the tragic story of the death of Osiris. He was murdered by his evil brother Set. Set is equated with Typhon-Apophis of the Greeks. Set is the destructive aspect that the alchemical principal must undergo, and thus be reborn into a new and purified creation. (Satan is based on the personage of Set) That is exactly what happened to Osiris. His death or as the alchemist would say his putrefaction was carefully evolved through the power of Isis under the magical direction of Thoth (Hermes).

The Devil's Triangle

Essentially, a formula was being created in the mythos. It is the alchemical formula of I.A.O.,
Isis, Apophis (Typhon), Osiris, Birth, Death, resurrection.

To the Adept this is a powerful process of transformation that unlocks the keys of magical power and of immortality."

- Osiris, Egyptian god of the underworld and of vegetation

"The Isis-Osiris mystery-myth is the story of the earth goddess Isis' love for Osiris and her compassion for Typhon. The myth demonstrates the ancient concept of duality as it was expressed in the persons of good-doing Osiris and wicked Typhon, with Isis as the Intermediate Principle, representing transcendence of duality. But how does she bring about the transcendence? Where Osiris is Mercy, represented by his crook, and Typhon is severity, represented by the scourge, Isis Unveiled unites them within herself by her unconditional love, her compassion and her responsive sexuality. The three of them, Osiris, Typhon and Isis, represent the Three Primordial Principles of positive, negative and neutral, creating a dimension or plane of existence upon which the cosmic powers can actualize themselves through us, their human counterparts. If we accept this tri-fold energy concept as cosmic law, what does it mean in terms of structuring our own reality and consciousness for the new millennium? How can the earth goddess society energies of love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness be released from the entrapment of religious institutions and widely promoted? "

- Isis and Osiris, For Love of Typhon

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