The Universe Inside, part 1

Here's a new video I made to try to illustrate some of the concepts which should be familiar by now to readers of this blog or of The Undying Stars.

In it, I discuss the shared shamanic heritage of humanity, and begin to illustrate the argument that all of the world's ancient scriptures and myths -- including those which found their way into the Old and New Testaments of the Bible -- are built upon a shared system of celestial metaphor, which unites the world's ancient wisdom and which conveys a shamanic worldview.

I will have to work on some ways to ensure that the resolution of the "starry sky" portions looks better -- that should be something I can fix fairly easily in the next few days.

Stay tuned for more episodes of this series, which I've titled "The Universe Inside" -- and please share with anyone who might be looking for information on this subject! 

For the love of the stars

image: Milky Way over the San Rafael Desert, Utah (United States), Wikimedia commons (link).

The previous post linked to explanations of over fifty star myths from cultures around the world (and there are many more cultures whose star myths could also be discussed). In order to truly enjoy the study of star myths and astro-theology, however, it is best to actually get outside and observe the gorgeous stars in their natural setting, if at all possible.

Finding the various constellations of our night sky may seem intimidating at first, but it doesn't have to be. With the right guides and some practice, you will absolutely be able to do it. Of course, getting to a place that is away from the light pollution found around most large cities may be necessary in order to achieve satisfactory views of the stars and planets. You'll also want to become aware of the general cycle of the moon, since the best times to look at stars are when the moon is less dominant in the night sky -- the moon tends to drown out the stars during the days on either side of the full moon (see discussions here, here, here, here, and here for some descriptions of the monthly lunar cycle).

If you are able to schedule even a few minutes each night at about the same time (perhaps to walk the dog through the neighborhood, after the sun has set and the sky has darkened), this may be the very best way to become familiar with the constellations. Unless you have access to an observation point with good 360-degree views, taking a short walk each night may be the best way to get views of all the different directions and in doing so becoming familiar with the stars found in the different parts of the sky and the different cardinal directions and elevations. Also, observing at the same general time each evening will enable you to begin to notice the gradual changes in the sky as the earth progresses around its orbital path each year.

After a while, the stars and constellations and planets will begin to become like familiar friends. At that point, you may find that you look forward to seeing them each night and don't want to miss your appointment with them each evening!

The very fact that the ancient sacred traditions of virtually every single culture on our planet were based upon a common system of celestial metaphor in which the motions of the constellations (especially the zodiac constellations) and the planets play a central role should tell us that their motions are extraordinarily important to human existence. Becoming more familiar with their location and cycles is an important way to connect with our ancient heritage, and to connect with the universe of which we ourselves are a part.

Many previous posts have discussed individual constellations and significant stars, often with some tips on how to find them, and sometimes with a discussion of some of the star-myths in which those constellations play a role. In order to make it easier to locate all of those previous discussions of constellations, they are listed below (for the first time in one place!) in alphabetical order by constellation, asterism, or star.

One other tip (which has been repeated quite frequently in previous posts) concerns the "system" you use to "draw the lines" in your mind's eye as you look at the constellations. I believe that the system offered by well-known author H. A. Rey is far superior to any other system I have seen, and for numerous reasons. You can find his system illustrated (along with commentary on locating each constellation) in his outstanding book The Stars: A New Way to See Them (first published in 1952 and updated several times since then). He also wrote a children's version of the same book, which is also discussed and linked in the same previous post.

Before going to the list, take a look at the beautiful photograph above of the Milky Way rising up from the southern horizon in between Scorpio (on the right, to the west as we look south) and Sagittarius (on the left, to the east as we look south). If the image above isn't large enough for you, simply click the link in the previous sentence for a bigger image. You should be able to spot both Scorpio and Sagittarius as well as the beautiful arc of the Southern Crown (Corona Australis) in the photograph, which was taken in the northern hemisphere location of the San Rafael Desert in the western United States (state of Utah). If you want to make them "jump out" of the image a bit more, simply squint your eyes as you look at it, which will have the effect of filtering out some of the fainter stars, and cause the outlines of Scorpio, Sagittarius and the Southern Crown to really stand out.  

At the bottom of the list of the constellations and asterisms and stars you will find another version of the same photograph, with labels and arrows indicating Scorpio, Sagittarius, and the Southern Crown.

Here's the list of constellations, asterisms, and stars that have been featured in blog posts so far (if you are using a desktop or laptop, you should be able to "hover" your mouse over the various links and wait just a second to see the name of the post that is linked):

ALDEBARAN [see here, here, here, and here]

ALGOL [here]

ALSHAIN [here]

ALTAIR [see here, here, here, here, and here]

ANTARES [see here, here, and here]

AQUARIUS (the Water Bearer) [see here, here, here, and here]

AQUILA (the Eagle) [see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

ARA (the Altar) [here]

ARCTURUS [see here, here, here, and here]

ARIES (the Ram) [here]

ARGO NAVIS (the Ship Argo) [see here and here]

AURIGA (the Charioteer) [see here, here, here, and here]

BEEHIVE [see here, here, and here]

BERENICE'S HAIR (Latin: Coma Berenices) [here]

BIG DIPPER (part of Ursa Major) [see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

BOOTES (the Herdsman) [see here, here, here, here, and here]

CANCER (the Crab) [see here, here, here, here, and here]

CANIS MAJOR (the Big Dog) [see here, here, here, here, here, and here]

CANIS MINOR (the Little Dog) [see here and here]

CAPELLA [see here, here, here, and here]

CAPRICORN (the Goat) [see here, here and here]

CASSIOPEIA [see here, here, here, here, and here]

CAT'S EYES [here]

COLUMBA (the Dove) [here]

CORONA AUSTRALIS (Southern Crown) [here]

CORONA BOREALIS (Northern Crown) [see here, here, and here]

CORVUS (the Crow) [see here, here, here, and here]

CRATER (the Cup) [see here and here]

CYGNUS (the Swan) [see here, here, here, and here]

DELPHINUS (the Dolphin) [here]

DENEB [see here, here, and here]

DENEBOLA [see here, here, and here]

