The Sphinx is frequently depicted as a combination of four different creatures (referred to as “kerubim”) — a lion, a bull, an eagle, and a man. In turn, these represent the four fixed signs of the zodiac and the four elements. If you want to read more about that, I explain it a bit further in my article on The Four Cornerstones.
You’ll also see these portrayed in Tarot with The World card.
Egyptian mysteries, elements, astrology, random animals, and divination. Sounds like we’re just talking about your standard witchy and neopagan kinda stuff, right? But wait.. there’s more!
Interestingly, Christianity also has a strange, mythical hybrid that is commonly referred to as a tetramorph. Has anyone ever found it curious that it’s the same goshdarn four animals?
In the Christian version, the associations are as follows:
- Lion: Mark
- Ox: Luke
- Man: Matthew
- Eagle: John
So there you have it. Since this week’s prompt asked me to name my favorite animal, I decided to step it up and name four.
But I guess I could have just said “cat” right?
You guys might think I show a little bit of favoritism towards Loki (our black cat) when posting cat pictures here or on social media. It’s not that I love him more than Freya (our grey cat)… it’s just that he gets into much stranger positions that prompt me to whip out my phone more frequently.
Freya is a cuddly cat. She likes to sit around and be comfy.
See?
And Loki? Well…
I’m pretty sure in that second pic, Loki is trying to pose as the sphinx. So there, I’ve tied it all together.
Good morning and happy Monday, friends!
I uploaded a few short videos this past week — One where Coby talks about how he uses music, one from my commercial for Summer Magick Fest 2024, and another as a highlight clip from my Q&A video.
I wrote the first half of a two-part guide to Wiccan Prison Ministry, which you can read on my website. I’m working on the second half and it should be out this week by Thursday. I just hope it sparks a little bit of interest and can help someone get started volunteering.
I have also been reviewing my work on Fluid Condensers, slowly making edits to Part 3 (which is written, but not “revised” enough to post yet) while preparing for the workshops I’m going to teach at Turning the Tide and Summer Magick. Sometimes I open the document and I’m a little surprised by how much information there is. How on earth did I write so much about fluid condensers? I hope to have Part 3 out sometime soon. In the meantime, you can review Part 1 and Part 2.
We spent most of Saturday at the South Florida Fair. We rode some rides, got a funnel cake, saw an exhibit with live bees, and did whatever else we could occupy ourselves with for about 8 hours.
One of the attractions we visited was the “Hall of Mirrors.” It’s actually replicated a few times throughout the fair, but under different names like “Lost City” or “Mardi Gras.” The basic design has you walk (for about 30 seconds) through the first floor, which has one obvious main path through walls of mirrors, then up a set of stairs, across a platform, and down a slide. The whole thing took about 2 minutes total and that was only because there were small children in front of us.
I’ve never had a proper “funhouse” experience. It’s no fun unless you can actually get lost or at least a little confused while you’re inside. I’m looking for the type of place you see in horror movies, where the floors and walls move and people get stuck for a while. Just… you know, without the murderous parts.
This week, we’re having our first coven book club meeting. We read Psychic Witch by Mat Auryn and I’m looking forward to the discussion we’ll have on it. Maybe I’ll write a book review soon.
I’ll also be reading Thorn Mooney’s second book, The Witch’s Path, in preparation for her upcoming appearance on M3. I’m not sure how much time we’ll spend talking about her books, but I just like to be prepared. Interviewing authors regularly really, really adds to my reading list — which is already unmanageably long. I’m not complaining though… a world without books to read is a rather uninteresting one.
That’s all for now! Stay tuned for more!
Aerik Arkadian 
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