Humanity's shared shamanic heritage

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

When considering the subject of shamanism and shamanic experience, many "Westerners" (that is to say, those who have grown up in the parts of the world that were actually ruled by the Roman Empire, specifically the western empire, as well as those parts of the world that the later European states descended from the western empire influenced heavily, and in particular those areas which were deeply committed to literalist forms of Christianity for many centuries in a row) may find the subject to be uncomfortable or even threatening.

This discomfort may be due to a variety of factors. 

Some of it may be due to the complete unfamiliarity of the entire landscape of the shamanic, and a feeling that the concept is so alien as to be almost completely inaccessible to those coming from any of the cultures encompassed by "Western culture" as broadly described above.

Some of it may be due to the heavy stigma which the literalist forms of religion that have dominated Western culture for at least seventeen centuries have placed on forms of human experience involving contact with spirits or the spirit-world -- a stigma which retains some of its force even among descendants of Western culture who no longer accept the literalist interpretation of ancient scriptures or one of the various forms of literalist Christianity which opposed such experience based on specific and overt doctrines or teachings.

And some of it may be due to the idea that there is a deep and nearly impassible divide between different cultures, and especially between "Western" cultures and those retaining some aspect of the shamanic worldview, to the point that it is seen (perhaps by descendants of cultures on both sides of the divide) as "inauthentic" or "invasive" or in some other way "wrong" for anyone from a primarily Western background to wish to explore and especially to practice aspects of shamanic experience.

These barriers to the investigation of shamanic teaching and experience are unfortunate -- especially if it turns out that the outlines of the shamanic world-view are in fact accurate in their description of our universe! That is to say, such rejection of the relevance of the shamanic to everyone in the world (including those from a primarily "Western" background) would be unfortunate indeed if it turns out that there is in fact a realm corresponding to that realm described in various shamanic cultures as the Other World, the Spirit World, the Invisible World, the Dreamtime, or the Realm of the Gods, and if that other realm actually connects to and "interpenetrates" the more familiar or ordinary or material realm in which we spend most of our waking hours, such that changes in one realm can have real and lasting impact on what takes place in the other.

As I explore in The Undying Stars, there is indeed evidence that this situation is in fact the case:  that is to say, that the universe we normally experience and think of as "reality" is in fact interpenetrated by an invisible world, or that the "explicate" world we inhabit somehow "unfolds from" an invisible "implicate" realm of pure potentiality. Modern theoretical physicists have been forced by the outcomes of various experiments conducted since the end of the nineteenth and especially during the twentieth century to radically reshape their models of the universe, and frameworks have been proposed including the "holographic universe" model which closely resemble the shamanic worldview in nearly every detail, other than the labels given to the two different realms of existence (or the two different modes of the "expression of information" or data).

The fact that shamanism anticipated this modern "discovery" by many thousands of years, and that, in addition to understanding it, shamanism has a rich tradition of techniques for actually moving between these different realms of existence in order to gain knowledge and make changes which cannot be effected in any other way, should alone be enough to recommend a careful reconsideration of the profound value and pertinence of shamanic thought and practice for all humanity.

But even more important, perhaps, to breaking down the unfortunate potential sources of "Western discomfort" with the shamanic that I listed above would be the understanding that in fact the shamanic worldview appears to have been deeply ingrained in ancient sacred tradition in all the places we think of today as "the West" and that this knowledge was deliberately stamped out only as recently as the fifth century AD within the Roman Empire -- and even later in other parts of Europe and the West.

In other words, what today we label as "the shamanic" is part of the heritage of all peoples -- but there has for centuries been a deliberate and very effective campaign to steal this heritage from humanity! 

The very fact that we label the worldview broadly described as shamanic with an adjective derived from the Tungusian word shaman reinforces the extent to which this worldview was hunted to near extinction within the regions conquered or heavily influenced by the western Roman Empire and its successor western European states, and only survived in areas outside of that influence (such as eastern Europe, very far northern Europe, most of Africa and Asia -- including the region of modern-day Siberia where the Tungus peoples live -- as well as the continents of North and South America and the islands of the Pacific Ocean including the island-continent of Australia).

In fact, as I labor to demonstrate in The Undying Stars (and many of the posts here on this blog), it can be shown that nearly all the world's sacred myths, teachings and scriptures share a common underlying celestial foundation which actually unites them rather than divides them, and that the purpose of the esoteric celestial allegory employed in all these cases was to convey a vision of the universe and of human experience that is essentially what we today would call shamanic. For more on that possibility, see for example this previous post containing an index of links to posts detailing the celestial aspects of over fifty different myths from different world cultures (including myths in the Old and New Testaments), and also some of the previous posts which have discussed the possible shamanic purpose of these "star myths" such as "Shamanic-Holographic," "The shamanic foundation of the world's ancient wisdom," and "The ancient torch that was lighted for our guidance," among others.  

