Hi Robert, do you have any thoughts on why the Artemis of Ephesus statue is featured on Wigston's 'Bacon, Shakespeare and The Rosicrusians' book cover, as featured in your article?
Yes Margaret- he writes a fair amount on the Goddess and makes a point that it was black, made of ebony wood (which made me look it up!) and that as such it represented the earth. Two of the plays are set at Ephesus...which was a center of magic and Gnosticism later...Artemis (Diana) is supposedly represented by Rosalind of Love's Labor's Lost (dressed as a man the whole play!) The book is a jumble of correlations hermetic, occult and mystery school to Bacon and Shakespeare but there's an enthusiastic method to the madness. 😁
There is definitely a relationship to the Eleusinian Mysteries in Shakespeare, so that also has to do with the Goddess. Gnostics have a dicey relationship with the feminine, hating it for adding more life to the planet but worshipping it in the abstract, as Sophia of the Gnostic creation myth, who created the world by mistake, but redeemed herself. It's the ultimate Madonna-whore vibe! (My take of course, not Wigston's who has only intense praise for Bacon and Shakespeare)
I see Bacon as subverting anything to do with the feminine, subverting the myth of Venus and Adonis by making Adonis homosexual for instance. Subverting the great feminine Eleusinian mysteries with the hyper-masculine Roman Mithraic mysteries in Freemasonry. Even having Oberon having and using Titania's (Circe) magic in Midsummer Night's Dream to abuse her! The intense pleasure the playwright takes in murdering Desdemona in a scene that take forever, etc. etc. The hatred of women in Shakespeare is intense, in general, with a few exceptions that hide the truth, like Portia (dressed as a man) and her great speech in Merchant Of Venice.
Hi Robert, do you have any thoughts on why the Artemis of Ephesus statue is featured on Wigston's 'Bacon, Shakespeare and The Rosicrusians' book cover, as featured in your article?
Margaret- see the reply above- I think I put it in the wrong place! Cheers- RF
Yes Margaret- he writes a fair amount on the Goddess and makes a point that it was black, made of ebony wood (which made me look it up!) and that as such it represented the earth. Two of the plays are set at Ephesus...which was a center of magic and Gnosticism later...Artemis (Diana) is supposedly represented by Rosalind of Love's Labor's Lost (dressed as a man the whole play!) The book is a jumble of correlations hermetic, occult and mystery school to Bacon and Shakespeare but there's an enthusiastic method to the madness. 😁
There is definitely a relationship to the Eleusinian Mysteries in Shakespeare, so that also has to do with the Goddess. Gnostics have a dicey relationship with the feminine, hating it for adding more life to the planet but worshipping it in the abstract, as Sophia of the Gnostic creation myth, who created the world by mistake, but redeemed herself. It's the ultimate Madonna-whore vibe! (My take of course, not Wigston's who has only intense praise for Bacon and Shakespeare)
I see Bacon as subverting anything to do with the feminine, subverting the myth of Venus and Adonis by making Adonis homosexual for instance. Subverting the great feminine Eleusinian mysteries with the hyper-masculine Roman Mithraic mysteries in Freemasonry. Even having Oberon having and using Titania's (Circe) magic in Midsummer Night's Dream to abuse her! The intense pleasure the playwright takes in murdering Desdemona in a scene that take forever, etc. etc. The hatred of women in Shakespeare is intense, in general, with a few exceptions that hide the truth, like Portia (dressed as a man) and her great speech in Merchant Of Venice.
Check the Wigston book out at this link - pg 148 the Ephesus section starts. Another drawing of the goddess on page 155. https://archive.org/details/WigstonWFCBaconShakespeareTheRosicrucions1888/page/n147/mode/2up
Cheers! RF
Thanks Robert! Very interesting info.