Figure 1: Seine Cup

The Three Hares is an enigmatic and ancient symbol, which according to leading expert Dr Tom Greeves ‘ in so many places was given overtly special status or sacred status, as the centrepiece of Buddhist caves in Dunhuang, or on an Islamic coin, or cast into one of the finest bells in Christian Europe, … [and] almost certainly used on different levels and meanings… Today we are free to interpret [its meaning]. ’ The symbol features three hares running or crouching in a Strange Loop, with the ears of each hare shared by another. Potentially its earliest depiction (dated 1CE/BCE or alternatively a Volder or neoclassical replica) has one hare running and the others crouching, as depicted on the bottom of the Seine Cup [figure 1].

According to Three Hares expert Michel Terrier, 81.3% of Hares in England are turning counter clockwise [while] 80% of Chinese hares turn clockwise. While some believe the rabbits symbolize eternity… [or] fertility, others consider them a representation of the connection between the heavens and the earth. For William Wotton and Browne Willis in 1716, the meaning of the three hares by then was lost.

A Noahite interpretation (2022) of the symbol

Figure 2: Auxerre Manuscript

Inspired by a Judaic outer message presented by פטר חמור and subsequent framework identifications, on 18 April 2022 WikiNoah contributor המשיח הוא יהדות presented a Noahite interpretation of the Three Hares symbol on the Red Judaism (now Bei Abidan) YouTube channel, alongside פטר חמור and Eric the Great. The interpretation is labelled such given it works from a Judaic reference point and extrapolates relevant meaning via a combination of consistent markers and theological (self-)references into academic scholarship. In addition, symbological references related to the Auxerre Manuscript [figure 2]; first published in the 13th Century and brought to public attention by Michel Terrier, are highlighted green. Using this interpretation, a higher-level correspondence is identified, lending credence to Wotton and Willis’ claim of a potential core meaning.

Judaism

Figure 3: Former Chodorow Synagogue

• According to Judaism, ‘ the camel, the hare, and the daman—for although they bring up the cud, they have no true hoofs—they are impure for you ’, and this is understood as a spiritual, not physical concept. Regarding the image of the eagle grasping two hares as it existed in several (former) Ukrainian synagogues, Bracha Yaniv connects the hares to the Greek Kingdom considered hostile to "the people of Israel"; Elliot Horowitz however identifies the verse of Deuteronomy 32:11 surrounding the image [from Chodorow synagogue] as suggesting the eagle is lifting the hares to rescue them from danger. A similar interpretation [to Horowitz] is given by Boris Khaimovich, who sees it ‘ as a metaphor for the Almighty exercising dominion over his G-d-fearing people or as metaphorical representation of the relationship of the righteous man (or "the people of Israel") with G-d. ’

• Related instances of the three hares are found in Ukraine and particularly Podolia, which acted as a cultural bridgehead via which the Messianic tension of the Sephardic Jews in the Ottoman Empire was transferred to Eastern Europe. Figure 3 shows one such example, which has been carefully reconstructed in Beth Hatefutsoth museum, Tel Aviv, from (the former) Chodorow synagogue.

• According to Dr Khaimovich, who is described as one of the most important and insightful researchers into Jewish gravestone epitaphs and iconography, ‘ on some monuments the motif of the “three hares” paradoxically replaces the “three overlapping fish”. Such a representation would seem to be possible only if they are identical semantically and contextually. The image of “three fish” on an eagle’s breast… can be interpreted as a metaphor for Shekhinah which rests on righteous men. ’ פטר חמור, from his research on Jewish living in Ukraine surmises that the three hares could have been used for the graves of 'Shabbatis' (Subbotnik Jews), given their association with Ishmael and thus to the hare via the camel, also considering their frequency in historic Satanov.

• Dr Khaimovich references Jewish art historian Rachel Wischnitzer in stating ‘ Apparently, these or similar texts once gave [her] reason to believe that the three [overlapping] fish pictured on a platter for Purim, from Bamberg, symbolise the two Messiahs and the prophet Elijah. ’

• According to Wischnitzer herself, they refer more specifically to ‘ Elijah - the proclamatory of the Messiah, the Messiah ben Yosef - also proclamatory of the Messiah, and the Messiah ben David. ’

• A similar allegorical meaning can be drawn from Likutei Moharan 16:1, which describes a fish encountered by Rav Yochanan as having ‘ naFiTZ (spouted out) water from his two nostrils — This alludes to the two Messiahs. ’ (credit to פטר חמור).

• Dr Khaimovich’s interpretation of the image of the three hares on gravestones is that they are associated with ‘ the names of the righteous (the forefathers and foremothers) and the name Moshe. ’

• A connection to Dr Khaimovich’s interpretation can be identified in the Zohar, an esoteric book within the folds of Judaism, which describes the account of Abraham’s visitation by lower elements of G-d’s divinity in Genesis 18:2 – ‘ "And the Shechinah rested upon [Abraham] in full perfection, as should properly be… he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him..." (Gen. 18: 2) Who are these three men? They are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [the forefathers] (i.e., Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferet of Zeir Anpin). ’

• The explanation of the above passage is that Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferet are nothing other than various phases and levels of G‑d's revealing Himself to man; they are Sefirot, as the introduction to the Zohar states, ‘ You are He who brings forth ten…sefirot. ’ In addition to [their] separate and unique identities, they also interact in configurations depicted in Kabbalistic texts; one of which is the partzuf of Zeir Anpin, comprising Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzah, Hod and Yesod. Figure 4 depicts all ten sefirot + Keter arranged in vertical arrays along three parallel axes - the right side represents the principles of unity, harmony and benevolence: it is the masculine side [while] the left is the side of power and strict justice: it is the female side, [with] the middle column [representing] the ideal balance of divine mercy and justice. [The ten sefirot + Keter] are referred to in kabbalistic literature as a sulam ("ladder") or an eitz ("tree"). The soul can only perceive and ascend [the ladder/ tree] to the higher sefirot through the portal of Malchut, the lowest of the ten sefirot, directly beneath Yesod. This is the gate to G‑d, the righteous shall enter through it" (Psalms 118:20). When this is not done, the result is galut haShechinah. Malchut...is identified as the Shechinah, in this view the Shechinah is understood to be the feminine aspect of God — not an independent mythic being. Unsullied thoughts and pious deeds render one worthy of the Shechinah... sins, on the other hand, cause the Shechinah to depart (Targ. to Isa. lvii. 7; Jer. xxxiii. 5 et passim).

• The waning of the moon was conceived by the kabbalists as a symbol of the exile of the Shechinah ("Divine Presence"), while benediction [of] the new moon in its due time [welcomes] the presence of the Shechinah, and may date back to before the Second Temple period. For Moshe Miller, Malchut receives her light from Zeir Anpin, just as the moon receives its light from the sun. But in the future Zeir Anpin will receive from Malchut. This will be achieved by virtue of the [commandments]. Gal Einai, a Chassidut website devoted to the teachings of Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, elaborates more on this heavenly relationship: 'The sun represents the male figure (the bestower of light, whereas the moon is the receiver of light), and in particular the sefirah of yesod("foundation"; yesod = 80 = 8 · 10, chet times yud = chai), as personified by Adam.'

