Archetypal images of The Master

[Seeker666]

I wanted to ask a question about the symbology of the master and how it relates to him as a being or entity.
Firstly, many of my friends, when they bring up the topic of Satan have asked me "why the goat?"
I usually reply with "perhaps the goat represents wisdom, independence from the herd, strength, unity of both darkness and "light", justified Rebellion, etc..."
Are there any other reasons?

And "The Devil" is usually portrayed with large wings, as that of a Dragon. This I understand and trace back to his epithet "The Great Dragon"

I know the trident has chthonic connections both to Hades and to Shiva, and a host of other gods...
Are there any reasons to these? Or more?

[Seeker666]

I apologize for the briefness and seemingly rushed style of this post. I had to post it before my tablet died.

[Nefastos]

"why the goat?"

Well, the goat's one of the animals used to depict virility; the creative power in material existence. Its supposedly stubborn nature is also used to describe the one who's going one's own way no matter what. Where only the horns of an animal might symbolize spiritual power of creativity, the whole head or hinder parts of an animal depicts deeper level of identification with the atavistic forces, the ones inherent in nature and not so much in reasoning mind. If one's head is the one of an animal, then one's mind is not on the level of men: it's unhuman, whether higher or lower kind.

Very much of the contemporary symbolism of the goat is mix of the ancient Pan-like fertility and/or ambivalent gods & the Christian symbology that uses goat as a symbol of the Left Hand Path of the hard-heartedness, as it is here indicated in Matthew 25:

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

The funny thing of course being, the hard-heartedness actually entered & became Christianity itself, & it was the Left Path that remained as a one true to one's heart's calling & not crushing & condemning the "stranger", as the Church has done in its two millennia of both metaphysical & physical persecution. The whole symbolism was reversed pretty much the same time as the actual teacher departed, which is not so rare a thing one might think or hope.

[Heith]

Isn't the model for goat as Satan quite late though? Or am I wrong about this?

[Nefastos]

Isn't the model for goat as Satan quite late though? Or am I wrong about this?

I think it already existed in the first centuries AD, although surely not immediately after the passing of Jesus - as didn't the symbol of the sacrificial lamb nor the nowadays familiar bearded & long-haired Serapis-like saviour.

From the very beginning, Christianity was very anti-sexual religion (think about the desert fathers, &c.), & the goat-like Pan - as well as that aspect of Dionysios - was the god of natural energy of sexuality, thus quite an accurate depiction of the supposed enemy. And I think the passage mentioned above got into Christian art quite early too, so the form of the goat as the shape of the opponent was therefore present, lacking only the final touch of extreme demonization that became so popular in the Middle Ages. Then there were already negative connotations in a form of the Old Testament's seirim or the "goat-demons". Neither should we forget that the scape-goat ritual of demonic Azazel was part of the Jewish practice Christianity was built upon. To the Christians, goat no longer held positive values, but only its dark side was to be emphasized because of these relations.