To Protect (Tueri) & the power of Tutelary figures

For those who travel on planes, you will be familiar with the safety warning that if oxygen masks drop should drop - to put one on oneself, before helping others.

It is such a common and powerful (and Dominant) response to immediately attend and protect others in the face of danger, and most particularly children and those who appear vulnerable and in need of help.

Tueri in Latin - means to protect, to watch over, to care for. (Footnote 1)

It comes from the Proto-Indo-European PIE root

*tewH- “to look favorably, protect, observe”

The ancient tutelary Goddess

In Mesopotamian archaeology, a “tutelary” Goddess (or tutelary God) accompanies and protected a figure in approaching a powerful deity or ruler, featured in engraved cylinder seals.

Hash-hamer cylinder seal, greenstone (c2100 BCE), featuring a tutelary Goddess leading a figure before a seated deified ruler (possibly Ur-Nammu) under a crescent moon. Collection of British Museum #89126.

In Ancient Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey), the Goddess Cybele was worshipped as the “mother of the mountain”, a protectress Goddess who kept watch over in mountains, and boundaries of wild and civilised places. In Kish - the Goddess Kubaba features in massive stone reliefs.

The Goddess Kubaba stone relief from Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, Ankara, Turkey. 

Leonora Weston with a reproduction sculpture of the Goddess Cybele from the c6000 BCE small figurine found at the site, in Çatalhöyük in Turkey, .

While alongside Cybele, the Roman Goddess Juno also played the role of a tutelary Goddess. She was most particularly associated with protection of women and children, and as a protectress Goddess of the city of Rome.

Roman Goddess Juno Sospita statue, 2nd Century, Vatican Museums, Rome.

Another quality Juno was associated with was the Latin verb iuvare "to help, give strength, support, sustain," from which the modern English term - to “aid” is related.

The tutelary figure must of course be responsive to the individual’s need - their plea for help or their lamentation cries; to be responsive to and aid them.

Guanyin the compassionate - who hears the cries and helps

In Buddhist tradition and in East Asian in particular, the figure of Guanyin was a protector figure, whose name was short for Guanshiyin, "[The One Who] Perceives the Sounds of the World", or " One who perceives the world's lamentations".

The equivalent in Sanskrit, Avalokitasvara means "sound perceiver", or "he who looks down upon sound" (the cries of sentient beings who need help). In the 25th chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, Avalokitesvara is described as a compassionate bodhisattva who hears the cries of sentient beings, and who works tirelessly to help those who call upon their name. It refers to 33 manifestations that Guanyin can assume to assist other beings seeking aid.

The 25th chapter of the Lotus Sutra (Kannon Gyō or Avalokitesvara Sutra 観音経) from Edo Period. Wikicommons.

As the pleas for help from the suffering are so many, the depiction is shown in some traditions with additional extra heads (and eyes and ears) to perceive all the suffering, and extra arms and hands - to help.

Wooden statue of Quan Âm Nghìn Mắt Nghìn Tay - the Quan Âm Bodhisattva with 1000 eyes and 1000 hands. 1656, made in Bắc Ninh Province, Northern Vietnam. Collection of History Museum in Hanoi.

Eleven-Headed and Thousand-Armed Guanyin (Qiānshǒ Shíyīmiàn Guānyīn) with with the 28 guardian devas associated with this manifestation at her sides; located at the Guanyin Shrine on Mount Put, Guanyin Dharma Realm in Zhejiang Province, China.

The Shepherd-Lord

Within Christianity, the male tutelary figures with protective and watching-over to help traits - were often associated and invoked in relation to the figure of the shepherd-God.

In Christianity, the Lord as tutelary figure / shepherd is invoked, in Psalm 23:

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

The Ki symbolism

When I was drafting the symbolism to use for the Ki, it was the rod and staff that were reached for.

These were the implements used by the shepherd. The staff used to pull sheep out of the mud, to return a lamb to its mother without touching the lamb with scent of another so that it’s mother ewe would recognise the smell of its young; and the rod wielded to protect the flock from the wolves.

Those most in need of watching over and protection were those who were young or more vulnerable, the “meek” and scared in need of protection and guidance in times of danger, and those separated away from safety of numbers and help. (eg from their flock, tribe or family)

While the symbol of the crescent moon was chosen to invoke the sense of time, and the shape of the maternal breast.

Across cultures, the power figure is often invoked as a Mother Goddess or Father God - who watches over, protects and keep safe from harm and aids - those who are vulnerable, in need and suffering.

Footnotes

1) See: https://latin.cactus2000.de/showverb.en.php?verb=tueri#google_vignette and http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=tueri&la=la#lexicon