[Author’s Note: Follows thought processes in “Seshat Mistress of the Yoniverse,” “The Language of Stars and This Broken Wing.”]
I do not like what they have done to the swan, not at all, so I’m launching my ‘raft for birds’ into the cosmos, aiming to knock Zeus off his perch and retrieve ancient knowledge, predating rape mythology, still bearing down on us from the night sky. When Zeus raped Leda he metamorphosed into a swan, immortalized (in some mythologies) as the Cygnus (Swan) constellation, galling because birds represent female consciousness.
From galaxies in orbit to the behavior of atoms, fractals underpin the structure of the universe. I believe synergy and pattern in motion, the core cosmic principle and blueprint for matter and meaning, were experienced by many ancient people as the ‘female principle.’ I call this She Who Spins.
Sitting with images created by ancient artists, to see what they see, feel what they feel and tap into their inspiration, unlocks meaning. Since brain structure and thought are inseparable from the material reality, creativity and interconnectedness of the universe, this inspiration can be decoded, layer by profound layer, although contemporary lenses may never truly ‘see’ the entirety and complexity of ancient meaning.
Separated by time and distance, many prehistoric female figurines embody celestial geometry. We are familiar with Mycenaean Bird Goddess icons, named after ancient Greek letters (τ), (ψ) and (Φ), describing the fractal perfection underpinning the structure of the universe, implying remnants of vestigial ‘knowing’ still associate celestial mathematics with the female form. Tau (τ) represents the ratio of the circumference to the radius of a circle; psi (ψ), the super golden ratio; phi (Φ), the golden ratio. [1]
In many ways these figurines were fore-runners of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, an anthropocentric, renaissance vision of ‘man as fractal perfection,’ at the centre of ‘his’ universe’. However, the celestial geometry of ancient female icons describes something far greater: Time; the energetic womb space containing us all; destiny; cosmic, bodily and seasonal cycles of the Divine Mother Goddess, experienced by some ancient cultures as a hybrid of woman/bird consciousness, represented by icons with world-egg shaped bodies, human breasts, bird beaks and elongated necks.
Perhaps the mythology describing women shapeshifting to swans is rooted in the observation of seasonally disappearing and reappearing migrating birds. With over-arching necks metaphorically connecting to the cosmos, migrating Waterfowl could be interpreted as creating linear flight paths dissecting the Earth, creating the Φ (phi) shape.
“Dr Emlen concluded that birds [ ] use stars for navigation, but not in a way we humans do. Birds observe the rotation of the sky to find Polaris.” – Guided by the stars: how animals use stars for navigation. Wonderdome. [2]
Ursa Major in motion is a central motif in many mythologies. I doubt the inbuilt celestial navigation systems of swans was lost on ancient people whose ‘knowing’ was rooted in shamanism and observation. Ornithomancy is the practice of “Bird Watchers” and “Old Women Seers” reading omens by watching birds. ’Knowing’ birds use Ursa Major to plot position and direction has to be a profound layer within the Bird Goddess story..
The presence of swans may, along with astronomical alignments, have been a deciding factor in the placement of some pre-historic temples.
“The fields near Newgrange provide a wintering ground for a large flock of whooper swans”. Murphy, Anthony. The Cygnus Enigma. Mythical Ireland. [3]
Swans inspired sacred dance, music and poetry. [Link to swan lyre bow, thought to be Anatolian Mother Goddess Cybele]
“[In Anatolia] the rivers Pactolus and the Käyster were celebrated for their swans” – Collins, Andrew. Soul of the World: The Sweet Swans of Maeonia. [4]
This figurine from Alaca Höyük, Neolithic Anatolia, intrigues me. I’ve revisited her many times because I suspect there are secrets to unveil. This, often described as ‘violin-shaped,’ icon, although I think her long neck and bulbous body were inspired by Waterfowl, looks like it has been carved in dark stone, or fashioned in clay. She has rudimentary markings: dots scratched within, and lines scratched around, her Vulva-V. I suspect some dots relate to the four rotational ‘corners’ of Ursa Major, so I think she is multi-functional, possibly a ritualistic item but also a star clock; navigation tool; device for calculating elliptical orbit; or zodiac/oracular instrument.
Searching for celestial patterning, by superimposing her over various star maps, I discover there is order to this chaos. This is what I’ve noticed:
She has a uni-brow and a halo, pierced with seven holes. When mirrored through the eyes, her halo forms a circle. Seven mystic holes become eleven. [Link to Hattian/Hittite Sun Disc/Sun Course symbols with seven or eleven nodes.]