Noahite sub-movements within Judaism

Figure 4: Tree of Life

• According to the website 13 Petals, which exists ‘ primarily to help non-Jews get closer to G- d,… [the] name “Yeshua Sar haPanim” is in the portion [of some Orthodox prayer books] that deal with the order of Shofar blasts, together with Eliyahu the prophet and MemTet Sar haPanim (Prince [Mattat]), which gives us the acronym of Moshe. These three names come as a triad, after the mention of the angel Tartiel… Interesting consideration is that the names share the gematria of 52, which is the gematria of “Messiah” [Mashiakh] in ordinal numbers’… [for Rabbi Nathan Shapira] the role of these three is to testify about the deeds of the souls who ascend to Gan Eden. ’

• ‘ In the Vilna Gaon’s school of thought it is explained that MemTet is the angel that represents Messiah ben Yosef: “The Messiah ben Yosef from above is MemTet Sar haPanim, as it is known that Yosef is [a spark incarnation of] MemTet [cf. Shaar haGilgulim 31:7b]. Both of them are from the light of above and from the Sefirot of Yesod, being active in the war against [the spiritual force in charge of destroying the people of G-d, called] Armilus”… Eliyahu the prophet in the same manner is supposed to come back before Messiah ben David, to “prepare the way”. ’

• 13 Petals concludes ‘ It is important to notice that in the Hasidei Ashkenaz Judaism, G-d is incorporeal, invisible, and beyond eternity. All that exists and all that we know has been emanated from Him. ’

• WikiNoah contributor פטר חמור has also stated that according to his understanding of oral tradition, the heavenly sparks of Messiah ben Yosef, Eliyahu and Messiah ben David are united in the Sefirot of Yesod. When conceptualised individually, the Messiah ben Yosef can represent the Begotten Name or the Tree of Life, Eliyahu corresponds to Yesod or the appearance of אֵל רֳאִי, and the Messiah ben David corresponds to Adam Kadmon / רוח אלהים (Spirit of G-d).

• ‘ The Zohar (parashat Vayetzei) says that the Ladder is [MemTet] (The singular Angel of HaShem), who also is the “House of God”; as it’s written: “My Name is within him” (Ex 23:21), and through him all the angels, prayers and blessing ascend and descend, he is called the Gate through which one passes to come within. “Every petition sent to the King, must be through MemTet. Every message and petition from here below, must first go to MemTet, and from thence to the King. MemTet is the Mediator of all that comes from heaven down to the earth, or from the earth up to heaven”. (Zohar Shemot II:51)... Thus he is called: “the Minister of the Presence”, or “Minister of the Shechinah” and also ‘the Body of the King’s Daughter’ (cf. Zohar Shemot II:94b). This MemTet is not a created being, but an emanation that gets filtered within creation. ’

• ‘ It is suspected, though more research is required, that alongside the ancient identification of MemTet as Adam, Enoch or Moshe, there was another idea that involved the identification of MemTet as Jacob... [Moshe] Idel has added to this discussion that underlying the attribution of the measurements [of the body of the Shechinah] to MemTet in the medieval kabbalist literature is an echo of an older motif concerning the identification of MemTet and Adam, a tradition that may have itself influenced the better known and well-documented tradition regarding the transformation of Enoch into MemTet. ’ From the Jewish Virtual Library: ‘ This doctrine developed in the tannaitic period as the most secret part of Merkabah mysticism... Many kabbalists (Jacob b. Jacob ha-Kohen, Isaac b. Samuel of Acre, Judah Ḥayyat) saw it as a description of MemTet, or of the primeval Adam (Adam Kadmon). ’

• ‘ In the ["the Vision of the Merkabah" (Ẓefiyat ha-Merkabah)], [MemTet is the] the central figure and chief actor. Those under this strange hallucination, who imagine themselves entering the Heavenly Chariot and floating through the air, are called "Yorede Merkabah". In this chariot they are supposed to ascend to the heavens, where in the dazzling light surrounding them they behold the innermost secrets of all persons and things, otherwise impenetrable and invisible. Besides the descriptions of the seven heavens with their hosts of angels, and the various storehouses of the world, and of the divine throne above the highest heaven, the most remarkable feature is that the mysteries rest on the belief in the reality of the things seen in an ecstatic state brought about by ablutions, fasts, fervent invocations, incantations, and by other means. ’

Buddhism

Figure 5: Jade Hare in the moon

• In the Buddhist Sasa-Jataka text, tale no 316 relates a story given by the Buddha after seven days of feasts, in which a young hare preaches the 'truths' of alms giving, moral law observation and the keeping of holy days to three companions. As a poor brahmin passes by, the three proceed to offer him food, while the hare offers to sacrifice himself. A heap of burning coals then magically appears, into which the hare jumps, however it is miraculously unharmed. The brahmin reveals himself to be the Buddhist deity Sakka, and praises the hare's virtue, proceeding to daub the sign of the hare on the orb of the moon. The four companions then '[dwell] happily and harmoniously together', with the Buddha finally revealing it was he who was the wise hare. A version of this story is found in the Japanese anthology Konjaku monogatari shu, while ‘a similar story is also seen in the Chinese anthology Chu Ci where a toad and a hare on the moon pound herbs for the immortals (Figure 5).

• Between India and China there exist ancient places of worship in which the symbol of three (or four) hares is designated or possibly linked to Maitreya. These are the Mogao Caves, in Dunhuang; Basgo Monastery, in Ladakh; and the Three-Storeyed Temple or Sumtsek (གསུམ་བརྩེགས་) in Alchi, Ladakh. Maitreya, in Buddhist tradition, the future Buddha, [who will] preach anew the dharma (“law”) when the teachings of Gautama Buddha have completely decayed, was 'one which evolved from one of the sun gods Mithra’ according to Rui Chuanming. Similar connections are identified by Wiesner and Kohler between the characters of MemTet and Mithra, the Merkabah and chariot of Mithra being one.

• Mr. Guan Youhui, retired researcher at the Dunhuang Academy, believes the symbol [of the three hares] may have been brought by Sogdians from Zoroastrianism, which would explain why the hares wear scarfs, representing Sassanian divine nature. Furthermore, ‘ the rabbits with one ear, like many images in Chinese folk art, are a symbol of good luck and represent peace and tranquility. ’ [NB. compare with Sakinah (credit: המשיח הוא יהדות)].

Figure 6: Avalokiteshvara and the Sefirot

• Within the Mogao Caves, several depictions of the three hares within lotus buds are found; Cave 139 hosts the Boddhisatva Avalokiteśvara above its entrance with an eight-petal lotus containing three hares, and Cave 205 depicts three hares in what is presumed to be a lotus together with wall paintings of the paradise of Maitreya. In Buddhist theology, the newly dead enter into lotus buds, which unfold when the occupants have become entirely purified and have attained enlightenment. Depictions of the three hares surrounded by blossoming lotuses bright and luminious as moonlight (Cave 407), or Avalokiteśvara together with the sun and the moon (Cave 99) also imply connections with these astral bodies; especially the moon, according to The Three Hares: A Curiosity Worth Regarding.

• Turning to Sumtsek one finds three deers, three bulls, three rabbits and three hares on the dhoti of Maitreya, in red circular medallions on blue ground. The Temple is dedicated to Maitreya as one of three bodhisattvas who defer enlightenment to help others; including Avalokiteśvara who is understood to represent Compassion and the Word, and Mañjuśrī who is understood to represent Wisdom.

• Avalokiteśvara, also known as Jūichimen Kannon ("Eleven-headed Kannon"), has Eleven Heads atop its own head as its name implies, ten of [which] take the form of bodhisattvas and represent the ten stages toward enlightenment. Remarkably, Figure 6 demonstrates how the location of each head corresponds directly to a sefirot in the Tree of Life, with the bottom and most prominent three-faced head or trifron forming a unity in the Sefirot of Yesod. In identifying the isomorphism between the ten stages [of enlightenment] and ten sefirot, the lotus leaf finds its natural counterpart in the Merkabah of MemTet; the vehicle in which the soul ascends through the portal of Malchut-Shechinah ('the moon') into Yesod of Zeir Anpin ('the sun'). The visual emphasis placed on the trifron (Yesod) may signify the location and role of Avalokitshevara in its closeness to the newly dead (credit: המשיח הוא יהדות).

• The symbol of the trifron also appears in the Auxerre Manuscript alongside (from right to left); three hares, four hares and three overlapping fish - all but one are found in the Mogao Caves alongside icons of Maitreya and Avalokiteśvara, providing a further self-referential twist. המשיח הוא יהדות concludes that a higher-level correspondence between the symbols in the Auxerre Manuscript can be identified once a Judaic standpoint is taken with regards to occurrences of the three hares in Buddhist iconography. Furthermore it is likely the manuscript author understood these to be cognate symbols; though on which level and from which standpoint is unclear. As Michel Terrier states, "Few texts usually accompany the three hares, it is important now to translate the texts in red that surround these patterns".

