Bull****
There’s a rumble in the skies. A celestial bull charges with madness
through the heavens. His eyes burn red. He stomps his feet. He glares
…head lowered…snorting and pawing the stars. He sees the earth…
and thunders toward it…impaling it on his huge horns. He begins
shaking his head…tossing the earth about. Houses crumble. Humans
scream in fear. The earth opens…swallowing its victims without
mercy. This continues till the maddened beast has released his
anger…and he calms down…and unhooks his huge horn from our world.
There is peace again in the land. The earthquake is over. The humans
can begin to rebuild.
In mythology it was thought that earthquakes were caused by a
celestial bull tossing the earth on its horns. But that is not the
beginning or the end of the bull…or why we make golden masks of
him…or golden jewelry…or golden statues. For the bull…our
bull…symbolized the male principle in nature. Its roaring was
thunder and rain and fertility. It was sacred to the sky-gods: Ashur
and Jupiter and Marduk and Ra and Thor and Shiva and Zeus.
In Celtic lore bull-gods imply divine power. The Druids believed the
sun was a bull. In Egypt Apis was the sacred bull of Memphis created
by a moonbeam. So…how much more important can a bull be…without
becoming bull…I leave the ellipses to your imagination folks.
Well… in the French city of Toulouse…the oldest church there is
dedicated to St. Taur–from the Latin “Taurus”–and is probably
reminiscent of ancient bull-cults.
So then my friends…are there still bull-cults alive today? Hmmm?
Nay, you say? Well…you nay-sayers would be wrong. An example of a
bull-cult alive and thriving in our modern culture is the annual
bull-run in Pamploma, Spain…one of Hemingway’s favorite places. How
different is the cult of bull-fighting today different from the
bull-sacrifices in the ancient rites of Attis and Mithra…where a
bull was driven on to a grating over a pit and was then speared to
death…his baptismal blood drenching an awaiting devotee in the pit
below who subsequently emerged drenched in red from head to
toe…adored by fellow worshipers as one having been re-born again? No
different at all folks. At least not in my eyes. I saw a bull-fight
once. I thought is was cruel and barbaric. But then again, I’m an
animal lover…so what do I know?
What I do know however…is that from the beginnings of time…from
circa 2685 in Mesopotamia to the present…the Bull represented
masculinity… and power…and the death of winter…and the rebirth
of spring. He was the guardian of treasures. He was the Minotaur. He
was the constellation named Taurus. He is the second sign of the
Zodiac…and when turned loose and angered…he becomes the Bull in a
China Shop…symbol of a crazed mind turned loose on an unsuspecting
public.
Is it a wonder then that we revere him…and wear him on our lapels.
And even use his name in conjunction with another word…as in
bull**** as an expletive expressing derision and disbelief. As an
example…some of you may read this and say…wow…that’s a lot of
bull****! Is there another word that could express the sentiment so
acutely?
And so…in the spirit of our golden god…I bring you all a graphic
of a Bull’s head from Mesopotamia…circa 2685 B.C.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the table menu till you get to the box that says
Tidbits…and inside the box where it says Tidbit Graphics…click on
the link that says: Bull****…where you will see a rendering of the
Bull’s Head.
And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks. Catch you all next
week. Benjamin Mark
TYLER-ADAM CORP.–Jewelry Manufacturers
Tel: 1-800-20-TYLER
E-Mail to: webmaster@tyler-adam.com