(17-12-2024, 09:51 PM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.If water is fire (as of 1550), then the proposed VMs "fire salamander" is in a pool of green fire - along with several other companions. That must be why mythical Melusine is popping out of her fishy wetsuit.
A fire salamander was a medieval symbol of the Bogomils, a Slavic religious sect originating in Bulgaria and spreading all over Balkans, in Northern Italy wit the centre in Milan (where they were called Patareni) and in France where they evolved into Cathars. In Bosnia, where the Bogomil religion existed as a state religion separated from Rome and from Byzantium, the fire salamander was a 'sacred animal' - an alchemical code word for the medieval Church critics and reformers who were considered so dangerous that were serious threat to the Roman Church. In the myths, the salamander can be so dangerous that it can poison the fruit on the tree if it entwines around the tree trunk, or it can poison the well water, if it touches that water. In this myth, he is related to two other powerful alchemical symbols: tree of knowledge and water, as a source of life.
The cult of Salamander was very well known throughout Bosnia, where he was called Žviždiak, because this mythological lizard was said to be able to whistle so loud that could make people deaf.In Bosnia, Bogomils formed their own state religion, which was separated from Roma for 400 years (until the mid-15th century).
The Salamander in the VM is the only animal that carries a star on a string; another animal with a star on the string is fish which was the early symbol for Jesus. (I suppose the two fishes represent human-divine aspect of Jesus).
Salamander had very important role in folklore and mythology, alchemy and heraldry. Most myths are related to the European fire salamanders which can be a perfect symbol for duality (light and darkness) - because of their black body with large golden yellow spots.
In the medieval times, salamanders were often depicted satirically.
Because of its physical features and his characteristic appearance during the rainy stormy weather, salamander was a perfect symbol for the religious sect of Bogomils, Cathars, and medieval humanists, who were using the written word to spread Biblical, gnostic and apocryphal books and ideas in vernacular language.
In the alchemical literature, salamander was mentioned by Leonardo da Vinci, who stated that 'salamander has no digestive organs, and gets no food but from the fire, in which it constantly renews its scaly skin'. This could be an allusion to a mystical Christ, a spirit of Jesus, being progressively strengthened by the 'burning fire of love'. This is also how Paracelsus in the 16t century interpreted it.
The Salamander is also mentioned in Eschenbach's Parzival, along with Prester John.
