The Ram
Rams (Ovis aries) are male Sheep that live in rugged, mountainous regions, alpine meadows, and desert cliffs across North America, Europe, and Asia. While the female is called a Ewe and the offspring are Lambs. They are herbivores and primary grazers, eating a wide variety of meadow grasses, clover, and weeds.
Rams are uniquely known for their physical power, leadership, and distinctive head-butting behaviour. In wild species like the Bighorn Sheep, a single pair of a ram's horns can weigh up to 30 pounds (14 kilograms)—which is more than all the other bones in its body combined.
Unlike deer antlers, a ram's horns are permanent. They start growing at birth and continue throughout the animal's lifetime, forming growth rings that biologists use to tell the Ram's exact age. The sound of the impact can be heard over a kilometre away. Despite the violent force, Rams rarely suffer concussions. Their skulls are uniquely built with two layers of thick bone connected by a honeycombed strut system that acts as a natural shock absorber.
The well studied student already knows that the symbol of the Ram is directly connected to the Divine Male. The Ram is a well known symbol in modern days featuring as the first symbol on the Zodiac, Aries. I think that is probably a good place to start with our deeper investigation into this powerful archetype.
In this Byzantine Legend, the story begins that King Athamas of Boeotia has two children, Prince Phrixus and Princess Helle, with his first wife, the cloud nymph Nephele. The King divorces Nephele and marries a new queen named Ino.
Ino hates her stepchildren and wants her own children to rule the Kingdom. As King Athamas’s second wife, Ino had given birth to two sons of her own, Learchos and Melicerta. However, under Royal law, her children were completely excluded from inheriting the throne.
Ino knew she couldn't simply kill the King's children or ask the King to execute them; King Athamas loved his eldest son, and the public would have revolted against a stepmother's open cruelty. To bypass this, she weaponised the one thing no ancient Greek citizen or King would dare defy: the Oracle of Delphi.
By secretly roasting the kingdom's seed grains, she manufactured an artificial famine. When the desperate people inevitably forced the King to consult the Oracle for a divine remedy, Ino intercepted the chain of communication. A terrible famine spreads across the land.
Desperate to save her children, Nephele prayes to the gods for help. The gods send a magnificent golden-fleeced Ram that could fly through the air. The princes Phrixus and Helle climbed onto the back of the beast, and it soared into the sky to escape.
During the long flight over the sea, Helle grew dizzy and lost her grip. She fell towards the ocean below, but just before she touches the water she is caught by Poseidon, the god of the sea, who has fallen in love with her.
Poseidon transforms her into an immortal sea goddess and she ends up living with her divine family in a glittering underwater kingdom. She reigns over the strait as a protector and goes on to mother two powerful sons with Poseidon: the giants Almops and Paeon.
The Golden Ram carries Phrixus safely to the distant land of Colchis. Grateful for his life, Phrixus sacrificed the Ram to the god Zeus and gave the glowing golden skin—the Golden Fleece—to the local king. Zeus placed the Ram's image among the stars as the constellation Aries to honor its bravery. Later, this same Golden Fleece became the prize for Jason and the Argonauts on their famous quest.
Again we see the narrative continue with the cycle of Ages, we have the Underworld with the evil "step-mother" taking parental rights over the Prince and Princess and also causing hardship with the famine. Ultimately to be defeated by a divine power, in the form of a Golden Ram. We also have the water symbolising the Aethereal part of the cycle where Princess lives in a glittering kingdom with her divine family.
Before continuing further into the mythos surrounding this magnificent horned beast, let's look to the symbol of the Ram on the Rider Waite Tarot Card the Emperor. This card directly connects to the Divine Male in his physical kingdom.
He sits on his throne made from stone, stone represents unchanging law. This is why we see the symbol of the Sword in the Stone, the Sword represents God's words, the Stone represents unchanging law.
If we look at the iconography on the Card we see four Ram's Head, each denoting a Male Messiah for the 4 Races: White, Red, Yellow and Black. The number 4 also represents the foundation upon which the material world is built upon. It is closely associated with the number 6 (think of a cube) which also denotes the material plane, however 6 equates to the physical Body upon the material plane, 7 equates to the Soul.