Islam

Figure 7: Three fish with one head, in a Javanese manuscript from Mataraman, Batavia

• A potential source for the symbols depicted in the Auxerre Manuscript is described by Dr Boris Khaimovich: ‘ the motif [of the three hares] probably permeated into European art from the Muslim East, where it was borrowed from earlier monuments in Mesopotamia. It can be found, for instance, on copper Iranian dishes from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries and had two iconographic variants: with either three or four hares. The compositions of three creatures which began to prevail in the Muslim period are explained by Ettinghausen as “that form of solar symbolism which shows a three-faced or tripartite sun.” The motifs of the three birds, three fish and three hares were most commonly used on Islamic utensils. A variation of this motif with four hares, found on Muslim copperware, was also used in medieval reliefs on cathedrals (particularly, on the façade of Saint Jean Cathedral, Lyons, in France), to illustrate the Latin Bestiary of the thirteenth century, and in the Jewish Passover Haggadah manuscript of the fourteenth century, created by the master Joel Ben Simeon. ’

• Under the rule of Mongol rulers Khublai and Abaqa, a coin was minted with three hares (1281-1282) and the shahada, the Islamic statement of faith: There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Other coins of [theirs] bear a cross and Christian inscriptions.

• A similar congruence can be seen in Surah 4:171 of The Qu'ran, which decribes three attributes of the character of Isa ibn Maryam [Jesus] Al-Masih, followed by the caveat that 'only Allah is G-d One':

‘ Only the Messiah (‘Masīḥu’), Isa, son (of) Maryam, (was) a Messenger (‘Rasūlu’) (of) Allah and His word (‘Kalimatuhu’) which He conveyed to Maryam and a spirit from Him (‘Rūḥun min'hu’). And (do) not say, "Three;" desist (it is) better for you. Only Allah (is) God One. Glory be to Him. That He (should) have for Him a son. To Him (belongs) whatever (is) in the heavens and whatever (is) in the earth. ’ Corpus.quran.com, Sura 4:157

• We also find the three overlapping fish symbol in Islamic texts relating to the Shaṭṭārīyah brotherhood; a Sufi order which spread to Southeast Asia. In two manuscripts, one of which is dated 1790, the symbol is used to illustrate the Oneness (tawhid) of God, by visualising graphically the unity of the first three stages of the 'seven grades of being' and making this reference explicit through accompanying captions: aḥadīyah - Allāh / waḥdah - Muḥammad / wāḥidīyah – Adam.

• In one Shaṭṭārīyah manuscript, the fish labelled Allah is left plain and unadorned, most likely to reflect the 'emptiness' associated with the first of the 'seven grades of being' [figure 7]. Other late-19th century manuscripts have each fish labelled with a different descriptor of the stage represented: zat ‘ibarat Allāh - ṣifat ‘ibarat rūḥ/Muḥammad - af‘āl ‘ibarat jasad/Adam (Essence symbolising God / attributes symbolising the soul/Muḥammad / Deeds symbolising the body/Adam).

• The name ‘Muhammad’ houses two further names, that is ‘Ahmad’ [“praiseworthy”] and ‘Hamd’ [“to praise”] (credit to פטר חמור). ‘Muhammad’ is also invoked as part of a triad in sayings (‘hadith’) belonging to other Islamic faith traditions, which are not exhausted below [credit to Eric the Great]:

‘ Narrated 'Ali: that the Messenger of Allah [Muhammad] PBUH said: "I am the house of wisdom, and ‘Ali is its door.“ ’ Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3723

‘ I testify that there is no God but Ali… and no hijab (veil) but Lord Muhammad… and no Bab (Gate) but Lord Salman al Farisi. ’ Mahajjah.com, The Nusayri “Trinity

Figure 8: Ali in Arabic script

• Similarly, the Alevi or ‘Adherents of Ali’ ‘ depend on the beliefs, institutions, and practices that are shaped around the love of G-d-Muhammad-Ali (Hak[Truth]-Muhammed-Ali) ’.

• According to an article from Encyclopædia Britannica, ‘ [some] Shiʿite Muslims believe that the pattern on the Moon is not a person or an animal but the name of Ali, who was the son-in-law of Muhammad ’. For Nurmuhammad.com, Imam Ali (as) represents the ‘the Hidden Face of the Moon’. Interestingly, the name Ali, in Arabic script, can be said to have the resemblance of a hare, within the moon Figure 8 (credit to פטר חמור).

Christianity

Figure 9: Three Hares

• According to Niki Foster, ‘ the majority [of three hares symbols] are located in southeast England, particularly Devon, where they appear on more than two dozen roof bosses, in local churches (Figure 9). Other than England, the most known examples of the three hares design are found in northern Germany and France. Hares were thought in the ancient world to be hermaphroditic and capable of virgin birth, so the design might once have been associated with Jesus' birth by Christians. ’ Another theory, according to the researchers (of TTH:ACWR) is that ‘ the hares indicated the Holy Trinity’. And for researcher Michel Terrier on his previously active blog Trois-Lievres, ‘[the Devon - Paderborn hares could be linked to] St Boniface, from Devon who consecrated a bishop in Paderborn. ’

• In The Creation of the Animals panel (1383 CE) by Meister Bertram von Minden, Grabow Altarpiece, Jesus' can be seen lending one ear to three hares (Figure 10). According to Michel Terrier, ‘ [this] can be an illustration of the words of St Mathieu: "Let him who has ears to hear, hear!" ’ Three hares can also be seen to accompany the holy family in Albrecht Durer's The Holy Family with Three Hares (1497-98 CE).

• An early association of hares with Christianity can be attributed to Saint Melangell, a princess of Irish origin who according to tradition established a nunnery in the hills of Pennant (now Pennant Melangell), in the late 8th century. Later accounts say she was granted the lands by Brochwel Ysgithrog, king of Powys, from whom she miraculously saved a hare. Melangell became the patroness of hares, which were popularly called Wyn Melangell, or ‘Melangell's Lambs’. The symbol of the lamb in Christianity is itself synonymous with Jesus, who represents the 'Paschal Lamb' or 'Lamb of God', as used in the 'Gospel of John' (credit to פטר חמור).

• According to theologian and church historian Phillip Schaff, ‘...as early as Eusebius a threefold office is ascribed to Christ, that of prophet, priest, and king, and this is traceable to Jewish sources. ’ We also find threefold descriptions of Jesus in several early Christian and anti-Gnostic writings:

Theophilus Bishop of Antioch c. 169–c. 183, To Autolycus, Book II: ‘ Hear what I say. The God and Father, indeed, of all cannot be contained, and is not found in a place, for there is no place of His rest; but His Word, through whom He made all things, being His power and His wisdom, assuming the person of the Father and Lord of all, went to the garden in the person of God, and conversed with Adam. ’

The teachings of Silvanius: ‘ For the Tree of Life is Christ. He is Wisdom. For he is Wisdom; he is also the Word. he is the Life, the Power, and the Door. He is the Light, the Angel, and the Good Shepherd. Entrust yourself to this one who became all for your sake. ’

Figure 10: Jesus listening to three hares

• Further threefold allusions can be observed in the 'Gospel of John':

‘ But the temple [Christ] had spoken of was his body ’, John 2:21

‘ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us… We have seen his glory ’, John 1:14

‘ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. ’, John 14:6

• Significantly, the transfiguration of the 'Lamb of God' into three [persons] occurs in three of the four synoptic Gospels, also mentioned in the Second Epistle of Peter:

‘ After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. His clothes became radiantly white, brighter than any launderer on earth could bleach them. And Elijah and Moses appeared before them, talking with Jesus. ’ BibleHub.com, BSB Mark 9:2-4

• However, it is St Ambrose who draws the connection between the transfiguration event and Abraham's visitation in Genesis 18: ‘ [For Ambrose], the “Lord” at Mamre is further-more identified… with the Son of God on mount Tabor, flanked by Moses and Elijah…. ’

