Cow- Worship

The term "worship" in this context is misleading. The association of the cow with divinity stems from ancient agrarian societies where the animal's life-giving qualities—milk, labor, and progeny—were seen as reflections of natural fertility and the generative forces of the universe.

The idea of any such "worship" is as erronecms as it is unjust. No F^^yptian worshipped thr cow, nor does any Hindu worship this aninud now, though it is true that tlie cow and hidl were sacred then as they are today, but oidy as tlie natural physical symbol of a metaphysical ideal; even as a church made of bricks and mortar is sacred to the civilized Christian because of its associations and not by reason of its walls. The cow was sacred to Isis, the Universal Mother, Nature, and to the Ilathor. the female principle in Nature, the two podde.s.ses beinj: allied to both sun and moon, as the disk and the cow's horns (crescent) prove. (See "Ilathor" and "Isis".) In the Vedas, the Dawn of Creation is represented by a cow. This dawn is Ilathor, and the day which follows, or Nature already formed, is Isis, for both are one except in the matter of time. Hathor the elder is "the mistress of the seven mystical cows" and Isis, "the Divine Mother", is the "cowhorned", tfu cow of plctity (or Nature, p]arth). and, as the mother of Horns (the j)hysical world) — the "mother of all that lives". The outa was the synd)olic eye of Ilorus, the rijj^ht being the sun, and the left the moon. Tlie right "eye" of Ilorus was called "the cow of Ilathor", and served as a powerful amulet, as the dove in a nest of rays or glory, with or without the cross, is a talisman with Christians, Latins and Greeks. The 7^1/// and the Lion which we often find in company with Luke and Mark in the frontispiece of their respective Gospels in the Greek and Latin texts, are explained as symbols — which is indeed the fact. "Why not admit the same in the case of the Egyptian sacred liulls, ( 'ows, Kams. and Birds? Cramer, Jolm. An eminent scholar who for over thirty years studied Hermetic philo.sophy in pursuance of its practical secrets, while he was at the same time Abbot of Westminster. While on a voyage to Italy, he met the famous Raymond Lully whom he induced to return with him to

The notion of "cow worship" often arises from a superficial reading of traditions where the cow holds a position of honor. Helena Blavatsky, in her characteristic style, seeks to correct this by distinguishing between veneration of a symbol and the worship of the divine principle it represents. She points to the Egyptian goddess Hathor, the "mistress of the seven mystical cows," and Isis, the "cow-horned," as embodiments of the Universal Mother and Nature itself. The cow's association with the dawn in the Vedas further underscores its role as a harbinger of creation, a physical manifestation of the primeval light. This is akin to Mircea Eliade's concept of the hierophany, where sacredness erupts into the profane world, imbuing an object or being with a transcendent meaning. The cow, with its life-giving milk and its role in agriculture, becomes a potent symbol of fertility, sustenance, and the generative power of the cosmos. To understand this reverence is to grasp how ancient cultures perceived the divine not as an abstract entity separate from the world, but as an animating force woven into the fabric of existence, manifest in the very creatures that sustain life. It is a reminder that the sacred can be found in the ordinary, a profound lesson for a modern world often disconnected from the natural rhythms of life.