The Continent of Europe

Europa and the Bull

Europe takes its name from the myth of Europa and the Bull, the story of which is written in the heavens in the hieroglyph of the constellation of Taurus.

According to a particular tradition and viewpoint that sees the myth as describing the spiritual purpose, archetype and geomantic nature of Europe, Europa (the goddess) is represented by the three lands known historically as Scotland, Ireland and Britain (i.e. England and Wales), known collectively and historically as The British Isles, whilst the Bull (the god, Zeus) is signified by mainland Europe.

As in the myth, the Bull rises out of the Black Sea with Europa on his neck and shoulders, his head down, back arched. In the good version of the myth, the Bull flies, for the cherubic or loving Bull is winged. Scandinavia is believed to signify the wings of the European Bull.

The main energetic route from root to crown of the Bull of Europe is more or less followed and defined by the thousands-of-years-old east-west pilgrimage route. Associated with this route are the major chakras of the European Bull, stretching from the Black Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, from Istanbul (the root) to Santiago de Compostela (the crown). Constance marks the heart, Madrid the brow (the Bull's Eye), Bourges the throat and Vienna the solar plexus, whilst the Rila-Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria, home of the Orphic Mysteries, mark the sacral chakra.

In the myth, Europa has a child by Zeus (the Bull) whose name is Hermes or Mercury. This child would seem to be represented in the landscape of Europe by the Grail Land, whose spine stretches from the south of France to the north of Scotland, thereby uniting—or being the result of the union of—the Bull (mainland Europe) and Europa (the British Isles). This union involves the Bull's throat chakra, the higher creative centre, which epitomises the essence of what the Bull represents symbolically; for Taurus, the Bull, is the astrological ruler of the throat chakra and the Alpha or first sign of the Zodiac.

Taurus symbolically represents the Creator, who seeds the universe (the goddess) by sounding the Word. This Word then takes form and birth by means of the mother goddess, represented by Europa in the myth and by the Pleiades in the sky. The name of Europa's child, Mercury, is derived from the Ancient Egyptian name, Maa Kheru, meaning 'The True Word'. This is what the Grail Land would seem to represent, which the Grail and Arthurian legends help to reveal, as does the landscape and what lies behind it.

The Bow of Greater Europe

In what might be called 'Greater Europe', which includes Asia Minor (the Near East), the root chakra is more appropriately and anciently located at Ephesus (in present-day Turkey). This arrangement seems to be one that was known to the early Christians. Ephesus, the great centre of the goddess Artemis (Diana), was where St John and the Virgin Mary went to live and where St John died and his body was buried. Its opposite polarity, the crown chakra, is centred on Santiago de Compostela, where St James, the brother of St John, went to preach and where, after St James' execution in Jerusalem, his disciples interred his body in a marble tomb after painstakingly transporting it in a stone sarcophagus across the Mediterranean Sea. Both places became premier foci of pilgrimage in the centuries following, with great cathedrals being erected over the tombs.

Ephesus and Santiago de Compostela, twin polarities to each other, are thereby linked by an energetic line across the Mediterranean, like two poles of a magnet. This line can be seen to string the 'bow' that is made by the chakras of the Bull, which arch like a bow across Europe (in which the brow and solar plexus chakras are displaced from the pilgrimage version). This bow is significant, linking as it does with the symbolism of Eros (Cupid). Its arrow is formed by the Heart Line of Europe. The bow and arrow are ancient symbols of, respectively, the heart and the light that shines from the heart.

Leda and the Swan

This 'bow and arrow' is associated with the Heart Cross of Europe. It also appears to define the Swan of Europe, as in the myth of Leda and the Swan, wherein Leda, like Europa, is represented by the British Isles, whilst the spine of the Swan (Zeus), is manifested in the Heart Line of Europe.

Like the myth of Europa and the Bull, the myth of Leda and the Swan is also associated with the functioning of the alta-major and throat chakras: hence, for instance, the use of the symbolism by Ben Jonson to describe Shakespeare as "The Sweet Swan of Avon" (i.e. the sweetly singing Swan). Like the powerful neck of the bull, the long neck of the swan emphasises the throat.

© Peter Dawkins