DRACO (the Dragon) [here]

ERIDANUS [here]

FOMALHAUT [here]

GEMINI (the Twins) [see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

GREAT SQUARE [see here, here, here, and here]

HERCULES [here]

HYADES [see here, here, here, here, here, and here]

HYDRA [see here, here, here, and here]

LEPUS (the Hare) [see here, here, and here]

LEO (the Lion) [see here, here, here, here, here, here, here,

here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

LIBRA (the Scales) [see here and here]

LYRA (the Lyre) [see here and here]

PEGASUS [see here, here, here, here, and here]

PERSEUS [see here, here, here, here, here, and here]

PISCIS AUSTRINUS (Southern Fish) [see here and here]

PISCES (the Fishes) [see here and here]

PLEIADES [see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

POINTERS [see here, here, and here]

POLARIS [see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

PROCYON [see here, here and here]

REGULUS [see here, here, here, here, here, and here]

SAGITTA (the Arrow) [see here and here]

SAGITTARIUS (the Archer) [see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

SCORPIO (the Scorpion) [see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

SIRIUS [see here, here, here, here, here, and here]

SOUTHERN CROSS [see here and here]

SPICA [see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

TARAZED [here]

TAURUS (the Bull) [see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

THUBAN [see here, here, and here]

TRIANGULUM [here]

URSA MAJOR (the Big Bear) [see here, here, here, and here]

URSA MINOR (the Little Bear) [see here and here]

VEGA [see here and here]

VIRGO (the Virgin) [see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here]

And now, here's the same image from the top of the post, with a few arrows to help you see the Scorpion, the Southern Crown, and the "teapot" / "locust" portion of Sagittarius:

More on the spiritual significance of firesticks

In light of the foregoing post examining the profound importance anciently attached to the bringing of fire to humanity, its association with the constellations of Orion (who may well represent Prometheus-Kronos-Saturn-Osiris) and Gemini (who may represent the "celestial fire sticks" and the hollow reed in which Prometheus hid the fire when he stole it away from the realm of the gods and brought it down to earth) and the lost Golden Age, and its esoteric and spiritual significance, it is more than noteworthy that numerous Native American prophets or medicine men in past centuries reported visions in which they received a message from the spirit world to stop using the white man's steel and flint to kindle fires, and to return to the traditional fire sticks.

In his first-hand account of the Ghost Dance Religion and the massacre of Native Americans by the US Army at Wounded Knee, James Mooney (whose work of trying to record and preserve details of Native American culture and spirituality was also mentioned in this previous post) goes back to the mid-1700s in his examination of the roots of the Ghost Dance.

Mooney begins his examination of prophets who were given visions which advocated a union of all the various tribes and "a return to the old Indian life" with an individual known to Mooney only as the Delaware Prophet but identified today as Neolin or "the Enlightened One," who in 1761 sought a spirit vision and fell into a deep sleep in which he went on a long journey to the other realm, where he received specific instructions that he brought back and began to relate, and which subsequently spread from tribe to tribe, eventually playing a central role in the conflict known as Pontiac's War.

According to the account of John McCullough, who had been captured at the age of eight and adopted into a family of the Delaware people in northeastern Ohio, and whom Mooney cites at length regarding the details of the message of the Delaware Prophet:

It was said by those who went to see him that he had certain hieroglyphics marked on a piece of parchment, denoting the probation that human beings were subjected to whilst they were living on earth, and also denoting something of a future state. They informed me that he was almost constantly crying whilst he was exhorting them. I saw a copy of his hieroglyphics, as numbers of them had got them copied and undertook to preach or instruct others. The first or principal doctrine they taught them was to purify themselves from sin, which they taught they could do by the use of emetics and abstinence from carnal knowledge of the different sexes; to quit the use of firearms, and to live entirely in the original state that they were in before the white people found out their country. Nay, they taught that that fire was not pure that was made by steel and flint, but that they should make it by rubbing two sticks together.  . . . It was said that their prophet taught them, or made them believe, that he had his instructions immediately from Keesh-she-la-mil-lang-up, or a being that thought us into being, and that by following his instructions they would, in a few years, be able to drive the white people out of their country.

I knew a company of them who had secluded themselves for the purpose of purifying from sin, as they thought they could do. I believe they made no use of firearms. They had been out more than two years before I left them. . . . It was said that they made use of no other weapons than their bow and arrows. They also taught, in shaking hands, to give the left hand in token of friendship, as it denoted that they gave the heart along with the hand. [Mooney, 668; ellipses in the original].

Superficial accounts of the message of the Delaware Prophet will typically include the restrictions against drinking the white man's alcohol (mentioned in numerous other accounts of Neolin's message) and the admonishment to return to the bow and arrow and to traditional garments of skin rather than using European clothes, but the specific requirement to abstain from making fire with steel and tinder, and to use none other than the rubbing of two sticks, is often omitted. 

And yet it is no doubt of great importance, for the exact same admonishment was received in a vision reported in 1805 (forty-four years after the vision reported by the Delaware Prophet) by the Shawnee prophet Tenskwatawa, the brother of Tecumseh. Based upon contemporary reports, Mooney relates the vision of Tenskwatawa as follows:

[. . .] one day, while lighting his pipe in his cabin, he suddenly fell back apparently lifeless and remained in that condition until his friends had assembled for the funeral, when he revived from his trance, and after quieting their alarm, announced that he had been to the spirit world and commanded them to call the people together that he might tell them what he had seen. When they had assembled, he declared that he had been conducted to the border of the spirit world by two young men, who had permitted him to look in upon its pleasures, but not enter, and who, after charging him with the message to his people already noted, had left him, promising to visit him again at a future time. [Mooney, 673; my ellipses].

The details of the message with which Tenskwatawa said he had been charged were related by various witnesses of the era as follows:

The firewater of the whites was poison and accursed [. . .]. The young must cherish and respect the aged and infirm. All property must be in common, according to the ancient law of their ancestors. [. . .] The white man's dress, with his flint-and-steel, must be discarded for the old time buckskin and the firestick. More than this, every tool and every custom derived from the whites must be put away, and they must return to the methods which the Master of Life had taught them. 672.

