(urth) Claw = Fang?
David Stockhoff
dstockhoff at verizon.net
Thu Nov 22 05:25:41 PST 2012
Very well thought out! If the thorn is the key to the meaning of the
Claw, and fangs do seem to occupy a space adjacent to thorns, they are
therefore a link to the Claw.
It occurs to me that the Claw is not associated with any animal, even by
speculation. One thinks of a bird, especially a bird of prey, but this
is not supported at all. Serpents, of course, are one animal that can't
have a claw. But lizards do (and dragons). There seems to be a
complementarity among these symbols that only Genesis can unlock.
On 11/21/2012 6:36 PM, Bill Burgess wrote:
> Remembering, with Severian, that symbols create knowledge and human
> stories, rather then the other way around, here are some things I
> thought of when reading your question.
>
> In the Eden story four entities are cursed, the serpent, the woman,
> the man, and the ground/dust.
>
> The serpent's curse is that he will crawl on the ground and eat dust
> and that it's seed will be enemies of the woman's seed. The woman's
> descendants will smash the head of serpents because serpents bite
> their heels.
>
> The woman's curse is that whatever physical pleasure she may have in
> procreation, only she will bear the incredible pain and risk of it.
> Her husband will only experience the pleasure of it, while he rules
> over her.
>
> The man's curse is identical with the curse of the ground. The dust is
> cursed to bring forth thorns, and the man is cursed to extract his
> (and the woman's) food painfully from thorn filled fields. For all
> the days of his life, until he returns to that cursed and thorn
> filled dust from which he came.
>
>
> The dust of the ground is cursed with serpents fangs and thorns.
> And the dust of ground is the origin and destiny of humanity.
>
> This is in the book of Genesis. In the book of Exodus
> the Israelites are plagued with serpents and as a remedy Moses makes
> an image of a serpent and lifts it on a staff for all to see and be
> cured of the venomous bites. So the symbol of the curse here becomes
> also the symbol of its cure.
>
> So, Christian symbolism builds on this by making by making the
> complete humiliation of Jesus, which culminates in a crown of thorns,
> as he is lifted up on the cross, the very cure for the curse of
> humanity. And certainly the crucifixion is the
> Christian fulfillment of the curse where the seed of the woman's heel
> is bitten but he smashes the head of the serpent. But again, this
> very curse is also the cure.
>
> One other Biblical mention, Paul says that he is given a thorn in the
> flesh (remember the flesh is the dust of the ground), and this thorn
> is a messenger of Satan, (the serpent), and when he asks God to
> remove it, God tells him it is actually there for God's purposes,
> because the weakness this thorn brings is also the source of his
> strength. So again, the curse is the cure.
>
> It seems impossible to me to see any use of a thorn as a symbol
> without seeing an allusion also to the fangs of the serpent.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
More information about the Urth
mailing list