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>>23192353

Threshold crossing, or “going down to the crossroads” is a fundamental aspect of a nomadic lifestyle and the theme plays a pervasive part in many myths and legends. Hermes (who is also variously known as Atlantiades, Thoth, Enoch, Mercury), the messenger of the gods or “god of travelers”, literally means “heap of stones, boundary marker.” The duality from which this reference stems is life and death – the heap of stones at a gravesite that stands at the threshold between the material and spiritual. Similarly, the word hermaphrodite, which shares the same root, is characterized by having attributes of both sexes – a literal manifestation of a higher level integration of the anima/animus. Similarly, Shiva and counterpart Parvati/Kali/Shakti were originally a merged entity known as Ardhanarishvara. Symbolic crossings of fertile, life-giving rivers is another related, consistent theme: the Egyptian Pharaohs’ ritual crossings of the Nile symbolically represent the Sun crossing the “starry waterway” of the Milky Way and passing into the underworld (the duat). This spiritual journey is symbolically represented on Hermes’ staff, the caduceus – the snakes of the kundalini (representing Shakti energy of earth) wind their way up the spine, activating each chakra, until they ultimately set the soul free into the heavens (represented by the wings at the top of the staff).