• According to Bogdan G. Bucur: ‘ ...the rich reception history of Genesis 18 in early Christianity is marked by a transition from Christological to Trinitarian interpretation… identification of the Septuagint kyrios [Lord] with the New Testament kyrios [Lord] Jesus… was the oldest’. Bucur continues: ‘The connection between the three angelic visitors [at Mamre] and the mysterium Trinitatis is made explicit in [Origen’s] Commentary on the Song of Songs; “Abraham saw three, but worshipped only one”. Origen, as Bunge observes, “understood this ‘one’ as the Lord, that is, Christ and the two companions… as two angels”. ’

• The following is also noted in the beliefs of Johann Kemper, the Christian Kabbalist, regarding the Genesis 18 narrative: ‘ “The Shekhinah itself,” writes Kemper, “appears in the image of the three angels, and this alludes to the Trinity (shilush), or the three angels that accompanied her allude to this secret, and it is one.” To comprehend fully Kemper’s reading of the zoharic passage, we must bear in mind again that for him the Shekhinah is Jesus. Just as the appearance of the three angels to Abraham is a visionary recital of his experience of the manifestation of Jesus in the three persons of the divine substance, so at the moment of death the righteous soul is greeted by Jesus in the form of three angels. ’ For Seventh Day Adventists, the “glory of the Lord” in the Christian Bible refers to the Shekhinah, made manifest for example at the transfiguration of Jesus.

Figure 11: Icons of Trifacial Jesus

• According to R. Pettazzoni, ‘ several representations of a tricephalous Christian Trinity... become frequent in the fourteenth century and triumph in the great art of the Renaissance (Andrea del Sarto, Pollaiuolo, etc). ’ Figure 11 depicts two such representations, each face of Jesus sharing one eye and illuminating a further connection to the Auxerre Manuscript and the symbol of the hares each sharing an ear.

• The origins of the polycephalous depiction remained speculative for Pettazzoni, who remarked: ‘ [it] was propagated, and spread northwards through Finland to the Siberian populations' (though the possibility is not to be excluded that there may have been some penetration of religious ideas and forms coming from central or southern Asia, as suggested, perhaps, by the cosmological conception of the seven heavens, or by the iconographical motive of the many heads distributed one above the other, as found in many figures of Lamaist Buddhism (Avalokiteśvara) and Indian Sivaism... it is presumably [to more remote Mediterranean and Asiatic (Iranian) connections] that one should look for the iconographical prototypes of the polycephalous figures which appear in the above-mentioned steles of the 'Thracian Rider'. ’ As mentioned earlier, the figure of Avalokiteśvara we identified from Buddhist references to the three hares, and as for speculations not directly related to the three hares (but otherwise connected to the Auxerre Manuscript, consistent markers and/or theological self-references we have identified), they are addressed under Potential further connections.

Evidence summary

Figure 12: Three Hares Symbol locations 600-1500

With the obvious difficulties of establishing conscious translation of meaning amongst the numerous occurrences of the Three Hares and related symbols, it is rather curious to note that the relative success of a Noahite interpretation could otherwise be attributed to a Strange Loop unconscious translation, mirroring the symbolic depiction.

Epistemological implications

According to Dr Sue Andrew, an expert on the Hares, if “we seek a precise meaning for the Three Hares, at the expense of understanding what they do, we might just miss their real significance, for running in their never-ending circle they may have stirred memories and powered prayer in ways we are only just beginning to understand.”

A connection to Dr Andrew's statement can be drawn with Douglas Hofstadter's distinction between "syntactic" and "semantic" qualities of form, in the book Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. For him "syntactic" qualities lie closer to the surface, and therefore [do not] provoke the creation of multidimensional cognitive structures.

By contrast, the semantic aspects of form are those which cannot be tested for in predictable lengths of time: they require open ended tests... The act of pulling out [an undecidable string's "semantic"] meaning involves, in essence, establishing all the implications of its connections to all other [undecidable strings], and this leads, to be sure, down an open-ended trail. So "semantic" properties are connected to open-ended searches because, in an important sense, an object's meaning is not localised in the object itself.

This is not to say that no understanding of any object's meaning is possible until the end of time, for as time passes, more and more of the meaning unfolds. However there are always aspects of its meaning which will remain hidden arbitrarily long.

As the semantic relationships of the Three Hares seem to run down an open ended trail, the default position could be one of open ended meaning or meaninglessness, where meaning can only be imparted. This however denies the richness of the symbol itself in its acquisition of contextual meaning.

Therefore, an imposition of plain meaning (or meaninglessness) can serve to obscure what could be described at one level as the depiction of "a feedback loop" which also functions as a feedback loop, in its accumulation of implicit and explicit meaning. That the context of the appearances of the Three Hares may plainly defy reductionism yet simultaneously hold hidden depths of consistent meaning amongst layers of accumulated meaning, should not be a surprise nor a contradiction of two mutually exclusive states, rather a symbolic affirmation of the diversity of shared meaning that we ourselves are testament to. An appreciation of the symbol as both a mediator of stability in meaning and a powerful connector to new levels of meaning may now be identified.

Under the section "Modern uses of the symbol" examples are provided where the symbol has inspired or been used in inspiring people to identify and generate new levels of connection.

Potential further connections

Mithraism

Figure 13: Thracian Rider Stele

• Under Buddhism, connections were revealed between Maitreya and Mithra, Mithra and MemTet. According to Britannica.com, ‘ Mithraism [pertains to] the worship of Mithra, the Iranian god of the sun, justice, contract, and war in pre-Zoroastrian Iran. Known as Mithras in the Roman Empire during the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, in some Indian Vedic texts the god Mitra (the Indian form of Mithra) [also] appears both as “friend” and as “contract.” In a cuneiform tablet of the 15th century BCE that contains a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, Mithra is invoked as the god of oath. ’

• ‘ The most important Mithraic ceremony was the sacrifice of the bull. On the Roman monuments, Mithra reluctantly sacrifices the white bull, who is then transformed into the moon... [while] the cloak of Mithra was transformed into the vault of the sky... [thus] all things were created. Initiates [into Roman Mithraism] were organised into seven grades, [which] prefigured the ascent of the soul after death. The series of the seven initiations seems to have been enacted by passing through seven gates and climbing a ladder of seven steps... Each grade was attributed to one of the seven planetary gods. ’

Figure 14: Bronze Vase, 12th century Teheran

• As referred to under Christianity, R. Pettazzoni's also suggests a connection to Steles of the Thracian Rider for the polycephalous depiction [of Jesus]. Figure 13 depicts one such Stele from the region of Izvor, Plovdiv (2nd-3rd century CE). According to Pettazzoni; ‘ [Precedents] behind the [tricephalous] Thracian “god on the horse” are the various horse-riding gods of Asia Minor and of Syria, and behind these again is the Persian and Iranian Mithra, who, in the Avesta, traverses heaven in a flaming chariot drawn by white horses. But in the mithraea of the imperial Roman period he is represented as actually on horse-back, as at Dura-Europos or at Dieburg in Germany, where, on the great marble slab on the back wall, Mithra again appears as a rider-huntsman... And it is also on the same slab at Dieburg, in one of the small square bas-reliefs in the frame of the slab, that one finds a representation of a tree with three human heads amongst the leaves. ’

• ‘ Mithra is a solar god; the cavalier gods of Syria have radiate heads; those of Asia Minor are, in the Hellenistic-Roman interpretation, identified with Helios and Apollo; the Thracian Rider is designated in inscriptions as Apollo and sometimes also has rays round the head... it may be noted that the solar association explains polycephaly in its comprehensive sense, as being an iconographical expression of the power of looking in two, three, four, or more, directions at a time-that is, ideally, in all directions-and hence of possessing that all-seeing capacity which is attributed to the Sun more properly than to any other divinity. That the all-seeing Sun has been conceived in tricephalous form is clear, e.g, from various monuments of Persian mediaeval art, such as the one here reproduced (figure 14), an inlaid bronze vase at Teheran dating from the end of the twelfth century. ’

Figure 15: Mithras Banquet, Fiano Roman relief

• In Zoroastrianism, we find Mithra in a divine triad, consisting of ‘ Rashnu..., the deity of justice, who with Mithra, the god of truth, and Sraosha, the god of religious obedience [and the embodiment of the Divine word], determines the fates of the souls of the dead. The divine triad may attempt to intercede for souls and obtain forgiveness for their sins. ’ According to Iranicaonline.org, ‘ ...this ancient association, vague as it is, may have provided a precedent for the [torch bearers (dadophoroi) Cautopates and Cautes that appear alongside Mithras in several Roman depictions], but the real source... regardless of etymology, is in the astrological speculation so fundamental to all of Mithraism and which is not derived from traditional Iranian religion... it is best to view Cautes and Cautopates as close companions of Mithra who are sometimes identified with him and sometimes held distinct. ’ Figure 15 depicts a banquet scene on the reverse of the Fiano Roman relief, where Sol (the god of the Sun) and Luna (the triple goddess of the moon) are seated with Mithras, above the torch bearers.