The Emperor also holds a Scepter representing the Globus Cruciger which is a symbol of absolute divine power. The Globus Gruciger also called the "Imperial Apple", denotes supreme divine power over the earth. The Apple is also a symbol directly connected to the First Born Divine Man, as we see this directly connected to Tribe of Dan in the Ancient Mazzaroth.
"Receive this orb set under the cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the power and empire of Christ our redeemer." - The Liber Regalis (The Royal Book, c. 1382)
In early Christian subterranean art—such as the paintings in the Catacombs of Rome—the Good Shepherd is frequently shown carrying a mature ram (distinguished by its horns) rather than a small lamb on his shoulders.
I think we should follow the previous Legend of the Golden Ram with the Golden Fleece in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. In this very summerized version of the Tale it begins with a King being warned by an Oracle to be wary of a man wearing one sandal.
King Pelias had unlawfully seized the throne of Iolcus from Jason's father. The Oracle warned him to dread and beware anyone who approached him wearing only one shoe or sandal.
Jason had grown up in hiding but knew he was the rightful heir to his Father's throne and once he had grown into a man he set out to confront the false King. On his way he was crossing a swollen river and helped an old woman, who was actually the goddess Hera in disguise. In the process of helping save the woman he lost one of his sandals to the rushing current.
Unaware of the Oracle's prophecy, Jason arrives at Pelias's court wearing just one sandal. Recognizing the fulfillment of the prophecy, the terrified King plots to get rid of Jason so sends him on an impossible quest for the Golden Fleece that he know he will not survive.
Jason builds a massive, fast ship named the Argo with the help of Athena and the builder Argus. Jason then gathers Greece's greatest heroes, known as the Argonauts, including Heracles and the musician Orpheus.
Jason first has to yoke two terrifying, fire-breathing Bulls with Bronze hooves and use them to plow the Field of Ares. Once the field is plowed, Aeëtes hands Jason a helmet filled with the teeth of a sacred dragon.
As soon as Jason drops the dragon's teeth into the soil, they grow at an unnatural speed. Fully grown, bloodthirsty warriors dressed in heavy brass armour—known as the Spartoi (the "Sown-Men")—spring straight out of the earth. They immediately draw their weapons and surround Jason, ready to hack him to pieces. We have our Mortals.
Jason is heavily outnumbered, but he has a secret weapon, the King’s daughter, the powerful sorceress Medea, who has fallen in love with him. Medea had anticipated this exact trap and given Jason a brilliant strategy to defeat them without swinging a sword. Following her advice, Jason hides behind a shield and hurls a large boulder right into the middle of the crowded army.
Because the soldiers are mindless and aggressive, they don't see who threw the rock. Each warrior assumes the man standing next to him is responsible for the blow. Blaming one another, the "Sown-men" turn their weapons inward and fight a massive, chaotic civil war, slaughtering each other until every single soldier is dead.
Aeëtes still refuses to hand over the Golden Fleece, so Medea uses a sleeping potion to drug the sleepless dragon guarding it. Jason grabbed the fleece, rescued Medea, and fled on the Argo while being chased by the King's men.
From the narrative of Pindar’s Fourth Pythian Ode (lines 240–260). Jason walked into the sacred grove where the Golden Fleece was kept. There lay the guardian serpent, a monster vaster in length and breadth than a fifty-oared ship built by the blows of iron. Through cunning artifice, Jason slew the bright-eyed, speckled dragon. The well studied student will note the reference by Pindar to the Iron Age.
Jason then claims the Golden Fleece with the help of the goddess Aphrodite, and he carries off the princess Medea and they boarded the Argo, steering their ship into the waters of the Red Sea.
On those fateful days and nights, the seed of a new, glorious generation was sown in foreign soil, blessed by the hands of the gods. From this triumphant voyage, the light of Jason's lineage was carried safely back to the shores of Greece, bringing eternal fame to his name and his Royal house.
Note the red denoting Divine Male and the creatures feet beside his own relating to the Underworld
Again we see a very clear example of the Divine Man in the Underworld, his rightful throne stolen by an enemy who wants to destroy him. Only to slay the dragon, reclaim his divinity and take back what was rightfully his all along.
The Ram is also the symbol of the god Apollo, representing the First Born Divine Male. The Myth of the Slain Seer is involving another representation of Apollo called Apollo Karneios.