Whether or not this message was derived from the message of the Delaware Prophet, which it resembles very closely in almost all of its details, the fact remains that the admonition to use only fire generated by the old method of using firesticks was a central part of the teaching. In fact, in the portrait of Tenskwatawa painted by the American artist George Catlin in 1830 or 1831, the prophet is shown holding his fire-sticks in his right hand, and his sacred string of beans in his all-important left hand, the hand which was connected to the heart, the beans with which those who accepted the vision would pass through their own left hands in a solemn ritual known as "shaking hands with the prophet" (described in Mooney 677-679).

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

It is certainly interesting as well to note the similarities of this account with contemporary accounts given by many survivors of near-death experiences, in which many have reported that they met personages at the entrance to the other world who allowed them to see some things but then explained that they had to go back now and could not go further, as it was not their time to leave this world. For further examination of the NDE phenomenon, see previous posts such as this one and this one, as well as Chris Carter's outstanding examination of the topic in Science and the Near-Death Experience.

In light of the discussion in the previously-linked post about Prometheus and the gift of fire, and the identification of the fire-sticks found in mythologies the world over with the stick-like constellation of Gemini the Twins (almost certainly the constellation being depicted in the Panel of the Wounded Man in the Cave of Lascaux as a figure composed of two parallel lines, an identification brilliantly argued by William Glyn-Jones and discussed here and here), is it not also most remarkable that in the vision reported by Tenskwatawa in 1805 his guides in the spirt world are "two young men"?  

In light of the undeniable importance attached to using two sticks to kindle fire in the historical accounts of the visions reported by both Neolin and Tenskwatawa, it is not unreasonable to conclude that there may have existed an ancient sacred tradition, passed down through the generations, of the spiritual significance of the kindling of fire using the two sticks -- and perhaps also the connection of this tradition to the heavenly Twins of Gemini.

For those who wish to follow the visions received by the Delaware Prophet and Neolin, and use no fire but those derived from a fire that was started with firesticks, the method is demonstrated in the video above (as well as many others available on the web today).  If you were to kindle a fire using this method every day, you would no doubt become an expert at it in short order.

Two different methods of fire making without matches using a vertical fire-stick along a horizontal fire-stick (pramantha and arani in the Vedas of ancient India, whose importance as a spiritual symbol of human existence simply cannot be overstated, and which are also discussed in the aforementioned post about Prometheus) are shown in this page from the Air Force survival manual that I used to read frequently while I was growing up (and mentioned in this and this previous post):

Of course, the methods shown in the top panel (flint and steel) and in the left-hand lower panel (burning glass and electric spark from a live storage battery) would not be approved methods according to the visions of Neolin and Tenskwatawa; those in the square panel at the lower right of the page all involve two sticks and thus would be -- that panel is enlarged below:

Of course, the 1960s Air Force clothing depicted would probably not be looked upon with favor by those eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century visionaries.

Below is a recent music video from the fantastic musician, poet, songwriter, teacher, and advocate for human freedom and justice Michael Franti (and SOJA) in which he is seen making fire using a version of the two-sticks method. He holds the lower stick between his feet -- Michael Franti has chosen to walk this world barefoot for at least the past fifteen years:

The concept of the fire-sticks has deep connections to the concept of human consciousness, of raising greater awareness of our purpose here in this incarnation (in which we can be seen as sparks which have come down to inhabit the matter of our bodies within this material realm), and -- as can be seen from its importance in visions which centered around resistance to the injustice which was being inflicted upon the Native American inhabitants of this continent and the destruction which was being wrought upon their way of life -- of the mindfulness we should take in our lives to align ourselves with the right path.

Star Myths in the Bible: The Prophet Elisha

Special thanks to reader Pat B, who sent me a comment via the Undying Stars page on Facebook and asked if I could discuss my take on the verse from sacred scripture found in 2 Kings 2:24, which reads as follows in the so-called "King James" version (which follows closely on the wording found in the earlier Geneva translation):

And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

Above is a video I made in which I discuss some of the episodes described in the book of Second Kings, including the notorious incident of the two bears.

For those who might be upset to find a prophet of God sending two bears to tear apart children just because they appear to have been mocking him (and specifically mocking his bald head), fear not: I believe there are good and cogent reasons to believe that this specific incident, like so many others in ancient myth (including the ancient myth in the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament) was never intended to be understood literally. This episode can be demonstrated to be a "star myth," following the common pattern of celestial metaphor which underlies virtually all of the world's sacred traditions.

The two she-bears described in the text are undoubtedly the groupings Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, which we commonly know as the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper (technically speaking, the Big Dipper is only a sub-set of the complete constellation of Ursa Major).

I initially thought that Elisha in this passage would likely correspond to the constellation of Bootes the Herdsman, who is located quite close to the Big Dipper (his "pipe" that he appears to be smoking nearly touches the handle of the Big Dipper). The constellation Bootes has a very bulbous, round-looking head, which would certainly seem to correspond to the taunts of the children found in 2 Kings 2:23, in which they mock Elisha by saying, "Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head." You can see how round the head of Bootes is by going back to the earlier discussion of the Greek myth of Atlas and Heracles (or Hercules), in which Atlas probably corresponds to Bootes.

However, upon closer examination of the passages leading up to the incident of the two bears, as well as some of the other episodes in the life of Elisha, I believe that Elisha actually corresponds to an even more important figure in the sky: the zodiac sign of Aquarius. The video above provides the argument and illustrates the correspondence using images from both Stellarium.org and the browser-based Neave Planetarium. The illustration of Elisha looking on as the two bears tear apart some of the hapless children is from a 1463 manuscript which can be seen on Wikimedia commons here.

There are discussions in previous posts demonstrating similar celestial correspondences in more than twenty other myths and sacred stories from around the world -- for a list containing many of those, see this previous post. In particular, viewers of the above video who are new to this subject may be interested in reviewing previous discussions which show the importance of the Virgo-Bootes pairing in mythology, including the discussion of Suttung and Gunnlod from Norse myth, Loki and Freya from Norse myth, Loki and Sif from Norse myth (same post previously linked for Loki and Freya), the Old Man and his Daughter in North American sacred tradition, and the evidence suggesting that Abram and Sarai (Abraham and Sarah) represent the same two constellations discussed towards the end of this post.