Paganism

Figure 16: Green Man on roof boss

• According to Three Hares photographer Chris Chapman, several [occurrences of the three hares in Churches] ‘ adjoin a boss depicting a Green Man (Figure 16). ’ Stephen Winick, folklorist at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, records the Green Man's polysemic connections, not limited to the May Day Festival and Jack-in-the-Green, the Folk Saint (St George, Al-Khidr), Roman foliate heads [and] the deity Silvanus, the Tree of Life and in modern times environmental concerns, the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement, and the Radical Faeries: ‘ As the referential meaning of the phrase “Green Man” has changed, so have the deeper meanings of all the characters and figures to which it was applied. At the root of all such meanings lies the essence of the figures themselves: the combination of a human form with leaves and flowers. This combination obviously had significance in both pre-Christian and Christian religious contexts, since some of these figures appeared in churches and temples; but these meanings are obscure and remain the subject of scholarly speculation. Nonetheless, the Green Man continues as a figure of vernacular veneration to this day. ’

• On the Folk Saint, Winick makes the point that ‘ [m]any writers on the Green Man point out that he resembles the Islamic figure Al-Khidr or Al-Khadir, who is a prophet or wali not mentioned by name in the Koran; essentially a Muslim folk saint. Al-Khidr means “The Green One” or “The Green Man” in Arabic... Walker and Uysal reported that Hizir was especially revered on May 6, which corresponds to April 23 of the Julian Calendar, St. George’s Day, and opined that it is “it is no accident that [St. George’s Day] is April 23, the day sacred to Hizir [Al-Khidr] on the older calendar.” According to historian Jonathan Good and Arabic scholar Diana Darke, in some areas of the Islamic world, including Palestine, the Christian St. George is still believed by many Muslims to be the same spirit as Al-Khidr, and Muslim pilgrims visit Christian churches and shrines dedicated to St. George to ask for help from Al-Khidr... Throughout the Balkan world, St. George’s Day features a “Zeleni Jurij” or “Green George,” the same kind of figure as “Jack-in-the-Green.” ’ R. Pettazoni, referencing F. Cumont in "St George and Mithra" (1937), states: ‘ By an analogous development the pagan steles of the ancient "rider god" of the Thracians [Mithra] became, and still are, the object of Christian cult in some country churches of Bulgaria, because the faithful see in the cavalier god the image of Saint George. ’ Furthermore, H. S. Haddad in Numen (1969) notes: ‘ In the Levant St. George is identified with Khidr of the Muslims. Khidr, in turn is identified with St. Elias, the Elijah of the Bible... St. George and Khidr (also Ali in some Nusairi lore) cause thunder and lightning by riding a horse across the sky. ’ With reference to academia, המשיח הוא יהדות] has identified a potentially significant nexus between the symbolism of the Green Man, the figures of the Thracian Rider / Mithra, St George, Al Khidr, Elijah, Ali and the Three Hares.

• Returning to the story of the hare in the moon described under Buddhism, McBryde Jr. J. M. identifies this particular juxtaposition in stories from across the globe [not exhausted here]: ‘ This same belief.. seems to have penetrated into Europe, for a writer in the Cornhill Magazine for 1882, p. 440, on "Some Solar and Lunar Myths," reports that "in Swabia children are not allowed, in imitation of the hare in the moon, to make the figure of a hare on the wall with their fingers."... [Also,] it may be of interest to pass across into the New World and glance rapidly at some of the myths of the [Native Americans], in which this same deification takes place, and, remarkable to relate, the same association with the moon... And among the Nahuas of ancient Mexico Professor D. G. Brinton found the same myth of the rabbit in the moon... Among the [Khoekhoe of Africa], for example, there is a story in which ["a hare leaped into the Moon's face and stratched it so severely with his claws, that the scars may still be seen upon its bright surface"]... This very same tale appears in a collection of Uncle Remus stories, entitled Uncle Remus and the Little Boy, issued [by] Small, Maynard and Company. The story, called "Brer Rabbit Has Trouble with the Moon" [is] the same in all essential details as the [Khoekhoe] version, [and] like many others, evidently imported from an African home... But to return to our hero. Though thus exalted to the moon by the [Khoekhoe] in Africa and by [African Americans], there are scarcely any other instances of deification of the hare in African folk-lore. ’

Figure 17: Diana Triformis

• A recent comprehensive study related to the British Isles was undertaken by Murphy, L. J. and Ameen, C., in The Shifting Baselines of the British Hare Goddess, Open Archaeology (2020), who ‘ investigate how the Iron Age, Romano-British, early medieval English, medieval Welsh, and Information Age populations of Great Britain constructed and employed supranatural female figures – Andraste, Diana, Ēostre, St. Melangell, and the modern construct ‘Easter’ – with a common zoomorphic link: the hare. ’

• ‘ Despite the hare’s apparent special status in Iron-Age Britain, any link to a particular deity is less clear. British religions in this period are poorly understood, with textual accounts and inscriptions from the late Iron Age mostly reflecting Roman ideas about who the Britons and their gods were. We will likely never firmly establish the names and identities of a coherent pantheon of deities – if such a thing ever existed... We can, however, draw on Cassius Dio’s second-century account of the mid-first century rebellion of the Iceni, an ethno-political group in eastern England, which records how their leader, Boudicca, released a hare from under her dress as a type of pre-battle “μαντείᾳ” [divination] (Historia Romana LXII.6b.1–2; Cary, 1925, pp. 90–93). The hare’s motions apparently conveyed positive news, and Boudicca is reported to have thanked “Ἀνδράστη” [Andraste] – presumably the same figure as “Ἀνδάτης” [Andate] in whose sacred grove the Iceni later celebrated their victory (Historia Romana LXII.7b;Cary, 1925, pp. 94–95). ’

• ‘ [While] there are a number of Romano-British hunting gods, notably Apollo Cunomaglos and the Cotswold hunter-god (both relatively well attested in southern England; e.g. Roman Inscriptions of Britain (hereafter RIB): 3053; Corpus signorum imperii Romani (hereafter CSIR) 1.7: 110–115, pp.37–39; cf. Merrifield, 1996; Murphy, 2020), we believe the most likely candidate [for potential association with the hare] a reflex of Diana-Artemis, the Classical goddess of land outside the civitas, and thus patron of wild animals and hunters (Scheid, 2006). [And while] hare brooches are not uncommon in southern England (particularly east of the Fosse Way), there are particular concentrations in Suffolk and Norfolk (Mackreth, 2011, vol. 1, p. 183), areas dominated by the Iceni, further strengthening Andraste’s candidacy as the pre-Roman deity hybridised to from a British reflex of Diana Artemis. ’

• According to Britannica.com, ‘ though perhaps originally an indigenous woodland goddess, Diana early became identified with Artemis. There was probably no original connection between Diana and the moon, but she later absorbed Artemis’s identification with both Selene (Luna) and Hecate, a chthonic (infernal) deity; hence the characterization triformis sometimes used in Latin literature. ’ ‘ [Hecate] is generally depicted with three heads — a dog, a horse, and a snake — as well as two accompanying ghost dogs which do her bidding. Since she was originally an ancient mother goddess and not of the Greek pantheon, she lacks the typical relations of the Greek gods and goddesses, although by some accounts she is the daughter of Zeus, Perses and Asteria, or Demeter and Pheraia. ’ An image of Diana Triformis can be seen in Figure 17, revealing a potential link to the tricephalous identifications of R. Pettazonni and to the Auxerre Manuscript, in addition to Mithraism (credit: המשיח הוא יהדות).