The story begins that during the migration of the Heracleidae (the descendants of Heracles) and the Mortal Dorian army, a mysterious seer named Karnos began following the camp. Karnos was a prophet from Acarnania who was deeply favored by Apollo and possessed the gift of divination.
As the army prepared to cross the Gulf of Corinth into the Peloponnese, Karnos appeared before the troops. However, his strange appearance and prophetic utterances unnerved the soldiers.
A Dorian warrior named Hippotes mistakenly believed the seer was a spy or a sorcerer sent by their enemies to cast a malicious spell on the army. In a fit of rage and paranoia, Hippotes struck Karnos down with his spear, killing him.
Apollo was furious over the murder of his prophet. In retaliation, the god struck the Dorian fleet with devastating storms and afflicted the army with a deadly plague that decimated their ranks.
Realizing they had offended the gods, the Dorian leaders consulted an oracle to find a cure. The oracle revealed that Apollo's wrath would only be appeased if they punished the murderer and honored the memory of the slain seer.
The Dorians then took immediate action to rectify their ignorant error and no longer suffer the wrath of Apollo, they then sacrificed a Ram in honor of the murdered seer Karnos. The god himself then takes on the form of the Ram, showing he accepted the Dorians' strong devotion.
Apollo absorbed the spirit of the ram into his own divine identity. From that moment on, whenever Apollo Karneios appeared to the people or spoke through his oracles, he was a god crowned with the curving horns of a ram, symbolizing that the ancient blood debt was fully paid and balance restored.
The well studied student can easily identify that the Seer called Karnos that the Mortals killed because they were unaware of his true identity, was Apollo in the Underworld. When Apollo merges with the Seer he becomes the god crowned with the curving horns, denoting the return of Divine Knowledge and the Higher Ages.
We have another myth from the Ancient Greek Scribes regarding the Ram and Hermes Kriophoros. In the Legend of Hermes Kriophoros (Hermes the Ram-Bearer), he averted a plague by carrying a Ram on his shoulders and walking completely around the city walls, purifying the perimeter. Because of this ritual purification, the plague was "averted" and did not infect the people.
Now the scholars will infer the people already had the plague, but nowhere in the Texts does it say this, it explicitly says that Hermes "averted" the plague with a Ram. Meaning the plague did not come.
The well known student has identified that Hermes represents Knowledge and Wisdom, one who has possession of Knowledge has an understanding for himself, ie: his divine nature. Hence, when Hermes uses the Ram, the plague of ignorance cannot infect and corrupt the Soul, both Divine and Mortal.
In The Myth of the Ram's Disguise by Ancient Grecian writer Herodutus, it begins with Amun’s son, Heracles, desperately wanting to look upon his father's true, divine face. Amun repeatedly refused because he knows revealing his true form directly to his son would destroy him.
The son persists until Amun devises a clever compromise. He severes the head of a Ram, skins the animal, and drapes the fleece over himself. Amun then holds the Ram's head directly over his own face and steps out to reveal himself to his son. Heracles could now look at him directly, while Amun's true face remained safely concealed behind the features of the Ram.
Herodotus interchanges Heracles for Amun's Son and Zeus for Amun throughout the story to show the underlying connection between their Mythos. I do not think that the well studied student needs any additional commentary to explain this allegorical story about the Ram's connection to the First Born Divine Male.
Now let's take a look at our very knowledgeable Ancient Egyptian Scribes and the Famine Stella, inscribed on Sehel Island. At the very top of the Famine Stela—directly above the hieroglyphic narrative—there is a carved image (relief). This scene depicts Pharaoh Djoser physically presenting his offerings to the god Khnum, who is explicitly drawn with the head of a ram featuring horizontal, twisting horns.
The story accompanying the scene begins with a terrible drought ravaging the land and drying up the Nile for 7 consecutive years. According to the translation of the hieroglyphs on the Famine Stella, Pharaoh Djoser laments the catastrophe in his own words:
"I was in distress on the Great Throne, and those in the palace were in heartbreak, because the Nile had not come in for a period of seven years. Grain was scant, fruits were dried up, and everything which they eat was short."
It was the primordial god Khnum, he controlled the flooding of the Nile and was holding the floodwaters back in secret underground caverns behind bolted cavern doors. Khnum stood at the gate of this chamber and was the ultimate authority holding the key.