This examination of the episodes in the life of the prophet Elisha is just another example of the assertion made by the Reverend Robert Taylor (1784 - 1844), who argued that it is not necessarily the literal interpretation of the text which gives true reverence to the ancient sacred scriptures of humanity (see, for instance, his Astronomico-Theological Lectures, and the discussions on page 343, page 353, or page 209). 

In fact, in this case, reading the passage literally leads to a rather abhorrent conclusion: that a prophet of the Highest sent ferocious bears to rend forty-two children who mocked him. And, since most orthodox theology would hold that even a prophet could not accomplish such a feat without the actual active intervention of the one whom he serves, a literal reading of this text would indicate that it was not really the prophet who sent those two bears to attack the children who mocked Elisha.

Thus, we come to understand more deeply the assertion of Alvin Boyd Kuhn, when he said: "the sacred scriptures of the world are a thousand times more precious as myths than as alleged history" (Lost Light, 24; italics in the original).

image: Aquarius, as outlined by H.A. Rey, from a screen-shot of Stellarium (I added the yellow outline using the H.A. Rey system, which is different from the outline found on Stellarium and Neave). Note that Aquarius is rising in the east head-downwards -- this is important for understanding the clues found in the ancient star-myths.

In a Brazen Cauldron (13 months)

I'm really enjoying the way that online planetarium apps such as that created by Paul Neave at neave.com can be used to illustrate the star myths of the world's ancient sacred traditions.  

Previously, we examined the well-known story of the love affair of Ares and Aphrodite, and the night that Hephaestus contrived a cunning net to descend upon them from the ceiling, catching them in the act for all the gods of Olympus to witness.  By observing the planets in motion among the background of stars, the unmistakeable celestial details of the myth become quite obvious, and it is very difficult to argue that such correlations between the story and the sky could be accidental or coincidental.

That examination of the celestial elements in the love of Ares and Aphrodite is only one of literally hundreds that could be presented in order to establish the theory that the world's ancient mythology from around the globe is built almost entirely upon a common system of celestial metaphor. This assertion holds true for the stories in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible as much as for the mythology of the so-called "pagans."

For a list of links to previous posts examining twenty other star-myths and explaining their celestial significance, see here.  

Those previous discussions, however, don't all use the planetarium app, and so in this post we will examine together another Greek myth whose celestial details are particularly evident when discussed in conjunction with a planetarium's ability to present the moving backdrop of the starry sky: the imprisonment of the god Ares in a brass jar by the giants Ephialtes and Otus, and the rescue of the hapless war-god by the trickster-god, Hermes.

To follow along at home, set your planetarium to 02/10/2013 (you can also go back to this previous post from early February of 2013, written when the conjunction was actually taking place in the sky over our heads). Turn your field of vision towards the west, where we will watch the setting sun sink down, and dial the time to about 16:43. You can set your location to somewhere between 30 and 35 degrees north latitude (I'm using the area of San Luis Obispo, California, along the California coast in between San Francisco and Los Angeles).

The above video shows the heavenly drama, in which the planet Mercury is actually in a "superior" position to the flagging red planet Mars as the two sink down towards the western horizon. This is a fairly unusual occurrence, because if you think about the location of Mercury relative to earth, we can only see it by looking towards the sun, and hence Mercury is always seen to be very close to the sun, visible either in front of the sun before sunrise or trailing the sun after sunset (as in the above video), while Mars is free to roam across the entire night sky (within the band of the ecliptic), since that planet's orbit is outside that of earth.

In that previous post from February 2013, I argued that if the thesis of Hertha von Dechend and Giorgio de Santillana in Hamlet's Mill is correct (a thesis they support with mountains of evidence, as well as quotations from ancients who put forward the same thesis, including Aristotle), then there should be a myth in which Mercury is somehow depicted in a "superior" position to Mars. And, in fact, after not too much thought, one suggested itself: the episode in which Ares was imprisoned in a brazen jar and had to be rescued by Hermes. 

I have never seen this particular myth linked to this particular heavenly conjunction, but I believe it can be amply demonstrated that the specific conjunction shown in the above video (and on your own planetarium app, if you go to 02/10/2013) does in fact correspond to the details of the ancient Greek myth to a remarkable degree.

The imprisonment of Ares in the jar is recounted by many ancient authors, but perhaps the highest authority we can consult in this regard is the Iliad itself, in which the myth is recounted by Dione as part of a speech she gives to Aphrodite, when Aphrodite visits the battlefield, only to be wounded by the Greek warrior Diomedes:

"Patience, oh my child,

Bear up now, despite your heartsick grief.

How many gods who hold the halls of Olympus

have had to endure such wounds from mortal men,

whenever we try to cause each other pain . . .

Ares had to endure it,  when giant Ephialtes and Otus,

sons of Aloeus, bound him in chains he could not burst,

trussed him up in a brazen cauldron, thirteen months.

And despite the god's undying lust for battle

Ares might have wasted away there on the spot

if the monsters' stepmother, beautiful Eriboea

had not sent for Hermes, and out of the cauldron

Hermes stole him away -- the War-god breathing his last,

all but broken down by the ruthless iron chains." V. 432 - 445.

Thus the translation by the late Professor Robert Fagles (1933 - 2008).

Below is a screen-shot of the situation from just after sunset on February 10, 2013, when a dim Mars is situated below a brighter Mercury -- just as if the messenger-god is rescuing the fading war-god:

The fading corona of the sun can be seen disappearing below the western horizon. The large, star-like "dots" that are not part of constellations are planets. Just above the sun's corona is Neptune, which is not visible to the naked eye, but above Neptune are two more bright planets close to one another: Mars (reddish in hue) and above him Mercury. Much farther up is Uranus (also not visible to the naked eye).