Figure 18: Wooden image from Obdorsk, Siberia

• R. Pettazzoni suggests that ‘ although the tricephalous type, especially in the form of a horse-riding god, suggests probable oriental origins, the religion of a solar deity may have deeper and more ancient roots in the soil of Europe. Hence may come, I believe, a positive contribution to the genetic problem of the three-headed type of the Christian Trinity, as having a pagan origin. Since the researches of Didron the view has prevailed that this type arose in medieval France whence it was propagated through Europe, including eastern Europe. ’ It was the scholar Madame Durand-Lefebure who concluded: ‘ “It was neither Geryon nor the triple Hecate... who furnished the artists of the Middle Ages with the theme of the tricephalous figure, with or without a beard, but the indigenous sculptures which they had before their very eyes.” [However] the evidence that a tricephalous god existed amongst many other pagan peoples of barbarian Europe would seem to necessitate a revision of the theory of the Gallic origin of this form. “It is possible,” writes G. J. Hoogewerff with particular reference to the three-headed “Thracian Rider,” “that it is not in Celto-Roman Gaul but in the Balkans that one should look for the origins of this form, at least as regards the countries of Europe.” But perhaps the true answer is to be found, not by substituting one monogenetic solution for another, but in a possible polygenetic origin. There were two Christian applications of the pagan iconographical type of the three-headed god, the one diabolical, the other divine. ’

• Related to the Baltic Slavs, R. Pettazoni cites: ‘ [a] carved wooden image (Figure 18), which comes from Obdorsk in Siberia, near the mouth of the river Obi, [showing] seven human heads placed vertically one above the other on a trunk. This appears to mean the pillar of the world, which is divided into seven parts in the cosmology as well as in the religion of the Finno-Ugric and Siberian peoples, and which is sometimes represented by a pole on which the shamans--to whom the pillar of the world represents the goal of the journey which they undertake in order to bring the soul of a dead person to heaven - carve with a knife the faces of the divine beings who dwell in the various heavens. The Ostyaks call it simply "the wood with the faces of God," and their god of heaven, Sänke, is invoked as "the sublime father of the seven (heavens) who looks in three directions." ’

• Returning to the The Shifting Baselines of the British Hare Goddess, the authors state: ‘ the very existence of the goddess Ēostre in pre-Christian England is controversial. Bede, writing in 725 AD, claimed the ‘English’ name for the month when Easter occurred was Eosturmonath (De temporum ratione, 15; Jones, 1997, pp. 329–322), apparently a name derived from the pre-Christian spring festival dedicated to the eponymous deity... However, despite the clear link between lagomorphs and contemporary British Easter traditions (Lauritsen et al., 2018), there is no evidence whatsoever to link Ēostre to hares, and popular suggestions to the contrary appear to be based on misunderstanding or projection... ’ According to פטר חמור Easter had an original connection to yeast and it's Old Norse equivalent jǫstr, as the events of the “Passion of Jesus” and the Feast of Unleavened Bread occur concurrently in the Synoptic Gospels, at which time yeast was not yet permitted to rise. Moreover, the etymological connection is supported by the [proto Germanic >] ‘ proto-Scandinavian +[e] shift to [Old Norse] +[ja] before a back vowel. Elsewhere it was retained as +[e]. ’

• In Ostara and the Hare, Winick identifies Adolf Holtzmann as first extending the Ostara [Ēostre] connection to the hare in two quotes from his book Deutsche Mythologie (1874):

‘ “The Easter Hare is inexplicable to to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara; just as there is a hare on the statue of [the Celtic goddess] Abnoba.” ’ [NB. Abnŏba was hybridised with Diana hence Abnŏba Diana, credit: המשיח הוא יהדות].

‘ “By the way, the hare must once have been a bird, because it lays eggs...” ’ [Translations by Winick S.]

• In [Winick's] reading: ‘ ...Holtzmann seems just to have been speculating that a previous version of the story featured a bird, but Oberle made the leap to a tale in which a physical transformation occurred, and then ascribed that transformation to the goddess Ostara. He likely did this because his book was specifically intended to argue for survivals of paganism in Christian Germany, and giving the Easter Hare a definitively pagan origin served this scholarly agenda. In adding this element, Oberle provided the essence of the current popular stories. Shortly after these stories began to appear in academic venues, they were imported into popular books, newspapers, and magazines. ’

• Winick observes, in On the Bunny Trail: In Search of the Easter Bunny, that: ‘ Obviously, for Holtzmann to be looking for an explanation for the “Easter Hare” in 1874, such a tradition must have existed in the German-speaking world at that time. In fact, the first clear reference to the tradition comes from Georg Franck von Franckenau’s academic essay De ovis paschalibus [About Easter Eggs] from 1682. ’

‘ “In Germania Superiore (comprising the contemporary Palatinate, Alsace, and neighboring regions) and in Westphalia, they call these eggs “di hasen-eier” [hare’s-eggs] from the story, told by children and the simple-minded, that a hare (der Oster-Hase [the Easter-Hare]) laid the eggs to hatch hidden in the garden’s grass, bushes, etc., where they are eagerly sought out by the children to the delight of the smiling adults.” ’ [Winick's translation from Latin and German.] [Quotes by Stephen Winick republished under the intention of fair use, in accordance with https://www.loc.gov/legal/understanding-copyright/#fair_use, no copyight infringement intended, please use article links to read and understand his findings in full].

Hinduism

Figure 19: Śiva, Viṣṇu and Brahmā of the Trimurti

• According to hindupedia.com, ‘ Panentheism is the first and foremost theology of the Sanatan Dharm while henotheism and monotheism are secondary but they are all in conformity with each other. ’ ‘ [In Hinduism], Trimurti literally means ‘Trinity’. Brahman, God the Absolute, creates the world, sustains it and withdraws it back into Himself. As per the Parāṇa-s, Brahman is described as three deities:

1. Brahmā responsible for creation 2. Viṣṇu responsible for its sustenance 3. Rudra or Śiva responsible for its destruction at the end of a cosmic cycle

• These three deities correspond to the three guṇas (rajas, sattva and tamas) in the cosmic play of creation, sustenance and destruction. They are the Trimurtis. There are composite [tricephalous] images in which all the three gods are represented, like Dattātreya. ’

• Brahmā's depiction is often [tricephalous] although his nature is polycephalous (Figure 19), ‘ [with] four heads facing the four directions, four yugas or time-cycles, the four dimensions of reality, and the four states of matter; His vehicle is the white swan, and his abode is the Mount Meru. Brahmā [is] the first of the Hindu Trinity who represents the creative principle or aspect of the Absolute; who is the consort of Sarasvatī, and the progenitor of the Saptarşi or the Seven Celestial Sages who are considered the Prajāpati or the progenitors of all life in each cycle of creation. ’ פטר חמור has suggested etymological connections between Brahmā + Sarasvatī and Abraham + Sarah, which could support a link to Judaism and the forefathers.

Figure 20: Oṃ symbol

• ‘ Oṃ, a contraction of the sounds /a/, /u/, and /m/, is considered in the Hindu tradition to be the most sacred of Sanskrit syllables. It is represented graphically by a familiar mystical symbol combining the syllable's three components [and in] later times oṃ stands for the union of the three gods of the Hindu [Trimurti]. ’ This symbol can also be said to have the appearance of a hare (Figure 20), this time travelling counter clockwise (credit to פטר חמור).

