The Great God Pan
From Kircher’s OEdipus AEgyptiacus.
The great god Pan was celebrated as the author and director of the sacred dances
which he is supposed to have instituted to symbolize the circumambulations of the heavenly
bodies. Pan was a composite creature, the upper part—with the exception of his
horns—being human, and the lower part in the form of a goat. Pan is the prototype of
natural energy and, while undoubtedly a phallic deity, should not be confused with
Priapus. The pipes of Pan signify the natural harmony of the spheres, and the god himself
is a symbol of Saturn because this planet is enthroned in Capricorn, whose emblem is a
goat. The Egyptians were initiated into the Mysteries of Pan, who was regarded as a phase
of Jupiter, the Demirugus. Pan represented the impregnating power of the sun and was the
chief of a horde of rustic deities, panes, fauns, and satyrs. He also signified the
controlling spirit of the lower worlds. The Christians fabricated a story to the effect
that at the time of the birth of Christ the oracles were silenced after giving utterance
to one last cry, "Great Pan is dead!" MPH