The Archetypal Symbols of Divine Man

Doves and Pigeons (Columbidaeare) are gentle, plump birds that can be found all over the world except in extreme polar regions like Antarctica, and the driest parts of the Sahara Desert. Doves have strong flight muscles and large wings that make them fast, agile flyers, some species can fly at speeds over 50 miles per hour.

They have a diet of mainly seeds, grains, and fruit which they forage mostly on the ground. Both male and female parents produce a nutritious secretion called "crop milk" in their throats to feed their young. Doves pair for life and share nesting and chick-rearing duties, females almost always lay two white eggs at a time.

Once again we have a very well known symbol which has lasted well into modern times, though unfortunately the meaning has now been reduced to peace, with all the other information this archetype is communicating, being well and truly lost to the modern Christian and educated atheist.

To most, the Dove symbol is only connected to Noah's Ark and the Olive branch, both of these symbols have been discussed in previous Essays, including the fact the Catholic Church removed the Kingfisher which accompanied the Dove in the original story.

So I think the best place to begin our search for an understanding of this archetype is to start with Christian theology as we did with our archetype, the Ox.

In Christian theology the Dove is heavily associated with the Virgin Mary, but also the Holy Spirit, mainly due to the divine operation of creation, connected to the Divine Female and the birth of the Demi-god.

This mysterious immaculate conception is the divine operation of the Divine Female being seeded with the Demi-god in her womb, upon her creation, to then be born onto the Physical plane.

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit." - Matthew 1:18

"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." - Exodus 40:34-35

This earthly birth makes the Demi-god the link between the gods and the mortal humans, in terms of the creation process. The well studied student understands that everything in creation is hierarchical and everything happens by degree.

The early Christian theologians called this divine operation "conceptio per aurem" (conception through the ear, ie: conception through sound/vibration). Not only the conception of a babe in the womb, but the conception of an idea, ie: Knowledge.

The Catholic Church banned the interpretation and artistic depiction of "conceptio per aurem" primarily during the Council of Trent (1545–1563), later reinforced by strict 18th-century papal decrees.

All four Gospels record the Holy Spirit descending like a Dove upon Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan River (Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22, John 1:32). The symbolic immersing in the water is a direct connection to the "heavenly waters" of the firmament, on which the Holy Spirit moves through creation revealing the divine nature of the Divine Soul.

There are three occasions in the Bible where the Dove is connected to Jesus, 40 days after his birth, his baptism and his crucifixion.

After his Birth, two Doves are sacrificed, his divine nature is now hidden.

At his Baptism, the Dove descends to awaken him to his true divine identity.

At his Crucifixion, the Dove liberates him from his physical prison and he transforms into a god on the third day taking his Disciples to the Holy Land.

In the Hindu mythos, they call the primordial cosmic waters (Ap) and say they are intimately tied to Akasha. The cosmic waters are denoting the Aether, it's the cosmic substance that allows the mental projections of the Creator to be transmitted around the Universe. They describe the Ap as an ocean of aethereal vibrations emanating from the Mind of Vishnu.

It was said when Vishnu first opened his eyes, his first mental expansion was the Akasha. This is also where the term the Akashic Hall of Records comes from, it is denoting the divine operation in the dispersal of Knowledge from the Mind of The All.

As the well studied student knows, there always has to be an intermediary between the Mind of the Creator and the Divine Human Mind. In this instance, that intermediary is symbolised by the Akashic Hall of records.

Now let's look more closely at how the Dove is connected to the Divine Female in Christian theology. Let's begin with the connection to Mary and the Holy Spirit, you will often hear modern Christians proclaim of the Trinity, "One God, Three Persons", they do this unthinkingly, if you ask who is the third person? They cannot provide an answer.

This is because many do not bother themselves with the seeking out of an understanding for these mysteries, instead they look to their priests for explanation. Unfortunately their men in holy robes do not use their Sunday services to educate their flock on these hidden meanings, and so the majority do not have an understanding for these symbols.

It is quite unfortunate as just some simple research into the connection of Mary to the Holy Spirit is easily found. Theologians like St Maximillian Kolbe (1894 - 1941) devoted extensive treatises explaining that Mary is so profoundly united to the Holy Spirit that she acts as God's visible manifestation or a "quasi-incarnation" of the Spirit on earth. Unsurprisingly, he was eventually arrested by the Gestapo and died in a Nazi concentration camp.

The Protoevangelium of James is the oldest surviving Christian text that links Mary directly to a Dove. The Account of Mary in the Temple (Chapter 8):"And Mary was in the Temple of the Lord like a Dove that is nurtured, and she received food from the hand of an angel."

St. Ephrem the Syrian writes: "Blessed art thou, Mary, for from you flew out the pure Dove who filled the world with his sweet odor... You are the gentle Dove that carried the fruit of life to mankind."

St. John Damascene:"She was planted in the House of God, nourished by the Spirit, and like a clean and innocent Dove, she dwelt in the sanctuaries, her mind entirely fixed on God."

In these verses the symbol of the Dove is directly connected to the Holy Spirit.

Luke 3:22 – "and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a Dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'

"Matthew 3:16 – "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and alighting on him.

"Mark 1:10 – "Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a Dove."

John 1:32 – "Then John gave this testimony: 'I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a Dove and remain on him.'"

So it could not be clearer, the divine operation of the Holy Spirit is symbolised by the Dove. As Mary is closely connected to the Holy Spirit through the process of creation, it is also her symbol in the context of the Trinity in Christian theology.

Lets now move away from what is left of Christian theology in modern times and look to see how our Ancient Greek Scribes depicted this archetypal symbol of the Dove. The goddess Aphrodite was said to have her chariot pulled by a flock of Doves.