Her Vulva-V is a truncated triangle. Since fractals, the way nature designs, embody ‘dark spaces,’ I wonder if the third point of the triangle lies beyond the ‘doll.’ Looking through holes and beyond the edges means constellations in the sky can be lined up with markings on the figurine without being blocked out. If so, this triangle could be the Summer Triangle, a trio of stars, Vega, Deneb and Altair (beyond the ‘map’ on this icon).
The Summer Triangle is,“Overhead during solar midnight in summer [ ],” – Wikipedia [6]
Using a star map, superimposing this icon with the Summer Triangle reveals where the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) lies. One star, marking the wing tip, lines up with the hole in her solar plexus. Another star, in the opposite wing, lines up with a hole in her flank. The ‘swan’s neck’ follows a line of scratch marks within the Vulva-V.
On my chosen star map (I cross referenced with many), Polaris, the North Star, falls approximately where her third-eye is, meaning the seven holes in her halo may be associated with the seven stars of the Ursa Minor constellation. ”North” in Latin is “septentrio.” Possibly one star within this constellation, rotating in increments around Polaris, can be tracked by looking though the holes. I think there is a night sky aspect to her Sun Course halo which appears to embody the rotation of Ursa Minor (in Babylonian astronomy Ursa Minor is connected to goddess Damkina).
I think Polaris is plotted twice. Positioning Polaris, around which Ursa Major and Minor spin, within her Vulva-V may echo ancient beliefs about the energetic womb-space connecting to a cosmos in motion. Positioning Polaris (again) near the third-eye hints at ‘seeing into the dark unknown.’ Extending a line between both Polaris points, from womb, via the hole in her solar plexus, to third-eye, which fans out into a cosmic halo, may have several functions: using the stars for navigation and expressing the pathways of divine female ‘knowing.’
This line gives rise to a perpendicular ‘direction line’ running through the holes in her vestigial arms/wings which I don’t think are solely for cord so she could be worn or hung. Some ‘flank holes’ and scratchy dots within the Vulva-V, line up with this line when it is moved down the body, possibly to intercept the heliacal rising of various constellations,
“[ ] occurs annually when [they] first become visible above the eastern horizon at dawn.” – Wikipedia [5]
I’m assuming the curved ‘flank scratch’ represents the western horizon, where the Summer Triangle sets at dawn. Projecting this curve as it changes direction and meanders across the body takes it to the Great Bear constellation, (Ursa Major containing the Big Dipper asterism) in it’s ‘easterly’ position (on this star map).
In The Hidden Celestial Sanctuary of the Hittites [7] Eberhard Zangger mentions how ‘female deities indicate solar years’. The ‘cut marks’ on Venus of Hohle Fels, the oldest female icon found so far (40,000 years), must relate to time. In many historic cultures the Divine Female was seen as ‘woven within the mechanics of the cosmos,’ so it makes sense to assume celestial mathematics and motion are encoded within this surprising, not so rudimentary figurine.
Let’s reclaim our cosmic symbolism and use it to knock the sky gods off their perch and put the Goddess back in the sky.
References and further reading.
[1] Psi and phi type figurine. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psi_and_phi_type_figurine
[2] Guided by the stars: how animals use stars for navigation. Wonderdome. https://wonderdome.co.uk/animals-use-stars-navigation-migration/#:~:text=Dr%20Emlen%20concluded%20that%20birds,Clever!
[3] Murphy, Anthony. The Cygnus Enigma. Mythical Ireland. https://mythicalireland.com/blogs/astronomy/the-cygnus-enigma
[4] Collins, Andrew. Soul of the World: The Sweet Swans of Maeonia. https://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/swan.htm
[5] Heliacal rising. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliacal_rising
[6] The Summer Triangle. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Triangle
[7] Zangger, Eberhard. 19.6.2019.The Hidden Celestial Sanctuary of the Hittites. Popular Archaeology. Winter 2024 Issue. https://popular-archaeology.com/article/the-hidden-celestial-sanctuary-of-the-hittites/
[8] Image redrawn, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
Interesting analysis.. As a student of mythology and as a woman who works with clay (beginning in 30’s) the first figures I made were of bird-women – intrigued – I surmised that they had come through me – that I had tapped into the mysterious whole. Later Marija Gimbutus’s work confirmed my intuitions… I think of Terry Williams – “When Women Were Birds” – Personally I believe the bird goddess lives in each one of us and that we can turn to Her for help in times of need…. As a naturalist one of my greatest joys is that morning walk with the birds who I identify by both sight and sound… last night before the 4th of July bombing (baby men – fearful even cruel boys who never grew up)) which went on for hours I spent time with the geese – watching the protector males watch over the females, goslings and ducklings as well. Demonstrating the roles of adult men – how powerful and loving some can be.