But, some readers may object that it seems to be a bit of a stretch to identify this particular conjunction with that particular myth about Ares being rescued from the brazen jar by Hermes. True, Mercury (Hermes) is seen above Mars (Ares), as if pulling the war-god from a jar or otherwise rescuing him from some sort of a trap, but what right do we have to confidently assert that this really corresponds to the myth being related in the Iliad's Book 5?

Well, it just so happens that there are other clues within the myth itself which correspond to the details in the heavens. The constellation through which Mars and Mercury (and Neptune as well, even though that planet is not a "visible planet") are passing in the above screen-shot may be difficult to recognize, but that is partly because the outlines used for the constellations on this and other free planetarium apps (including the excellent stellarium) leave something to be desired. I believe the outlines suggested by the beloved author H.A. Rey are much more useful, and are the outlines that everyone should study and learn in order to help locate the actual constellations when out star-gazing in person.

The constellation that is indicated by that zig-zag atrocity in the diagram above is none other than Aquarius, and if you want some tips on locating this important zodiac constellation in the sky, see this previous post. That post uses the outline of Aquarius as imagined by H.A. Rey and presented in The Stars: a New Way to See Them. Below is a screen-shot of the heavenly drama we are discussing (in which Hermes rescues Ares), from before sunset, in which I have labeled the constellations (which can be seen during daytime on the Paul Neave planetarium app) and drawn in the outlines for Aquarius and Capricorn based on the H.A. Rey method. The screen-shot is first presented without my additions, and then below that with labels and H.A. Rey-inspired outlines:

In the above diagram, you can see Capricorn the Goat, who would not have been visible back in February of 2013 but who is visible this time of year, although late at night along with Aquarius, rising in the east around ten in the evening beneath Cygnus and Aquila (who can be seen to the right side of the above screen-shot and who are very important and identifiable constellations, mentioned in many previous posts such as  this one). 

Also identified in the above diagram is the Southern Fish, containing the bright star Fomalhaut, which is located rather low in the sky for viewers in most northern latitudes, but which is very bright and can be helpful in getting a fix on the location of Aquarius, who can be seen pouring streams of water down towards Fomalhaut and the Southern Fish.

This previous post gives some tips on finding Fomalhaut.

But most important in the above diagram, of course, are Mars and Mercury themselves, indicated by two arrows. The lower, reddish arrow points to Mars, and the upper, white-outlined arrow points to Mercury. 

Please note what the two are directly next to in the sky: the mighty water-urn of Aquarius.

Could this have anything to do with the fact that Ares was described as being imprisoned in a brazen jar?

I maintain that it could. In fact, I would argue that the evidence is conclusive, and here is why. As explained in the Iliad passage cited above, Ares was stuffed into that brazen cauldron by two giants, Otus and Ephialtes, two preternaturally strong sons of Poseidon who were threatening to climb all the way to Olympus (and who were piling mountains on top of mountains in order to get there).

This article on the web describes the adventures of the two giants, and cites some other ancient sources including Pindar and Apollodorus or Pseudo-Apollodorus who give further details about the two. 

Note carefully how some myths account for the death of these upstart giant rebels: Artemis turned herself into a stag and ran between them, whereupon the giants each hurled a spear towards the stag but missed, impaling one another and ending the threat to the order of the universe.

Now look again at the diagram of Aquarius above, and see if that giant figure does not seem to have what appears to be a spear impaling him as he runs forward. This detail should clinch it for even the most skeptical critic of the star-myth theory: the giant who captures Mars inside an enormous jar is one of those giants who met their end by being skewered with a spear.

But just for good measure, it is worth pointing out that the location of the zodiac sign of Aquarius would seem to give added confirmation to the identification of these upstart giants with that constellation. Below is the zodiac wheel which has been discussed in numerous previous posts about the ancient system of celestial metaphor which was in operation in the mythologies around the globe. Note carefully the location of Aquarius, after the "turn" at the bottom of the year, on the upswing towards the spring equinox and ultimately the summer solstice (Aquarius is in the lower-left quadrant of the circle below, and is depicted as a sort of "mer-man" holding a canteen-shaped urn or jar, from which are flowing two streams of water):

Previous posts have presented extensive evidence to support the assertion that the "upper half" of the zodiac wheel was allegorized in ancient myth as heaven, or a high mountain, or a "shining city upon a hill" (see for example here and here). We now see that that high-point of the year corresponded as well to Mount Olympus in ancient Greek myth, because the two young giants Ephialtes and Otus are described as trying to reach Olympus themselves (in order to wage war on the Olympians), and doing so by piling lesser mountains on top of one another in order to reach those heights.

If we look at the location of Aquarius, the constellation who has the characteristics described in the myths about Otus and Ephialtes, including a jar in which he can imprison Ares and a spear which played a role in the myth about the death of the two upstarts, we see that Aquarius is definitely in a position to be "heading up" the mountain, but is still nowhere close as yet. He may be "aiming" at the top of the zodiac wheel (and Olympus), but he is just an "upstart" -- he is just at the start of the journey up wards for the annual cycle.

It is also worth pointing out that the "lower half" of the zodiac wheel corresponds in many ancient myth-systems as the "watery" half, or the "deep" -- and that Poseidon (the father of these two particular upstart giants) is of course the god of the seas.

Based upon these details, I believe it is more than evident that the myth of Ares being rescued by Hermes from the giants Otus and Ephialtes and his imprisonment in the brazen jar is describing just such a heavenly convocation in the constellation Aquarius as the one depicted in the screen-shots above and in the movie of the planetary motions from February 10, 2013.

Note also that this myth, along with the details in many others, indicates a rather sophisticated understanding of astronomy and the heavens, especially when we realize (as pointed out in my previous examination of this particular myth) that the orbit of the planet Mars causes the planet to grow brighter for 13 months and then grow dimmer for 13 months (becoming brightest at the time of the planet's opposition every 780 days, as discussed in this excellent website from Nick Anthony Fiorenza; 780 days is about 26 months, during half of which time Mars is growing fainter in brightness, and half of which time the planet grows brighter to observers on earth). This no doubt accounts for the mention of thirteen months in the passage from the Iliad cited above.

