Πανδώρα, from πᾶν “all” and δῶρον “gift”, meaning “all-giving”, or “all-endowed”.
In Greek Mythology, Pandora was archetype of the first woman, created by Zeus and given attributes from all the Gods. Pandora’s daughter Pyrrha (Fire) became the first mortal woman. (Pyrrha and her husband Deukalion alone survived the Great Flood, the same story as Noah). There are many variations of her story. Compare with Havah (Eve, “the mother of the living”) of the story given by Moses in Genesis / Bereshit.
Aristophanes wrote in The Birds: “…[render worship] to Pandora, the earth, because she bestows all things necessary for life.”
In the Greek myths, Pandora is the archetype of the first woman. We have all heard the story of Pandora opening the box or the vase, and from that vase or box escapes all the evils that plague mankind. This story has been grossly misinterpreted, in the same way that we have always misinterpreted the story of Eve. If we have grown up in a Western household, we have grown up blaming Eve for the suffering of humanity, right? Everyone says, “Eve is the cause of the fall of mankind, because Eve ate the fruit; she listened to the serpent.” So, we with our “comic book minds” blame women. We have had centuries of this, of women being blamed, punished, and considered less then men, because of this misinterpretation. But that is all a lie.
Eve / Pandora does not represent a physical woman. Eve / Pandora is a symbol of something much more profound…
“So said the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud. And he bade famous Hephaistos [Vulcan; the god of fire] make haste and mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in face…”
Hephaistos / Vulcan created a woman by combining the earth with the water. These are very deep alchemical symbols. This woman is made with all of the greatest qualities of the Gods. Hesiod goes on to say…
“…and Athene [Athena / Minerva] to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web; and golden Aphrodite [Venus] to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs. And he charged Hermes [Mercury] the guide, the Slayer of Argos, to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature. So he ordered. And they obeyed the lord Zeus the son of Kronos [Cronus / Saturn]. Forthwith [Hephaistos, Hephaestus / Vulcan] the famous Lame God moulded clay in the likeness of a modest maid, as the son of Kronos purposed. And the goddess bright-eyed Athene girded and clothed her, and the divine Kharites [Charites, Graces] and queenly Peitho [Persuasion] put necklaces of gold upon her, and the rich-haired Horai [Horae, Seasons] crowned her head with spring flowers. And Pallas Athene bedecked her form with all manners of finery. Also [Hermes] the Guide, the Slayer of Argos, contrived within her lies and crafty words and a deceitful nature at the will of loud thundering Zeus, and the Herald of the gods put speech in her. And he called this woman Pandora [“All-Gifts”], because all they who dwelt on Olympos gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread.”
When Pandora is created, all the gifts of the Gods are given to her. She has all the perfections. Zeus gives her his gift, a vase, an urn.
Now, as an incidental note, when this story was translated some centuries by Erasmus, he made a mistake. He mistakenly translated the word vase as the word box. That is why we always hear about Pandora’s “box.” There is no box; it is a vase. It is important, there is a difference here.
Pandora is given a vase by Zeus. Let us look at the shape of this vase, and listen to a story that is even older then the story offered by Hesiod. Homer wrote this little short passage in The Iliad, which will reveal the entire meaning of this story to you, if you study it carefully. In the Iliad, Homer wrote this:
“There are two urns [pithoi] that stand on the door-sill of Zeus. They are unlike for the gifts they bestow: an urn of evils [kakoi], an urn of blessings [dôroi]. If Zeus who delights in thunder mingles these and bestows them on man, he shifts, and moves now in evil, again in good fortune. But when Zeus bestows from the urn of sorrows, he makes a failure of man, and the evil hunger drives him over the shining earth, and he wanders respected neither of gods nor mortals.” – Homer, The Iliad (Greek epic, 8th century B.C.)
Pandora is created by Hephaistos / Vulcan. Pandora represents the unfoldment of the Divine Mother from the sephirah Binah. She represents the very intelligence that carries the force of the sephirah Da’ath (the Tree of Knowledge). She is the one who receives all the benefits of the Gods above. She is the archetype. She is the one who gives life.
“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” – Genesis 3
She is Eve / Havah, as a primordial archetype. This is why in all the ancient myths, Pandora is related with Demeter / Gaia, and this is why the scholars are so confused about Pandora, and they cannot figure her out. They all think Pandora is a physical woman. She is not! She is an archetype who has levels of meaning, but the first and most important is that she is our inner individual Divine Mother, who has in her hands the secret knowledge: Da’ath. This is why in all of the traditions around the world the one who teaches the soul to enter the secret knowledge is the Divine Mother. She is the one who teaches the path to the initiates. She is Athena, Minerva, Hera, Tara, Dakini, Mary, Maria, Isis. She is all of those goddesses, who has her secret rituals, secret knowledge that she bestows on those who are worthy to receive it. This is Pandora, in her superior aspect.
Pandora is inside of us. She is the archetype that will result in the creation of the full establishment of the man. Just as a little hint as to what is to come, Pandora later has a child, who is the first born mortal women. We are going to talk about that later. Pandora is the archetype of the first woman. Who is the archetype of the women? The goddess, the Divine Mother.
Aristophenes, a Greek poet, wrote a play called “The Birds” in which he discussed a cult to Pandora, the earth, because she bestows all things necessary for life. So, she was not seen as merely a woman.