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IN his study on Celtism, T. Basilide drew attention to the importance of Apollo _Karneios_ as god of the Hyperboreans. The Celtic name _Belen_ is, furthermore, identical to _Ablun_ or _Aplun_ which, with the Greeks, became _Apollon_. We hope someday to write more fully about the Hyperborean Apollo; ^[2] for the present we will limit ourselves to some reflections on the name _Karneios_ in particular, as well as _Kronos_ to which it is closely related, for the two names have the same root KRN which expresses essentially the ideas of 'power' and 'elevation'.In its meaning of 'elevation', the name _Kronos_ is perfectly appropriate for Saturn who, in fact, corresponds to the highest of the planetary spheres, the 'seventh heaven' or the _Satya-Loka_ of the Hindu tradition.^[3] Nor must Saturn be considered as being solely or even primarily a malefic power, which sometimes seems to be the tendency; for it must not be forgotten that he is before all else the regent of the Golden Age, that is, of the _Satya-Yuga_ or of the first phase of the _Maha-Yuga_ which coincides precisely with the Hyperborean period,^[4] thereby proving that Kronos is rightly identified with the god of the Hyperboreans.^[5] It is moreover probable that the malefic aspect in this context results from the very disappearance of this Hyperborean world. It is in virtue of an analagous reversal that every 'Land of the Gods', seat of a spiritual centre, becomes a 'Land of the Dead' when this centre has disappeared. It is likewise possible that the dissociation of the two names _Kronos_ and _Karneios_ which originally were one was an added motive for concentrating this malefic aspect on the name _Kronos_, while the benefic aspect remained attached to the name _Karneios_; and it is also true that the symbolism of the sun has in itself the two opposite aspects, vivifying and death-dealing, productive and destructive, as we have already remarked in connection with weapons that represent the 'solar ray'.^[6]Karneios is the god of the _Karn_, that is, of the 'high place', symbol of the sacred Mountain of the Pole and, for the Celts, represented either by the _tumulus_ or by the _cairn_ or mound of stones which has retained this name. The stone, moreover, is often directly related to the cult of Apollo as can be seen for example in the Omphalos of Delphi as well as in the cubic stone which served as altar at Delos and which the oracle ordered to be doubled in size. On the other hand, the stone also had a particular relationship with Kronos; this is a further correspondence which we can only mention in passing, for it deserves separate treatment.^[7] At the same time Karneios is, as his name indicates, the 'powerful god';^[8] and if the mountain in one of its aspects is, in virtue of its stability, a symbol of power as well as of elevation, there is another symbol which is still more characteristic from this point of view, that of horns. Now at Delos, in addition to the cubic stone we have just mentioned, there was another altar called Keraton which was made entirely of the horns of bullocks and of goats solidly fitted together. It is obvious that this related directly to _Karneios_, whose symbolic connection with horned beasts has left traces even down to the present day.^[9] The word 'horn' itself is linked with the root KRN, and the same applies to 'crown' which is another symbolic expression of the same ideas, for these two words (in Latin _cornu_ and _corona_) are very close to one another.^[10] The crown is, needless to say, the emblem of power and the mark of an elevated rank; and an immediate correspondence with horns lies in the fact that both these and the crown are placed on the head, whence inescapably the idea of a 'summit'.^[11] But there is still something else to be considered: in more primitive times, the crown was a circle ornamented with points in the form of rays; and horns are also held to represent luminous rays,^[12] which brings us back to some of the considerations we have already put forward in connection with symbolic weapons. It is quite clear, moreover, that horns can be likened to weapons, even in the most literal sense; that is indeed why they have always and everywhere been associated with the idea of strength or of power.^[13] On the other hand, luminous rays are a most fitting attribute of power, either sacerdotal or royal as the case may be, that is, spiritual or temporal, for they show the power as an emanation or delegation from the very source of light which in fact power is when it is legitimate.

