Cats, Serpents, some mostly Egyptian Mythology
So thinking about boxes got me thinking about cats which reminded me that I had a theory that the four-toed statue was of the Egyptian cat-goddess Bast (or Bastet) who is associated with fertility, pregnancy and childbirth. As the linked site says, she is also known as "The Sacred and All-Seeing Eye." She is classified as both a sun and moon goddess (light and dark) protecting the sun god by killing the serpent (that she is able to see even at night). There is an amulet (all this info. is from the link above) of the "all-seeing eye" used to ward off evil that sounds very like the Turkish "Nazar" alluded to on the show.
So, I'm thinking she opposes the serpent--and the serpent shows up as a symbol on the Caduceus Rod at the Staff. I was also thinking of Agent's post on Aaron: Serpent of Evil or Serpent of Wisdom. So thinking of the serpent as a symbol of medicine it would seem like another faith (Bast) vs. science (medicine) opposition--and centered on children/childbirth (with perhaps Aaron at the center?).
But then LC told me that the Caduceus is also associated with a different Egyptian goddess, Wadjet, the green one (!--WinterKing/Green Man) symbolized by the Cobra (all this info is from Wiki). Interesting thing though--even though the Cat goddess fights the Cobra (heh, The Cobra--that's the Expose bad guy, yeah? and possibly Kate?), later when upper and lower Egypt were unified the two goddesses were merged into one. The opposing forces become unified. There was also a third goddess absorbed into this trinity--"Mut" who is associated with water from which all life cromes through parthenogenesis and whose name means "Mother." One of her titles is "She Who Gives Birth, But Was Herself Not Born of Any." Rhetorically that sounds a lot like "He walks among us but is not one of us."
Ah also about Wadjet: Her festivals are Dec. 25 and April 21. Other dates associated with her are June 21 and March 14.
I'm reminded of an old idea I think we talked about back on LT that we'd eventually be headed into the female dominant part of the year--and maybe all the above goes toward suggesting that as well.
Statue in "Le Fleur"
Try to come back with some more thoughts on the episode later, but for now was just gonna post an image of the statue with images of Bastet and Wadjet for comparison. Also just a quick impression--but could the three women that are counterparts for the goddesses above be Bastet-Juliet, Kate-Wadjet (the cobra), and Sun (Mut)<<or possibly Claire. Was thinking of Sun, because of Bastet's protective relationship to Ra the sun god.
I'm with ya...
... when I saw the statue I immediately thought of Bast and thought you must have been correct.
Now looking at the statue more carefully in the screen capture, it looks like it's holding items similar to what this idol is holding... or maybe it's holding an ankh in the right hand?
The only trouble here is the attire of the colossus classically suggests a male figure rather than a female one, I think.
Getting the back...
of the statue...
It made me think of the repeated phrase that's being used between Jack/Kate and Sawyer/Juliet--"I've got your back."
And the symbolism of the spine as the seat of sacred centers of the body (like sacred centers on the earth?)--Jack being a spinal surgeon; the fact that Kate sews up his back in the first episode; Juliet on her back on the mechanic's cart...
And even "We have to go back."
But in relation to Jack/Kate vs. Sawyer/Juliet--there's a contrast of the way they are physically presented. Kate is often placed in front of Jack and facing the camera--showing us a different face than the one Jack has just seen. So while there's a part of Kate that might support Jack as in that scene from the Pilot--there's another which is hiding--not having his back but hiding by showing hers--possibly back-stabbing eventually.
Rose & Bernard
Other questions
I was wondering about them too Stip. I'm beginning to think that Sawyer will become Jacob and Daniel and Charlotte will be Adam & Eve.
Jaz, watching the show last night I immediately thought of you when they showed the statue. I think you're definately on to something with Bast. Nice work!!
Taweret & Set
Someone on another site posted a picture which has convinced me that the statue is Taweret. Picture here.
She has the same childbirth/fertility associations as Bast. She's also in some versions, the wife of Set (in other versions she's his mother--they're very blurry on these identity and family relations definitions in Egyptian Mythology I'm finding). And like him she's strongly identified with the Ursa Major constellation. Think probably makes her a likely candidate too--what with Karl and Alex naming a constellation the teddy bear, and "lift up your eyes and look north," and Northern Bears on the island.
Also I've been wondering if Ben might connect up with Set when I started looking up Horus and found that they were opposing figures. Although they are sometimes united as day/night, black/white as a unity rather than a duality. Their conflict is also written of as lasting through eternity until the end of times (apocalypse). A few more interesting things about Set. He's the god of the desert (Tunisia) and the storm god, associated with extreme physical cataclysms like earthquakes or typhoons. He's the brother of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Unlike them, he was born prematurely because he tore himself out of the womb. He had no children of his own because in the struggle with Horus--he took one of Horus's eye, Horus tore off one of his testicles and he was unable to father children.
Then Set is also the one responsible for killing Osiris. He dismembered him--but Isis was able to resurrect Osiris after reassembling all his parts...all but one. Set threw Osiris's penis into the Nile where it was eaten by a fish--and so Isis had to replace that part with a facsimile--the phallus. And that's probably a mistake most people make in the interpretation of phallic symbols--they aren't signs of male power really, but of an absence--a symbol standing for what is not really there. (But more of this later when I finally get to writing something about recent psychoanalytic theory and media analysis [Lacan]--when I get back over to the Horus hears a who post.)
Info on Tawret
Info on Set