Order of the Shining Helmet of Athena: Third Path

Order of the Shining Helmet of Athena

By Olivia Robertson

“Medusa” by Olivia Robertson

Third Path: Aegis and the Sun

The Awakened Heart, The Arts

“We hope to receive the enlightenment of the Inner Sun of Medusa which comes through the heart.” - Olivia Robertson

In order to see truth it is occasionally necessary to stand on one’s head! This idea was suggested to me by Nature, by the globe itself, for our upright posture is only relative to the centre of the earth. Sink low enough and you come out at the other end and once more see the stars. Space itself can be regarded as curved, or in a spiral. Matter, which used to be regarded as the opposite to Spirit, can now be seen as energy. Thus everything, the humblest object we see, may be regarded as a solidified thought, and therefore a reflection of idea of cosmic consciousness. Here in Ireland the satirist Jonathan Swift was, as it were, working from one end of the tunnel, descending from man, and the philosopher George Berkeley from the other, rising from abstract thought; the tunnel can meet.

Intuition - daughter of Philosophy - is perception of truth independent of reason. Development of this faculty leads to Spiritual Awakening. Those of a more scientific bent view the universe as mechanical, logical. Such individuals can become puritanical; their life view is based primarily on abstractions. So we have two points of view – is life a pyramid, its base in lowest matter, its height in pure spirit - or is it the opposite?

On each pyramid, there are stages, each of narrowing ledge as they ascend to the apex. On the pyramid of the logical mind we find the lower instincts at the base; next come ‘ordinary decent citizens’ following established systems of religion or philosophy – which do their thinking for them. Then come “men of reason.” Those of noble character will be at the top, displaying depths of being beyond the normal scope. They are the heroes and heroines that enter our myths.

Consider these conventional heroines: Étaín, Psyche, Sita the long-suffering wife of Rama, and Brunhilde, awakening from sleep that descended upon her with magic fire. Often these noble heroines seem merely to be walking through their stories as “Personified Will” of their husbands, lovers or fathers – or, they are victims of a jealous rival. What would happen if the heroine awakened to a height of perception where she can intuit Greater Truth? What if she were able to step outside her story? Through her eyes we can view the “life pyramid” – and it reverses the order of the “respectable accepted pyramid” and puts it on its nose! The heroine declares those who have cultivated their minds and not their hearts are distorted. She sees the lower instincts as closer to Nature, and therefore more in tune with forces of creation and life. She realizes those at the higher stages, and even the apex cannot exist without the forces that form the base of the pyramid. What she had hitherto perceived as separate becomes united as One.

Athena lessened the dread of the Gorgons by turning the sound of their hissing into the music of the flute! The goatskin of the Aegis of Athena represented Almathea, nurse of the Gods. Upon it was placed the fierce-some face of Medusa. It was through a mirror-like shield given to Perseus by Athena that Medusa was overcome. The mirror is tool of the shaman. It represents a bridge between worlds, reflecting reversed reality. The shield of Perseus showed Medusa her true self. Her seeming moment of death was a spiritual awakening, a rebirth.

In 2006 I created a shrine for FOI members who have carried on their work in the face of adversity and hardship. Here presided Athena as Warrior Goddess. The image of Medusa placed as a shield over Her heart, flanked by the Sun for Strength and Courage and an Owl for Wisdom - accompanied by the olive tree, Her gift to the people of Greece. Some years later, I had a revelation - it was time to reveal the solar Medusa for Who She really was! The image of Medusa is in fact – a mask! Remove it and one meets a Goddess of Beauty! In 2011, the Goddess Hathor of the Awakened Inner Sun came to reside within this shrine. Her Heart is a mirror representing the Sun within us. It bears a painted image of the Goddess, in which we see our own reflection along with Divinity. When we have courage to remove the mask of Medusa we find the joyful Hathor! One will come out at the other end and once more see the stars.

Invocation: "I hail the Goddess Hathor, Goddess of Love, Goddess of Beauty, She Who is the Inner Sun within all existences, emerging from the darkness of the holy Nuit – of the galaxy."

"Thus speaks the Goddess Hathor through Her priestess: Can you ever find your true self?"

The Inner Sun Masked as Medusa

On the Aegis of Athena

FOI Members Shrine by Olivia Robertson, 2006

In 2011, Olivia changed the shrine to show

The Goddess Hathor of the Awakened Inner Sun

*Note: Work on each path consists of psychic questing. “Athena: Arcadian Awakening” may be used, and oracles by Olivia Robertson – “unscripted rites” - development of one’s own rites and oracles is encouraged. The order honors and reveres all Athenian Ancestors of Arcadia, as the Goddess Athena shares Her inspiration and wisdom through spirituality and the arts.

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Photo dated 2006 received from Olivia Robertson. Photo dated 2011 by M. Quick.