Ancient Egyptian Pantheon

Figure 21: Three fish with one head on an Egyptian bowl 16th-11th BCE

• According to Dr Annabel Teh Gallop, ‘ The earliest known manifestation of the three-fish-one-head symbol is in ancient Egypt, where it was a familar motif on ceramic dishes from the New Kingdom period between the 16th to 11th centuries BC. Representing the tilapia fish and found together with depictions of the lotus (Figure 21), it is associated with the Goddess Hathor. ’

• The name Hathor means “estate of Horus” and may not be her original name. Her principal animal form was that of a cow, and she was strongly associated with motherhood. Hathor was closely connected with the sun god Ra of Heliopolis, whose “eye” or daughter she was said to be. In her cult centre at Dandarah in Upper Egypt, she was worshipped with Horus. It is in the tessellation of the three-fish-one-head symbol that a perfect triangle or all-seeing-eye can be observed (credit to פטר חמור).

• Ra [or Re] was later merged with others such as Horus, becoming Ra-Horakhty (the morning sun), Amun (as noonday sun), and Atum (the evening sun). Horus [was] associated with the living king - [he and] the creator god Atum are used interchangeably in some versions of the creation myths.

• In his book “Legend: The Genesis of Civilisation”, Dr David Rohl writes: ‘ The Egyptians were both polytheists and monotheists (or rather syncretists) at the same time... But they also believed in the one great creator [Atum] who was both male and female. This bisexual monoplicity may seem rather confusing but is quite simply really. The single, all-encompassing creator god(dess) had many manifestations, each of which served to represent a different aspect of his/her character. These 'characteristics' included kingship (Horus), chaos (Seth), agricultural fertility (Min), death (Osiris), mummification (Anubis), resurrection (Khepri), motherhood (Hathor), love and fertility (Isis), etc. But remember that the Egyptians themselves constantly refer to 'God' in the singular... The attributes of one god may be transferred to another precisely because of this collective oneness. ’

• ‘ It is clear from most ancient Egyptian literature - in other words the Pyramid texts of the Old Kingdom - that Atum (later Re-Atum) was the original supreme deity of the pharaonic pantheon. Egyptologists have proposed that the name Atum means 'the all' as in all that exists. Atum was both man and god. [Atum] was the first being on earth who brought himself into the world - the self-created one. ’

Figure 22: Tentative biblical identifications, Rohl D.

• ‘ The name Atum is written as A-t-m with the loaf of bread sign for the letter 't'. However, it is recognised by linguists that the letters 't' and 'd' are often interchangeable within the different language groups of the ancient Near East. For example, Kenneth Kitchen has shown that Egyptian Twtw is Semetic Dadu - 'the beloved' (i.e. the name David). As we saw in Chapter Six, the Sumerian Adama becomes Atamu in Akkadian. So I believe we are equally justified in substituting the Egyptian 't' in A-t-m with a 'd' - giving us Adam! ’ Rohl is referencing his tentative biblical identifications of the traditional ancestors of the Amorite states of Babylon I and Assyria (Figure 22), suggesting common Sumerian origins. ’

• המשיח הוא יהדות suggests a deeper link to Judaism in how the 'characteristics' of Atum make up their male and female nature, contrast with depictions of Adam Kadmon as the Tree of Life. Furthermore, in that Hathor represents one of the female characteristics of Atum, and her symbol of three-fish-one-head is found together with depictions of the lotus, similarities may also be drawn to the role of serving the newly dead under Buddhism. David Rohl also notes that the ‘ journey of a dead king involves the passage through 'gates' and 'doors'; - in fact there are seven, just as in the Sumerian and Jewish tradition. ’

• ‘ Mesopotamian literature contains sporadic references to seven sages (apkallus) who lived before the flood and who were apparently regarded as the originators of the arts and skills of civilisation. Who were these extraordinary beings? They are given very strange physical characteristics (fish-like bodies with human heads) and, to all intents and purposes, are mythological creatures (credit to פטר חמור)... According to the apkallu tradition, the first and greatest of the sages [was] Adapa or Uan-Adapa, who "ascended to heaven". Berossus calls him Oannes (from Uan)... Many Sumerologists and biblical scholars have made the direct connection between Adapa and the biblical Adam. One simple shift from the consonantal p to m gives us the biblical name... [Interestingly] the last of the sages - Utuabzu - is said not to have died and been buried but instead, like Adapa, was taken up to heaven. [And] the last element of the name [of Utuabzu's King] En-me-dur-anki is equivalent to the biblical Hanok. ’

Igbo or Odinani Pantheon - text by Oruwari D. (2024), המשיח הוא יהדות.

• The Odinani Igbo cosmology features a complex pantheon of deities, with Chukwu, Anyanwu, and Agbala forming a significant trifecta. It's important to note that interpretations and names of deities may vary across different Igbo communities, reflecting the diverse and dynamic nature o f Odinani.

• Chukwu, also known as the Supreme God or the Great Spirit, is the central deity in Igbo cosmology. Chukwu derives from a stem chi which means "spirit" and from ukwu meaning "great" and the form Chi ukwu is often used. Chukwu is considered the source of all creation and the ultimate life force from which all things emanate. This concept aligns with the pantheistic nature of Odinani, where the divine is seen as permeating all aspects of existence. Thomas (1913,I:29) had commented similarly: "Anyanwu is generally identified with the sun, and the name means eye of the sun; it is usually said to be the messenger of Chukwu."

• Anyanwu, the sun deity, is often associated with Chukwu and is sometimes considered an aspect or manifestation of the supreme God creator. Anyanwu breaks up into ’anya’ which is a common stem for "eye" in west African languages and anwu or onwu meaning the "sun", so that anyanwu literally means "the eye of the sun". Anyanwu is typically viewed as a masculine force, representing light, warmth, and vitality in the Igbo cosmic order. This cosmic force of nature is often portrayed as the "eyes of God" on earth. A common saying, "Nothing can be hidden under the sun," is rooted in the understanding of Anyanwu’s essence.

• Agbala, often identified as the earth goddess, completes this trifecta. Also known as Ala or Ani in some Igbo communities, Agbala is a feminine deity associated with fertility, morality, and the cycle of life and death. She plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance between the spiritual and physical realms. In one myth, Agbala works closely with Chukwu to preserve all that he created and ensures the enforcement of rules set by Chukwu. The Igbo people, known for their farming skills, often make sacrifices to Ala during planting and harvesting seasons to ensure prosperity and good harvests.

• In Odinani, Anyanwu and Agbala are portrayed as a divine couple. The relationship between the sun (represented by "Anyanwu") and the earth (represented by "Ala") is one of vital interdependence, where Anyanwu, as the giver of life-sustaining light, is crucial for the fertility and growth of the earth, which is personified as a female deity, allowing life to flourish on its surface; essentially, the sun is seen as the active force that enables the earth to produce life.

• This trifecta reflects the Igbo cosmological principle of balance between masculine and feminine forces, as well as the interconnectedness of celestial and terrestrial elements. The relationship between these deities underscores the complex and nuanced nature of Igbo spiritual beliefs, which recognize a hierarchy of divine beings and their roles in maintaining balance, order, and morality in the universe, while maintaining the supremacy of Chukwu.

• This cosmological framework continues to influence Igbo cultural practices and worldviews, despite the widespread adoption of Christianity in contemporary Igbo society.

• A trifacial depiction of ANYA-ANWU was undertaken by the artist Data Oruwari [all rights reserved and no copyright infringement intended] in 2019.

Manichaean Gnosticism

• Manichaeism is the only world religion that has become completely extinct - much of what was previously known was through anti-Manichaen polemics, however in the 20th century genuine Manichaen texts and documents came to light. Research suggests that between Manichaeism, Judaism and Buddhism the figure of Maitreya-MemTet is a consistent marker, though use of the Three Hares or related symbols has not been identified with the former. The founder of Manichaeism, Mani, lived in the 3rd century and in texts concerning his travels to India (240-242 CE), Mani is described as a Buddha (Maitreya). A short Bema hymn of Manichaeism written in both Middle Persian and Parthian further reveals a close [perceived] relationship to Maitreya, labelling him Master Maitreya, Maitragar Maitr Čaitr, Lord Maitreya, Buddha Maitreya and Maitreya. According to Iranicaonline.org this identification cannot be explained as due to later Buddhist influence.