In this Ancient Greek myth, Aphrodite and her Demi-god son, Eros, competed to see who could gather more flowers. Aphrodite was winning the contest because a helpful nymph named Peristera assisted her. Angered by losing, Eros transforms the nymph into a Dove.

Feeling pity and gratitude for Peristera, Aphrodite took the new bird under her permanent protection, making the Dove her sacred animal. The nymph Peristera is found in no other story except this one involving the goddess and the Demi-god, nymphs symbolise the Divine Female.

According to certain ancient poems (like Moero's Mnemosyne), when the Father of the lesser gods, Zeus was a baby being hidden in a cave, Doves helped to sustain him by bringing him ambrosia from the edges of the Earth.

In another Greek myth, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione were pursued relentlessly by the hunter Orion. To protect them, Zeus transformed them into a flock of Doves (peleiades), and they eventually became the famous star cluster known as the Pleiades.

Then we have the Mesopotamian story tellers connecting the symbol of the Dove to the First Born Divine Female through their goddess Inanna-Ishtar. It was said that Doves were considered her direct earthly conduits, physical manifestations, and sacred extensions of her power.

In the ancient Syrian city of Mari, a famous palace fresco discovered in the Temple of Ishtar depicts a giant Dove emerging from a sacred palm tree. The well studied student knows that Palm Trees are also symbol directly connected to the Divine Male.

When Ishtar descends into the Underworld, it was said her absence caused all love and reproduction on Earth to freeze. In the Akkadian text known as the Incantation to Ishtar (also catalogued among the Babylonian Penitential Psalms), the weeping of the goddess in the Underworld is frequently compared to the low, melancholic, rhythmic cooing of a turtle dove.

"My heart hath taken wing, and hath flown away like a bird of the heavens. I moan like a Dove, night and day. I am made desolate, and I weep bitterly."

Interestingly in Cherokee cultural traditions, the Dove is also connected to "mourning". They call the Dove the same name they have for acorn. The acorn is the seed of an Oak Tree, in Cherokee lore, the Oak tree acts as a physical manifestation and conduit for the Great Spirit (Unetlanvhi).

In Islamic folklore, Doves are revered because they are said to have assisted the Prophet Muhammad. When Muhammad and Abu Bakr entered a cave to hide from their enemies, the opening was completely bare and exposed. However once they were safely inside, God commanded nature to obscure the entrance to make the cave look completely abandoned.

The "seal" was made up of three natural elements that appeared almost instantly the first was a pair of wild Doves flew down, built a nest right across the narrow entrance, and the female immediately laid eggs in it. The 2nd and 3rd were a Spider's Web and an Acacia Tree. Again we see the Dove symbolizing God's will at work in divine operation, as the Dove laying her eggs being the first symbol mentioned.

Now let's look to our Irish story tellers and see how they have woven this beautiful little feathered creature into their Fables.

The most monumental "mythic" figure associated with the bird in Ireland is Saint Colmcille (also known as Saint Columba). It was said he was of royal Irish bloodline, his birth name was Colm, which translates directly to "Dove" in Old Irish. Later in life, he was widely revered as Colmcille, "The Dove of the Church".

It was said that Colmcille secretly copied a sacred manuscript belonging to another saint. This led to a dispute between them that escalated into a massive clan war where 3,000 men died. Stricken with grief and guilt, the "Dove of the Church" exiled himself from Ireland to the Scottish Isle of Iona, vowing never to look upon his Emerald homeland again.

The well studied student does not need a commentary to understand the symbol of the Dove in this context of divine operation, for we have the an example of the Divine themselves, now divided among each other in the Lower Ages.

Then we have Ireland's most renowned female saint, Saint Brigid of Kildare. In medieval Irish literature (such as the Book of Lismore), Brigid is called the Dove: "The Dove among birds, the vine among trees, and the sun among stars."

In the Folklore of the rural west of Ireland, it was believed that the human Soul took the physical form of a bird upon death. The soul of an innocent person or a saintly figure was believed to fly out of the window as a pure white Dove.

In the Chinese pantheon, Song Zi Niang Niang (送子娘娘) is the revered Taoist goddess known as the "Maiden Who Brings Children" she is often depicted in traditional iconography wearing a Dove on her headdress. She is frequently identified with or related to Zhusheng Niangniang (The Goddess of Birth).

While the Japanese mythos, like the Christian iconography, have connected it to the Baptism of their Samurai god, Hachiman. In ancient texts like the Fusō Ryakuki, the Dove functions as the physical manifestation used by Hachiman to reveal his divinity to the mortal humans when he is returned to them as the god Ojin.

According to the foundational myth of Usa Jingū, a devout hermit named Ōga no Higi was praying near a spring at the foot of Mount Ogura. Suddenly, a massive flock of gold and white Doves descended from the heavens and landed on the branches of a sacred bamboo grove.

Amidst the swirling Doves, the spirit of a three-year-old child appeared. The child spoke with a divine voice, proclaiming: "I am the spirit of Emperor Ōjin, the Great Protector of the Land." Hachiman had returned as a god.

In some Aztec myths, after a cataclysmic global flood, a sole surviving man and woman were able to repopulate the earth only after a Dove descended from the heavens to grant them the gift of speech and language.

After this comparison of cross culture mythos, it should be very apparent to the well studied student, that the archetype of the Dove is symbolising the divine operations and creating forces of God.

Due to this, we see the archetype is more often connected to the Divine Female, as she is the conduit for the Demi-god entering the physical world and in turn enabling the creation of mortal human beings. However we do see this symbol is connected to the Divine Male when it comes to divine operation, especially in the revealing of his divine nature in himself and projecting that divine power to others.

(Also note the Palm Trees are connected to Chokman and Binah )