Finally, note that just as in the previous discussion of the myth of Ares and Aphrodite and their binding in the weblike net of Hephaestus, Hermes features prominently in discussions about binding and loosing, just as we would expect him to do based on the argument put forth in the powerful talk delivered by Jon Rappoport this year at the Secret Space Program conference in California.

This is because one of the profound messages that all these celestial myths were intended to convey was the message that each and every man and woman is connected to and embodies the infinite cosmos that we see over our heads each night, and ultimately cannot be contained, constrained, chained, or circumscribed against his or her will. This message was also brilliantly articulated by the philosopher Giordano Bruno, who wrote an entire treatise on "binding" and "loosing" and "of bonds in general," available online here (in Latin). Because Bruno was a hermetic philosopher, we can assume that he understood the role of Hermes in the overcoming of bonds and binding.

Thus we see that an episode which seems to be just a minor and amusing myth, the imprisonment of Ares in a bronze jar, is actually full of profound import, and insight into the message which the world's sacred traditions were intended to bring to men and women throughout the ages.

The Dawn of the Golden Age

If you are able to rise before the sky begins to lighten in the east, or just as it begins to take on a beautiful deep blue color in the east, you will be able to enjoy one of the more spectacular pre-dawn pageants in all of the heavenly theater. 

The magnificent constellation of Orion will be above the eastern horizon, or just rising out of the eastern horizon (depending on your latitude and the time you begin looking to the east), and above him will be the V-shaped Hyades of Taurus the Bull and above them the dazzling Pleiades (all descriptions in this post are northern-hemisphere-centric; friends in the southern hemisphere will have to adjust the descriptions or stand on their heads in order to make these descriptions and the video below make sense).  

Following the line of his upstretched arm (the arm that begins at the shoulder-point marked by giant orange Betelgeuse) will take you to the Twins of Gemini, currently made even easier to locate in the morning sky by the fact that the planet Venus is passing through the constellation.

As the earth continues to rotate towards the east, the sky will grow brighter and brighter, the blue color will become lighter and lighter, and eventually the sun itself will burst over the horizon and drown out everything else in the sky.

The constellations which are visible in the east before the sun crests the horizon will change throughout the year, of course, because from the earth we are able to see different "walls" in the "dining room" as we make our annual circuit (see this previous post for a video that explains the "metaphor of the dining room"). Only during a certain, special time of year does the awe-inspiring constellation of Orion dominate the eastern sky as it begins to turn that indescribable color of deep blue to herald the approaching dawn. That time of year is right now.

That time of year, however, was once much earlier in the year. The motion of precession (also explained in the video describing the "metaphor of the dining room") acts to "delay" the background stars over the ages, delaying their position on any given July 28th by only a single degree of arc every 71.6 years (see this previous post for more explanation of that concept). Once upon a time, the magnificent pre-dawn lineup of Orion beside Gemini and below the Bull of Taurus marked a very different and very closely-observed time of year: the time of the March equinox, or spring equinox for the northern hemisphere. 

The spring equinox is the day of rebirth, the day of bursting across the line that separates the "lower half"of the year (allegorized as the land of bondage, the valley of death, Hades, Sheol, and Hell) from the "upper half" of the year (allegorized as the promised land, the holy mountain, the city on the hill, and even Heaven with its streets paved with gold). The spring equinox marked the start of the year in many ancient calendar systems, and the zodiac sign which dominated the eastern sky before the sun made its critical appearance on that morning of rebirth for the year gave its name to the entire age. The motion of precession is so gradual that it takes approximately 2,160 years for the sign which dominated that station to be "delayed" enough to let the preceding sign take over.

The situation in the morning at this time of year, then, when Gemini and Orion are in the east prior to the rising sun corresponds to the way the sky looked during the mornings of the spring equinox back in the Age of Gemini. The Age of Gemini was so long ago that it was before the Age of Taurus, which itself preceded the Age of Aries, which preceded the Age of Pisces -- and the Age of Pisces itself is now coming to an end, as we move into the beginning of the Age of Aquarius. That's how long ago the Age of Gemini was.

But the Age of Gemini, for many important reasons, was described in ancient myth as the Golden Age. One of the reasons for this was the fact that the Milky Way passes by Gemini (between Gemini and Cancer) just as it does between Scorpio and Sagittarius on the other side of the zodiac band. That means that the equinoxes during the Golden Age were each marked by the shimmering band of the Milky Way galaxy in the Age of Gemini (the spring equinox was marked by Gemini, and the fall equinox by Sagittarius in that age). 

Another reason that the Age of Gemini was seen as a Golden Age was the presence of the majestic Orion in the east, guarding the sky above the rising sun on that critical morning. Orion was seen as a benevolent, civilizing figure in the mythology of many ancient cultures -- the one god who came and walked among humanity. He was also associated with Saturn's benevolent aspects, and the Saturnian color of yellow or gold (the other color often associated with Saturn is black).

Below is a short video that I put together in order to show you the constellations you will see in the east at this time of year, prior to the rise of the sun. I used the delightful online planetarium app created by Paul Neave, which can be found here.

If it is at all possible to do so, this is a perfect time of year to go out and absorb one of the most beautiful spectacles our sky has to offer, and as you do so to reflect back upon the successive ages through which other men and women have lived, thinking back, back, back, all the way to the Golden Age . . .

Zechariah Sitchin, Reality Creation, NASA announcements, and the "literal-alien" misinterpretation of ancient myth

image: cuneiform tablet, Wikimedia commons (link).

I believe overwhelming evidence supports an astronomical and allegorical basis for nearly every myth from ancient cultures around the world. The myths describe the motions of the zodiac constellations, of other significant constellations near the zodiac band, and the motions of the sun, moon, and planets across the heavens (these heavenly bodies primarily move through the zodiac bands as well).