As the text states:
"He holds the door bolt in his hand, opens the gate as he wishes."
Khnum is one of the oldest, most foundational primordial deities in ancient Egyptian theology. He is known for shaping individual humans on his potter's wheel, earlier creation hymns credit him with molding the cosmic egg.
Hymns refer to him as the "Father of fathers and Mother of mothers,". He fashioned the physical bodies of the lesser, younger gods from the same elemental earth. The texts describe Khnum operating the wheel using dual synchronization.
He places a unified lump of clay from the sacred Nile floodbanks onto the spinning platform. With his hands, he splits and pulls the material into two visually indistinguishable, mirror-image figures standing side by side.
"Procreating Ram who makes semen in bones and bound the seed of gods and people."
Before the younger gods exist to act, Khnum physically commands the genesis of their internal structural blueprint. The texts state that he “knotted the flow of blood to the bones” of the gods, ensuring their physical immortality from the very start.
Because he is androgynous, the texts bestow upon him the dual identities: "The Mother who bore the gods" and the "Father of the fathers of the gods and goddesses." The text addresses him directly at the wheel, celebrating the birth of the younger pantheon:
"You are the master of the wheel, who is pleased to model on the wheel... You have created the gods."
The Esna Liturgies say that to create the younger gods, Khnum uses the raw, un-manifested energy of the primeval ocean (Nun). Furthermore, the texts state that Khnum opens the secret veins of the mountains to pull out precious metals and gems, gold for their flesh, lapis lazuli for their hair. He uses these higher-frequency materials exclusively to solidify the forms of the deities.
To fashion the Mortals, Khnum uses the dense, mineral-rich Silt pulled from the banks of the riverbed to shape flesh and bone.
The Great Hymn to Khnum notes that when he spins humanity, he deliberately separates them into different lands, distinct languages, and varied physical appearances.
Mortals are bound to the laws of local geography and physical birth. The younger gods, however, are infused with a tier of Ka that gives them dominion over those elements.
The texts explain that Khnum gives the younger gods the "scribal board and the cord", commanding them to govern the very fields, waters, and seasons that the mortals must serve. Through the texts, Khnum acts as the ultimate gatekeeper of status.
He disperses the same divine universal spark into different densities, placing the gods in the heavenly realm to rule, and mortals on the changing earth to cultivate it.
So the story continues that the Pharoah Djoser discovers that the seven-year famine is happening because Khnum's temple at Elephantine has fallen into total disrepair. The text records his distress:
"I was in distress on the Great Throne, and those in the palace were in heartbreak..."
Pharoah Djoser takes full administrative responsibility for the state of the country.
Khnum however, laments, "A spring stands open to me which I know (the Nile) which embraces the land, and whose embrace brings forth nourishment to all, according to the order of the embrace.With increasing age, a state of weakness approaches. Your sanctuaries are unbuilt, your temples are in ruins, and a state of weakness has approached the water.I bestow on you ores with precious stones since antiquity that were not worked before to build temples, rebuild ruins..."
When Djoser falls asleep, Khnum manifests directly in his dream. Khnum stands over the sleeping Pharaoh and speaks, explicitly acknowledging the King’s shift in heart:
"I know your distress... I see that you are actively seeking me. I am the one who made you, and I see your arms now lifted toward me to care for my temple."
"I am Khnum, your creator... I know the Nile, who wraps himself around the fields... He exits from his twin caverns. I will make the Nile rise for you; there shall be no more years of fail."
As soon as Khnum opens the floodgates, the abundance returns immediately, the weeping stops, the children rejoice, and the people of Egypt are filled with contentment. Crops sprout immediately, and the fields turn green with wheat and barley. The empty storage houses that had been picked clean for seven years are completely filled to the brim with grain. The marshlands and rivers suddenly team with an abundance of fish, fowl, and livestock.
Again in this myth we see the same reoccurring theme of the the Divine Man and Mortal Man journeying through the Great Year, from the Underworld back into the Golden Age. The Ancient Egyptians have very cleverly encoded these divine truths around the yearly flooding of the Nile, unfortunately those who are not motivated to seek truth never look further than the surface of that seasonal event.
