The Grammaticon: BETA
Introducing the Greek Alphabet through psychology and mythology. The House of Hera, Duality and Balance.
The Grammaticon project aims to explore the 24 letters of the Greek Alphabet in an epic journey through myth, psychology, spirituality, metaphysics, and history. To decide whether or not the Grammaticon is worth your attention and investment, please check out my free Rune Series, which inspires the present work.
The Greek letters, even more so than other symbols, are the foundations of modern Western languages, such as English. Your thoughts are language; therefore, whoever understands language has power over thoughts and, consequently, power over Destiny.
You can explore the rest of this series below:
These are the mysteries revealed by the Oracle at Delphi:
Beta continues our journey with an enclosing. The opposite of Alpha, we descend into the realm of duality represented by its meaning as well as its shape.
What will eventually become our letter ‘B’ derives from the Phoenician ‘beth’, which likely meant ‘house’ (in Arabic it is known as ‘bayt’). Like Alpha, its origins may be traced to an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph that looks like this:
It’s quite a simple, yet fascinating shape: an enclosing that remains open below. Like a physical dwelling space, it provides protection but remains vulnerable because of its opening. Another way of seeing it is that for a house to be functional it has to allow you inside through its door. Its door is also what makes it vulnerable to danger, but in its absence, the house would be a prison.
You might have already noticed that, together with its predecessor, Beta creates the word ‘alphabet’ to encompass the entire set of shapes and sounds we’ll be exploring here. Frankly, I would’ve called it an ‘alphaomega’ (alphomega? alphamega?) as that would’ve included both the beginning and ending.
But I guess the Greeks had a more practical view on things, suggesting that the first two letters are the foundational elements of literacy. You may personally relate to this in your own upbringing, as the process of learning language as a child have likely hammered the A and B into your mind before any other.
Exploring the Shape
Notice how the shape of this letter gives you the impression of something dual. It has a straight a line to which are attached two curved ‘spaces’, as if the line loops on itself twice. In opposition to the straight line, this loop is curved. A curved line, as far as visual design is concerned, suggests a gentle flow, sometimes associated to ‘feminine’ elements. You see two loops however, which brings back the idea of a duality — we could say: a balanced, gentle flow of duality held by a stable structure.
I wanted my artwork to represent this duality. An opening and enclosing structure made of marble built on top of dark, ancient foundations. I was also keen to make sure that the underscore b (which only has one loop) is visible in the capital.
Hera
The wife of Zeus and Queen of Olympus, the goddess Hera is often associated with the idea of a ‘household’. While her husband is usually busy with extramarital affairs and smiting arrogant mortals, Hera remains in charge of the grand palaces of the gods atop Mount Olympus. She is, therefore, a representation of the duality at the top of the hierarchy of Olympus.
Hera is also considered the goddess of marriage, an institution in which two distinct individuals become one. She needs to be both ‘Wife’ and ‘Queen’, balancing the unity of a household with the broader hierarchy of Olympus. These two aspects are also, I think, powerful archetypal elements of the sacred feminine.
The House
As a wife, Hera is in charge of the ‘household’ of Olympus, which is perhaps, by definition, the most important household in the world. This makes her a ‘goddess of the household’, which I think stands to mean that she is a representation of that spirit which confers a physical enclosure its sense of safety and allows its inhabitants to rest, cooperate and decide how best to approach the world when they return in it.
Notice that this isn’t optional: most creatures in our world have a den, a nest, or a place of rest that allows them to congregate and raise their offspring. If this wasn’t a core element of consciousness, then it simply wouldn’t be there, and our society would, perhaps, be structured in such a way as to give us a different place to sleep every night while we carry on with our daily chores.
But it doesn’t; and you don’t really want that, either. You want a safe, familiar home to return to; a space to relax and plan for tomorrow. The enclosure which we call ‘home’ is, however, more than just a physical construction and the set of walls which define it does a lot more than protect you from the elements.
But why is this so?
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House of Mind
From a Jungian standpoint, we could attempt to relate the idea of a ‘house’ to the psyche itself.
Both are, in some sense, enclosures where order reigns. Both have many rooms with specific functions. And chaos looms outside both.
If things start to break apart and become dysfunctional, chaos enters the house/psyche. If that happens, you can be sure that hell isn’t too far.
The doors to your mind must be as safely guarded as the doors to your house. Maslow places ‘Shelter’ as a foundational need at the bottom of his famous hierarchy (often represented as a triangle, nicely connecting the top of Alpha to the bottom of Beta).
Notice that the impulse to find safety inside an enclosed space is deeply subconscious and likely very ancient, likely as ancient as Hera herself.
The fact that Hera is also the goddess of motherhood only adds to this idea. Perhaps this impulse can be tied to our time inside the womb. Just like our physical dwellings, the womb is comforting, warm, nurturing and protective. Some Freudian psychoanalysts suggest that this impulse never really goes away and we often desire, subconsciously, a return to the womb.
The Balance of Emergence
If the door of a house is locked or absent, the house becomes a prison. If the baby isn’t born by exiting the womb, it obviously dies. This means that there is a necessity for a powerful energy of expansion and exploration outside of the confines of structured, nourishing reality. This is, I think, what Zeus may (also) be.
The King of the Olympians in fact, grows into his role as leader after fighting and defeating the Titans. We could say that Zeus is that spark that pushes for exploration into the unknown/unconscious. A bolt of lightning that illuminates the dark sky. But we shall leave Zeus for another time.
These two forces must balance each other, but this balance is also a result of conflict.
Hera and Zeus are often in conflict with one another, as more often than not each does something behind the other’s back. Hera is often shown as jealous or vengeful, continuously punishing the illegitimate sons of Zeus. We could just interpret this literally of course, giving Hera very human characteristics — but on a deeper level of analysis, we could also read this aspect as a fierce necessity for the protection of the sanctity of a well-established household.
This juxtaposition seems to transcend mythology, and just as Alpha, continue further through time and into other realms. For example:
- Beta is the name of a measurement between variables in the realm of statistics.
- In physics, Beta represents subatomic particles.
- Beta radiation is a high-energy electron emitted by the radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus. They are considered less damaging to living tissue than alpha particles.
- In mathematics, alpha (α) and beta (β) are the most commonly used variables.
I confess complete ignorance on the above (: so I won’t go into detail, however I like to remind you, dear Reader, of the transcending power of these symbols.
Remember our explorations into the Runes THURISAZ and others, where Odin and his Aesir also create Order out of Chaos by battling the Giants and establishing Asgard. Meanwhile OTHALA reminds us of the archetypal idea of a ‘Home-Land’.
Conclusion
If you’d like to know more about why I think the Gods are useful when working with your psyche or the Invisible, I’ll point you to my piece on Polytheism in the Modern Age. It’s by no means a complete philosophy but my initial attempt at disentangling the tricky web of forces that push and pull our everyday lives.
With or without Hera or her myths, a ‘Home’ remains one of the most important aspects of human existence in this physical world. A comforting, nurturing, protective shelter where the mind may find rest in the hours of darkness, before it re-emerges at dawn. Perhaps this is also a great reflection of the Duality of the so-called ‘Inside’ (You) versus ‘Outside’ (the World) — a concept often discussed in advanced spiritual texts.
Our journey continues with the third letter Gamma, which stabilises us further into a cohesive, logical structure but gives rise to other dangers.