Previous blog posts have shown numerous examples of myths which first and foremost can be understood as relating directly to these heavenly phenomena. These include:

• Abraham's trip up the mountain to sacrifice Isaac (discussed on page 37 of my book, which can be read online as part of the free preview of the table of contents and first three chapters of The Undying Stars, here). Old Testament.
• The uplifted arms of Moses. Old Testament.
• The smile of Sarai/Sarah (wife of Abraham; see second half of the linked post). Old Testament.
• The smile of Skade, brought about by Loki. Norse mythology.
• The smile of Demeter, brought about by Iambe. Greek mythology.
• The laughter of the gods during the incident of Amaterasu and Uzume. The text of the Kojiki, Japan.
• Loki's theft of the necklace of Freya and the hair of Sif. Norse mythology.
• The myth of Odin and Gunnlod and the magical mead of poetry. Norse mythology.
• The illicit affair between Ares and Aphrodite. Greek mythology.
• The capture of Ares in a brazen jar by the giants Ephialtes and Otus. Greek mythology.
• The amorous and unsuccessful pursuit of Aphrodite by Zeus, and the seduction of Hermes by Aphrodite. Greek mythology.
• The emergence of locust-centaurs with scorpion-tails and crowns from the smoky abyss in Revelation 9. New Testament.
• The sacrifice or near-sacrifice of Iphigenia, and the substitution of a stag-sacrifice in her place (discussed on pages 34-37 of my book, which can be read online as part of the free preview of the table of contents and first three chapters of The Undying Stars, here). Greek mythology.
• The description of the Promised Land as a "land flowing with milk and honey." Old Testament.
• The adventures of Samson (discussed on pages 4-8 of my book, which can be read online as part of the free preview of the table of contents and first three chapters of The Undying Stars, here). Old Testament.
• The story of the Old Man and his Daughter and the origin of fire. North American Indian legend.
• The legend of the Pythia at the Temple at Delphi, and of the Python and the fumes. Greek mythology.
• The story of the Raven who watched over the princess Coronis when she was pregnant with Asclepius. Greek mythology.
• The ship and dove found in the stories of Noah's Ark in the Old Testament, Deucalion and the Flood in ancient Greece, and Jason and the Argonauts in ancient Greece.
• The sacrifice of Vishnu. Vedic ancient India.
• The murder of Osiris by Set and the usurpation of his throne. Egyptian mythology.

The list could go on and on (in fact, it does -- there are no doubt other posts which outline other "star-myths," and many more are discussed in detail in The Undying Stars  itself).

The point of the above list is to highlight the absolutely overwhelming amount of evidence which supports the understanding of virtually all ancient myth as primarily describing events in the heavens acted out by the constellations and planets -- and not as literal events, whether supernatural or extraterrestrial. 

If someone wants to argue that a myth which can clearly be shown to correspond to the motions of specific constellations is also describing a literal event that happened in earth history, then there would seem to be a pretty high hurdle to clear, given the superabundance of evidence just cited which argues that these myths were primarily describing the motions of heavenly bodies as viewed from earth. 

If someone wants to argue that a myth should be primarily interpreted literally and not metaphorically and astronomically, then that would seem to require an even higher burden of proof, especially if it can be shown that the myth appears to have a satisfactory metaphorical explanation.

I go into all of this because, in my most-recent interview (as pointed out in this previous post), discussion of the allegorical aspect of these "star-myths" was consistently avoided and the conversation was instead steered back to the question of whether these myths could not also have been describing literal events, and specifically whether these myths could not also have been describing ancient alien activity such as that alleged by Zechariah Sitchin.

This aspect of the interview was somewhat frustrating, in that my entire book centers on the importance of this universal system of celestial metaphor, what it means and what happened to our understanding of it. It also caught me somewhat off-guard. However, I am grateful for the opportunity to think more precisely about this particular question, because I would now say that even the assertion that the myths could "also be literal" must be qualified rather heavily, and treated with great caution.  

As I have said before (and asserted in my book on this subject), it is a possibility that some of these myths also reflect some history.  However, although it is certainly possible that some of these myths incorporate the names of historical figures (maybe), the actions in the myths can be shown to be describing the motions of celestial bodies. This is similar to the way that the plays of Shakespeare (whoever he or she was) incorporate the names and some of the outward trappings of historical figures, but the action in the plays serves a different purpose and is not intended to be taken as literal history.

And, while I was somewhat familiar with the work of Zechariah Sitchin, enough to know that I did not agree with his conclusions while at the same time admitting that anyone who tries to show that the conventional timeline of history has serious flaws is to that extent pointing out something that is true, I had not made a serious study of his work (primarily because I have found so much evidence that the ancient mythologies of the world are allegorical and esoteric that I did not need to see too much of his work to realize that it is taking a literal approach and ignoring the esoteric and allegorical nature of ancient myth).

Now, however, having thought more carefully about the corpus of Sitchin's work (as a result of that recent interview), I have reached the conclusion that his literalistic approach may be just as misleading as that forced upon the western world by the imposition of a rigidly literalistic Christianity during the centuries following AD 70. If the purpose of all the star-myths described above is to point humankind towards a shamanic view of the universe and of human existence (and I believe this can also be demonstrated quite conclusively, as discussed in The Undying Stars and as touched on in previous posts such as this one and this one), then believing that these exquisitely-crafted esoteric metaphors are all describing the arrival of ancient aliens on earth in spaceships (and their physical manipulation of the human race) may in fact keep you from seeing the liberating truths that those sacred stories were designed to convey, and will do it just as effectively as will believing that the stories are all about the earthly actions of historical literal figures such as Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Moses, or Jesus and twelve literal disciples.

In other words, in the immortal expression of Bruce Lee, the literalistic scriptural interpretation of Zechariah Sitchin is one more way to get you to "concentrate on the finger, and miss all that heavenly glory!"

In light of this, it is worth asking where the literal interpretations offered by Sitchin actually come from. In a 2010 Red Ice interview of ancient Near Eastern languages scholar Michael S. Heiser (a well-known critic of Zechariah Sitchin), recorded while Sitchin was still alive, Dr. Heiser gives several reasons to conclude that Sitchin's theoretical timeline of ancient human history did not come from the texts themselves. (Note: mention of Dr. Heiser's expertise-based analysis of Sitchin's theories is not intended to imply that he endorses or subscribes to any of my own theories presented above regarding the primarily esoteric nature of all ancient scripture: it appears from material on his own websites that he probably does not believe that the Bible is primarily esoteric).