It would be easy to give many examples, from very diverse sources, of horns used as symbols of power. Some examples are to be found in the Bible, espe-cially in the Apocalypse.^[14] We will mention one other, taken from the Arab tradition which designates Alexander by the name _al-Iskandar dhu l-qarnayn_, that is, 'of the two horns',^[15] which is most frequently interpreted in the sense of a double power extending over both the East and the West.^[16] This interpre-tation is perfectly correct, though we must not exclude another fact which, if anything, completes it: Alexander, having been declared the son of Ammon by the oracle of that god, took as his emblem the horns of the ram which was Ammon's chief attribute;^[17] and it was this divine origin, moreover, that legiti-mised him as successor of the ancient sovereigns of Egypt to whom the same origin was attributed. It is even said that he had himself represented thus on his coinage, which in the eyes of the Greeks identified him rather with Dionysus, whose memory he also evoked by his conquests, especially that of India; and Dionysus was the son of Zeus whom the Greeks likened to Ammon. It is possible that Alexander himself was privy to this idea; but Dionysus was, nevertheless, commonly represented with horns, not of the ram but of the bull, which from the point of view of symbolism is a rather important difference.^[18]

It should be noted that there are in fact two main forms of horns in symbol-ism, those of the ram, which are 'solar', and those of the bull which, on the contrary, are 'lunar', and which recall moreover the form of the crescent itself.^[19] In this connection, reference might also be made to the two zodiacal signs of the Ram and the Bull; but this would give rise above all to questions concerning the predominance of one form over the other in different tradi-tions, which would lead to 'cyclic' considerations that we could not dream of entering into.

To bring this outline to an end, we will draw attention to one more correspondence which in certain respects is to be found between the animal weapons that horns are and what might be called vegetable weapons, that is, thorns. In this connection, it must be noted that many of the plants that have an important symbolic significance are thorny.^[20] Here also, thorns, like other pointed objects, evoke the idea of a summit or of an elevation; and in certain cases at least they can be taken to represent luminous rays.^[21] We see, therefore, that the symbolism is always perfectly coherent as indeed it must be, by the very fact that far from being the result of some more or less artificial convention it is, on the contrary, based on the essential nature of things.

Footnotes

[12]Special mention must be made here of the Aegean and Cretan symbol of the double axe. We have already explained that the axe is especially a symbol of the thunderbolt and therefore a strict equivalent of the vajra [cf., 27 above].

[13]On the double power of the vajra and other equivalent symbols (in particular the 'power of the keys') see our treatment in _The Great Triad_, ch. 6.

[14]This is also what is represented by the sword positioned vertically along the axis of a balance; taken together, they constitute the symbolic attributes of justice.

[1]['Trois études celtiques', in *Etudes Traditionnelles*, August-September 1936.]

[2][The author had no subsequent occasion to return to this subject.]

[3]For the Pythagoreans, Kronos and Rhea represented Heaven and Earth respectively; the idea of elevation is therefore found in this correspondence as well. It is only by a later phonetic assimilation that the Greeks identified Kronos or Saturn with Chronos, Time, although the roots of the two words are really quite different. It seems that the symbol of the scythe may also have been transferred from one to the other at that time, but this does not form part of our present subject.

[4][See William F. Warren, Paradise Found, the Cradle of the Human Race at the North Pole. Boston, 1885. Tr.]

[5]The sea which surrounded the isle of Ogygia, consecrated to Karneios or to Kronos, was called the Kronian sea (Plutarch, De facie in orbe Lunæ). Ogygia, which Homer [Odyssey, 1: 50] called the 'navel of the world' (represented later by the Omphalos of Delphi) was only a secondary centre, having replaced Thule or primeval Syria at a time much nearer our own than the Hyperborean period.

[6]In Greek, the very form of the name Apollon is very near that of Apollyon, the 'destroyer' (cf., Apocalypse 9: 11).