Then we have this test of faith from the Old Testament, in Genesis 22. God told Abraham to take his son Isaac to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt sacrifice. Abraham obeyed God and traveled for three days with Isaac and two servants. Isaac carried the wood and asked his father where the lamb was for the sacrifice.
Abraham told him that God would provide the lamb. Abraham built an altar, tied up Isaac, and raised a knife to sacrifice him. An angel of the Lord interceded and stopped Abraham from harming his son. Abraham then looked up and saw a Ram, caught by its horns in a thicket. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a sacrifice instead of his son.
The well studied student will see the hidden lesson here is that the Ram was an equal sacrifice to his son, meaning his son was divine, because the Ram sufficed as an exchange.
Then we have this Serbian folk tale that tells of a humble and honest shepherd named Marko. While tending his sheep, Marko discovered a magical Ram whose wool was a brilliant, shimmering gold that naturally shed small flakes of real gold.
The Ram entrusted Marko with its protection, warning him that its existence must remain a total secret, as the greed of men would bring ruin. Marko accepts the task, using the small flakes of gold modestly to quietly help his struggling neighbors without drawing attention to himself.
However, word of a mysterious source of wealth eventually reaches Lord Dragutin, a ruthless and greedy nobleman who ruled the valley. Suspecting the shepherd was hiding something valuable, Dragutin sent his guards to spy on Marko and demands that the golden Ram be handed over to him.
Marko refuses to give up the creature, prompting the nobleman to launch a relentless hunt to seize the Ram by force. Through clever planning, Marko hid the Ram in deep, secret mountain caves and constantly outsmarted Dragutin’s guards.
When the nobleman finally cornered them, Marko used his intimate knowledge of the treacherous mountain terrain to lead Dragutin and his men into a trap, forcing them to retreat empty-handed. Having successfully safeguarded the magical creature, Marko and the golden-fleeced ram lived in peace and abundance.
The well studied student would have identified the symbol of the caverns in the mountain, hiding the Golden Ram within is denoting the Divine Male and his hidden divine nature. Then he uses his Knowledge of the mountain to escape his enemies.
There is also Balkan Slavic folklore (specifically Serbian and Macedonian traditions), which states that a true protector Dragon can be born as a hybrid cross between a magical Serpent and a Ram. These specific Ram-Dragons were not evil; they were fiercely protective spirits that hovered over villages to defend crops from hailstorms and malevolent forces.
In the Chinese Zodiac the Ram is the 8th creature, 8 relates to the immortal soul but also the 8 Messiahs who are the first 4 Divine Males and 4 Divine Females.
In traditional Chinese star mapping, the stars that make up the Western constellation of Aries are split across a few completely different Chinese star groups. The main Chinese constellation utilizing the brightest stars of the Western Ram is Lóu (婁), known as the "Bond" Mansion (Lóu Sù).
The primary stars that form the head of the Western Ram (Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Arietis) make up the core of the Bond Mansion. It is the 16th lunar mansion and sits within the larger macro-constellation known as the White Tiger of the West (Xī Fāng Bái Hǔ).
The remaining, dimmer stars of the Western Ram were mapped into entirely non-animal categories by ancient Chinese astronomers. Zuǒgēng (左更) is formed by alternative stars in Aries, this constellation translates to the "Official in Charge of the Forest" or "Left Watch". Tiānyīn (天陰), a small cluster of stars in Aries represents "Heavenly Yin". Representing his Divine Female Twin.
We also have the Hindu god Agni directly connected to this archetype in the The Myth of Agni's Ram (Agner Mesha) The story begins that during a sacrifice, the god, Agni, desired to consume the offerings, but the sacred elements began to escape from him.
To capture and contain the ritual power, Agni transformed his own divine energy into the form of a powerful, horned Ram. As a Ram, Agni successfully charged forward, gathered the escaping essence of the offering, and brought it back to the gods.
So Agni's divinity was escaping from him and the only way he could capture and contain it was transform the divine energy into a Ram and then that divine energy flowed to the other gods. This is describing the sequence of illumination from the First Born Divine Male down to the subsequent gods dependent on order of creation.
I think we shall leave this Essay with this story from our Hindu Scribes, the archetype of the Ram seems apparent from the underlying theme throughout this mythos. The archetype embodies not only the First Born Divine Male but also his direct divine connection and bond to his Creator.
Aries by Johfra Bosschart
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