That interview (like all archived interviews going back to the inception of Red Ice Radio) is available to Red Ice members, but for those who are not able to listen to it, here are some pertinent quotations:

• "I think I should just be honest with people and point out, you know, what the problems are, and hopefully they'll decide on the basis of evidence not on emotion." 0:07:00, part one/first hour of the interview.
• "There are some things where you could look at what Sitchin's doing and say, 'Well, you know, that's kind of an odd interpretation and no one else is really going to look at it that way.' But, there are a lot of things that the issue just goes beyond that, to Sitchin staking out positions and making claims, saying that the Sumerian tablets say this or that, when it's just not there, it just doesn't exist in any tablet. I'll give a few examples here. For instance there are a lot of references to the Annunaki: the Annunaki were an important sub-group in the Sumerian pantheon. But it's a complete fabrication to say that there are texts that describe the Annunaki coming from a place called Nibiru, and having Nibiru being a planet beyond Pluto that circulates through our solar system every 3,600 years. There isn't a single text, a single line of any text that says that." 0:09:20 part one/first hour of the interview.
• "One of the things I'm trying to do is to get people to primary text material, so that they don't have to take my word for it: so they can check up on me, and in the process check up on Sitchin." 0:10:45 part one/first hour of the interview.
• "So those are three examples of things where I say, 'He's just making it up.' It's not about interpretation, it's about whether these statements in the text actually exist. And I'm saying that they don't." 0:14:42 part one/first hour of the interview.
• "There's quite a disconnect between what Sitchin is trying to say . . . you know, he has every right to say it. What he doesn't have a right to do, in my mind, is to say, 'Hey, it's in these tablets.'" 0:28:00 part one/first hour of the interview.
• "He's essentially created an alternative mythology, and married it to an extraterrestrial idea." 0:07:11, part two/second hour of the interview.

Now, if what Zechariah Sitchin describes about ancient human history does not come from the ancient Sumerian texts which he claims form the basis for his (literal) interpretation of ancient myth, then where does it come from? It does not necessarily follow that what he is saying is necessarily wrong just because it does not come from the ancient scriptures -- maybe ancient human history did include alien contact (I have not concluded this myself, but I do not rule it out as a possibility). However, it is fairly clear from Dr. Heiser's arguments that Sitchin's purported literal histories are not found in the texts (nor do I believe that we would expect to find literal history there, since I believe the ancient myths can be conclusively shown to be about something other than literal history).

It is still possible that Sitchin is telling us information that comes from some source other than ancient scripture, of course. It could all just be something he made up deliberately, in order to deceive for some reason. It could all be something he truly believed, based on his own misinterpretation of texts which were intended to be allegorical and not literal. But it could also be information that he received from some tradition which preserved it from somewhere, or received it from somewhere. If so, however, he deceived his followers as to the source of his information, since in that case it came from somewhere other than the texts that he said he formed the source for his theories.

Michael Heiser also raises in his interview the disturbing possibility that some people could deliberately misinterpret ancient scriptures as describing literal alien activities in order to promote tyranny in the future based on a fabricated arrival or disclosure of an "alien presence." He does not accuse Sitchin of deliberately furthering such an agenda, but discusses with interviewer Henrik Palmgren the possibility that deliberate literal-alien-scriptural-misinterpretation could be used that way in the future by a group of "elites" who want to claim superiority either by virtue of being selected by the alien visitors as their representative ruling body, or by virtue of being genetically superior due to biological manipulation by the aliens themselves at some time in the past:

I'm actually gonna lay this out, how I think this could work. It actually can be a very comprehensive sort of alternative worldview that could make sense to anybody regardless of who they are and everybody can go away feeling like they were right -- feeling like their religious texts were real, feeling like their religious texts weren't just gibberish. So I really feel like the idea could be quite useful to completely altering, again, traditional worldviews, and propping up something in its place that would be a displacement of traditional religious beliefs. The thing that troubles me about that, is, at the same time -- and here's why I think it would appeal to globalist-elitists, if we want to use terms like that -- along with that idea comes the idea that "the gods" did select certain individuals, certain human lines -- bloodlines -- to rule. And that's what the globalist-elitist thinks of themselves. 0:42:00 part one/first hour of the interview.

This line of discussion is certainly noteworthy, and very chilling, as both Dr. Heiser and host Henrik Palmgren agree during the interview. They also point out news items from the time of the interview (2010) in which powerful religious or political institutions made very public statements regarding "extraterrestrials," should they ever be found. And, here in July 2014, we know that just last week,

NASA publicly declared that humanity will encounter alien life "within twenty years," and then went on to say that twenty years is probably a conservative estimate.

In light of all of this, it is useful to come back to what I strongly believe that these ancient esoteric myths are all about in the first place: they are all about telling us that the reality that we think we perceive is in many very real ways illusory and indeed holographic, and that we have the ability as poets, artists, and even shamans to transcend the illusory "realities" that are created for us and then to create our own (again, see the post discussing the powerful speech of Jon Rappoport last month). This message, I believe, was intended to promote human freedom and to promote human consciousness.

But, those who understand this esoteric message of the ancient mythologies have not always been on the side of human freedom or human consciousness -- quite the contrary, as it turns out. Some of those who understand it best have wanted to use it for their own advancement, while keeping it from everyone else (part III of The Undying Stars is all about this aspect of history).

Given the fact that he "created a reality" which has been "bought into" by a huge number of people, it is very possible that Zechariah Sitchin was in the service of this second category. I have not necessarily concluded that this was the case, but it is a possibility that one should at least entertain and investigate, especially since he promoted an interpretation of ancient scriptures (including those of the Old Testament) that is literalistic and thus obscures the shamanic esoteric message that I believe is actually at the core of ancient myth.

However, that is only one possibility. Sitchin could be entirely innocent of any such designs, even if (as I believe) his theories were mistaken. Even if he was completely innocent, I believe that the possibility that some evil actors could try to use a false "literal-alien" misinterpretation of ancient scriptures at some point in the future should be considered very carefully, and guarded against.