[7]The 'baetyls', which are comparable to the Omphalos, are quite generally given a 'solar' significance; but this must have been superimposed, at a certain period, on a primitive 'polar' meaning as may well have happened in the case of Apollo himself. Let us note further that Apollo is represented as the protector of water-springs (the Celtic Borvo was assimilated to him in this respect); and springs are also related to the mountain, or to the stone, which is the equivalent of the mountain in 'polar' symbolism.

[8]This name thereby corresponds, in Hebrew, to the divine name _Shaddai_, which was to be the name of the God of Abraham more particularly; now, there are again, between Abraham and _Kronos_, some very remarkable relationships. [The author added '... that we will perhaps explain some day'. Without presuming to supplement René Guénon, we take the liberty of pointing out that in Islam, *Sayyidnā Ibrahim* is precisely the Pole of the seventh Heaven, that of Saturn (= *Kronos*).]

[9]In Brittany, St _Corneille_ or _Cornély_, who took the place of _Apollon Karneios_, is looked on as the protector of horned animals. The considerations which we are now putting forward will enable the reader to understand that in reality there is something here that goes far beyond the mere 'play on words' that some people might be tempted to see.

[10]The Greek word _Keraunos_, meaning thunderbolt, seems in fact to have been derived from the same root. Let us note in this connection that the thunderbolt usually strikes summits and elevated places or objects. The analogy of lightning with the solar ray must also be taken into account—a point to which we shall have to return.

[11]In the Hebrew tradition, _Kether_ or the 'Crown' is at the summit of the Sephirothic tree.

[12]A particularly striking example is in the representations of _Moses_, for it is known that the horns he appears to carry on his brow are actually luminous rays. Others, among them Huet, Bishop of Avranches, have sought to identify _Moses_ with _Dionysus_, who is likewise represented with horns. There are some other curious connections also, but they would lead us too far from our subject.

[13]The same assimilation is of course valid for other animal weapons, such as tusks of the elephant or of the boar, the pointed form of which, moreover, is similar to that of horns. Let us add, however, that the duality of horns (and also of tusks) makes 'axial' symbolism inapplicable to them: in that respect they are to be assimilated rather to the two lateral points of the _trishula_; and this is also why we speak here of luminous rays in general and not of the 'Celestial Ray' which, both from the macrocosmic and microcosmic points of view, is an equivalent of the World Axis.

[14]It must be noted that here the idea is not confined to legitimate power only, but is extended to all power whatsoever, malefic or benefic: there are the horns of the Lamb, but also the horns of the Beast.

[15]The Arabic word _qarn_ is the same as horn, the root KRN being changed easily to QRN and also to HRN, as in the English horn. The word _qarn_ has another meaning as well, that of 'age' or 'cycle' and, most commonly, 'century'. This double meaning sometimes gives rise to a curious misunderstanding, namely that the epithet _dhu l-qarnayn_ as applied to Alexander means that he lived two centuries.

[16]In this sense, the two horns are an equivalent of the two heads of the heraldic eagle.

[17]Ammon himself was called 'Master of the double horn' (_Book of the Dead_, 165).

[18]It is also possible that Alexander wore a helmet with two horns; it is known that horned helmets were used among many ancient peoples. With the Assyro-Babylonians, the horned tiara was a characteristic emblem of the divinities.

[19]This distinction corresponds to the two forms which the alchemists give to the sign of mer-cury; the lunar form in this context refers to common mercury, and the solar form to the mercury of the sages.

[20]For example, the rose, the thistle, the acacia, the acanthus, etc.

[21]In a way which some may find unexpected but which is nonetheless real and exact, the Christian symbolism of the crown of thorns (which are said to have been acacia thorns) comes thereby close to the crown of rays of which we spoke above. It is to be noted also that in several places, menhirs are called 'thorns', whence, in Brittany and elsewhere, place-names such as Belle-Epine (Beautiful Thorn), Notre Dame de l'Epine (Our Lady of the Thorn), etc; and the symbolism of the menhir, like that of the obelisk and the column, is related to the 'solar ray' as well as to the 'World Axis'.

30 § The Symbolism of Horns

Footnotes