• The significant difference between Manichaeism and the Abrahamic faiths lays in the identification of [Ha-Adam] and [Ha-Ishah's] fashioner; for the former it is 'Naimrael and Ashaklun' of the 'Powers of Evil', who imprison a vast number of 'germs of light' within them. The 'Powers of Light' in return are said to send a saviour, the 'luminous Jesus', who shows [Ha-Adam] the 'Father of Greatness's' dwelling above and reveals his own personality, mixed with and imprisoned in all that exists. This captive 'Cosmic Light' is 'Jesus Patibilis', the "suffering saviour", who makes [Ha-Adam] stand up and taste the forbidden fruit thereby receiving the divine truth or Gnosis. This is to be contrasted with the Genesis 3:1-5 account of the Snake tempting Ha-Adam from the 'Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil' into sin.

• The 'Father of Greatness' subsequently evokes by word several other emanations or 'gods' to do battle with the 'Powers of Evil', one of which is the 'Column of Glory', the path by which the 'Cosmic Light' once redeemed can ascend to the sky. According to "CAIS-SOAS"; by this path the souls pass to the moon at its time of waxing, and thence to the sun, from which they go to the 'New Paradise'. The sun and the moon are variously described as "ships" and "chariots"; a similar description can be seen in Judaic theology. Of the chief emanations from the 'Third Creation', the thrones of 'Jesus the Splendour', the 'Virgin of Light' and the 'Light Nous' are said to reside in the moon, while the 'Third Messenger', 'The Twelve Virgins' and the 'Column of Glory' are said to reside in the sun.

• According to Rui Chuanming, the role of Maitreya, the future Saviour Messiah, is not played exclusively by Mani; on many occasions [in Manichaeism] Maitreya is designated as Jesus. Mani appears to have recognised three entities under the name of Jesus: 1) 'Jesus the Splendour, the redeeming god'; 2) the 'Suffering Jesus', the name given in western Manichaeism to the 'Living Self', i.e. to the sum of the Light suffering in Matter, "crucified" as Jesus was crucified on the cross; 3) 'Jesus the Messiah', prophet and "Son of God", who had taken on the appearance of man, and had seemed to suffer death on the cross... The three conceptions of Jesus are not always kept wholly distinct.

• Fratini, A. and Prato C., God-Fearers and the Identity of the Sabians, 200.*, cite a ‘ gloss to the word “Sabian” found in one Ms. of a summarized version of TABARÌ’s Tafsìr (Tarjama i tafsìr i Tabarì, ed. H. Yaghmàì, IV, p.1054) by De BLOIS, “Sabians in Arabia”, p.52 n.52, according to which Sàbi’ùn = Nighòshagàn [or Ishmai'i], i.e. a Persian word usually employed for denoting “Manichaean hearers” (it is well-known that Manichaeans divided the believers into a number of grades, the “hearers” being separated from “initiates” and having consequently a role similar to Christian katekhoùmenoi), even if obviously we disagree with the French scholar’s opinion about the identity Sabians- Manichaeans; this fact does not mean, however, that the term Sàbi’ùn could not sometimes have included also Manichaean groups in Central Arabia and in the neighbouring regions. ’

Potential theological interpretations

Micah 4:5 כִּ֚י כׇּל־הָ֣עַמִּ֔ים יֵלְכ֕וּ אִ֖ישׁ בְּשֵׁ֣ם אֱלֹהָ֑יו וַאֲנַ֗חְנוּ נֵלֵ֛ךְ בְּשֵׁם־יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ לְעוֹלָ֥ם וָעֶֽד׃ {פ}: A connection could be identified to the observations of anthropologist and ecologist Gregory Bateson, who believed in order ‘ to achieve, in a few generations, anything like the healthy system dreamed of [in his 1972 book Steps to an Ecology of Mind] or even to get out of the grooves of fatal destiny in which our civilization is now caught, very great flexibility will be needed. ’ Bateson explains that ‘ mere purposive rationality unaided by such phenomena as art, religion, dream, and the like, is necessarily pathogenic and destructive of life; and that its virulence springs specifically from the circumstance that life depends upon interlocking circuits of contingency, while consciousness can see only such short arcs of such circuits as human purpose may direct. ’ Bateson employs an analogy of ‘ certain forms of homogenization [resulting] from multiple impact [at] the crude physical level ’, as contra distinct to ‘ impacting entities [being] organisms capable of complex learning and communication. Among groups of people, whether the direction of change is [also] toward homogeneity or toward complementarity, the achievement is a sharing of premises regarding the meaning and appropriateness of messages and other acts in the context of the relationship. ’ A similar analogy could also be drawn to the way we know, for example use of the 'Socratic method' as opposed to 'Methodic doubt'. According to Rittel and Webber, ‘ “the choice of explanation determines the nature of [a] problem’s resolution”. ’ ‘ [And] because of their incomplete and uncertain formulation, it is possible to explain wicked problems in many ways, and these explanations cannot be definitively resolved. ’

In Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, Hofstadter traverses multiple analogies to examine the nature and applicability of resolution in systemic thinking: ‘ Any reasonably musical person automatically maintains [a mental stack of] two keys... The listener knows when the true tonic is regained, and feels a strong sense of "relief". The listener can also distinguish between a local easing of tenson -for example a resolution into the pseudotonic - and a global resolution. In fact a pseudoresolution should heighten the global tension, not relieve it, because it is a piece of Irony. ’ ‘ ...[In Jauch's four dialogues], I found myself wondering why there were three characters participating: Simplico, Salviati and Sagredo... Well, [Sagredo] is supposed to be a sort of neutral third party, dispassionately weighing the two sides and coming out with a "fair" and "impartial" judgment. It sounds very balanced, and yet there is a problem: Sagredo is always agreeing with Salviati, not with Simplicio... So the puzzle remains: why add Sagredo at all? And the answer is, it gives the illusion of stepping out of the system, in some intuitively appealing sense... In Zen [Buddhism], too, we can see this preoccupation with the concept of transcending the system... Perhaps, self-transcendence is even the central theme of Zen [and] somewhere along this elusive path may come enlightenment. In any case (as [Hofstadter sees it]), the hope is that by gradually deepening one's self-awareness, by gradually widening the scope of "the system", one will in the end come to a feeling of being at one with the entire universe. ’ That hope of resolution with an infinite complexity via the transcendent third person signifies the 'Spirit of Prophecy' or 'Truth', that underpins life itself.

‘ To identify the laws that governed the universe was to honour the Lord God who had formulated them ’ writes Tom Holland of Abelard. ‘ As Rabbi Yishmael bar Rav Naḥman said: [Proper behaviour or the Derekh Eretz from Adam Kadmon] preceded the Torah by twenty-six generations. That is what is written: “To guard the path to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24). “Path,” this is [proper behaviour], and then “the tree of life,” this is the Torah. ’ ‘ The world essentially existed then through unearned kindness alone. In truth, the Torah surely existed then as well, prior to the receiving of the Torah, because the Torah is eternal. ’

Modern uses of the symbol

Figure 23: The Three Hares - Unite to Survive Leaflet

Back in 2023, המשיח הוא יהדות was leafleted regarding The Big One: a march for Climate-Workers-Social Justice, and the leaflet (Figure 23) interestingly enough had the symbol of the three hares on the front. The author of the leaflet had this to say: ‘ [quote.] ’

Credit

Original research and article by WikiNoah contributor המשיח הוא יהדות, key contributions from WikiNoah contributor פטר חמור, contributions from Data Oruwari, Eric the Great and special thanks to the author/s of The Three Hares: A Curiosity Worth Regarding notwithstanding.

References

Footnotes