Although this shamanic worldview took on different forms in cultures such as ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, or the cultures of the Druids, Celts, Norse, and others, it was nevertheless characterized in all of these different cultures by features that are essentially and specifically shamanic:

the awareness of "the other realm" or "world of the gods" in addition to the world of ordinary reality, and the practice of techniques for actually traveling between the realm of ordinary reality and the realm of the gods in order to obtain knowledge or effect change not possible to obtain or effect through any other method.

Previous posts have described, for example, the important work of Dr. Jeremy Naydler in demonstrating that what we would call shamanic travel or shamanic journeying was an integral part of ancient Egyptian civilization, and that the pharaoh appears to have regularly and deliberately undertaken out-of-body travel to the realm of the gods or neters in order to provide benefits for the entire society by doing so: see for instance this post, this post and this post. During the 1960s, the authors of Hamlet's Mill also outlined a strong case for a shamanic connection in the myth and practice of ancient Egypt: see for example this post and this post.

Other posts have demonstrated evidence for similarly shamanic worldviews in operation in ancient Greece, including at the oracle at Delphi, and in the long-standing Mysteries of Eleusis, both of which appear to have reinforced the necessity of acknowledging the invisible world and of crossing to the other side even during this life in order to obtain knowledge or make change which could not be accomplished any other way. 

The shamanic aspects of the Norse myths are clear and compelling, and are especially evident in the central sacrifice of Odin, in which knowledge is shown being obtained through a ritual that is essentially shamanic -- knowledge that can be obtained by no other method. And, while Odin's ascent on the World-Tree is perhaps the most obviously shamanic episode in Norse mythology, there are many other Norse myths which can be convincingly shown to contain clear shamanic elements, including the myth of Odin and Gunnlod and the mead of poetry (as well as the many stories of Freya and her ability to transform into a falcon, and of the Valkyries who are also able to ascend to the heavens and who wear garments of feathers in some cases, a characteristic of the shaman's costume the world over).

It can be demonstrated that this shamanic worldview, and the practice of crossing over to the other realm in order to obtain knowledge or effect change, continued in what would become the "Western world" right up through the fifth century AD within the Roman Empire, during the period in which the hierarchy of literalist Christianity was actively suppressing esoteric -- we might even say shamanic -- interpretations of the texts that became the Biblical canon.

In fact, this previous post entitled "The centrality of ecstasy, according to ancient wisdom," cites the analysis of Gerald Massey (1828 - 1907) who concluded that the distinguishing hallmark of all ancient wisdom was "knowledge of trance conditions." This knowledge was found in all the ancient scriptures and cultures in "the West" prior to the advent of literalist Christianity, and this knowledge survived into the modern period in those cultures that were outside the areas that literalist Christianity stamped it out during the ancient period and up through the middle ages. 

Elsewhere in his work, Massey puts forward the important theory (which he backs up with compelling evidence), that the author of the earliest Pauline letters in the New Testament was clearly teaching a worldview we would today call shamanic, including an emphasis on individual experience and direct revelation, and even out-of-the-body travel. Massey believes that this original intent was subverted by later literalist teachers and by the creation of letters (such as the "Pastoral letters") not written by the original author, and which taught an opposite worldview.

This information turns conventional understanding on its head, and should go a long way towards overcoming the three main areas of discomfort or objection cited at the beginning of this post. 

It suggests that what we think of today as the shamanic is actually the heritage of all humanity -- but that this heritage was deliberately stolen from a large segment of mankind many centuries ago, and that the campaigns against other shamanic cultures that took place in more recent centuries may in fact be part of the same "stamping out" that took place in the West long before.

It also suggests that the hunger for the exploration of the shamanic among people descended from Western cultures may represent a longing for something that was once part of their own heritage, but from which they are now separated by long centuries of isolation from such experience.

It further suggests that shamanic practice can and does take on many different cultural forms, even as it retains some central features which characterize the shamanic worldview. The external trappings of that worldview looked very different in ancient Egypt, for example, than it did in Eleusis in ancient Greece, or in northern Europe among the Norse and Germanic peoples -- and these external differences are real and undeniable. However, the core understanding that there is a spirit world or realm of the gods (or realm of the "implicate order," in terms of modern holographic universe theory) and that deliberate travel to that realm is both possible and at times very necessary and potentially very beneficial, is common to all of the pre-Christian "Western" cultures just mentioned, just as it is common to the many different cultures where the shamanic worldview survived to the present or closer to the present day. 

There are real and undeniable differences between more recent shamanic cultures, for instance between those found in the Amazon and those found in Siberia, but there are core similarities as well -- especially the core belief in the possibility of such shamanic travel, its potential benefits, and its necessity in some circumstances.

We might also conclude that, given the number of centuries that have intervened between the time that this worldview was stamped out in "the West" and the present day, anyone coming from a primarily Western culture who wants to investigate traditions where this kind of knowledge has survived is of necessity forced to do so among the knowledge that survived in non-Western cultures. This does not mean that someone who does so is trying to "appropriate" or "steal" from the culture where that knowledge has been preserved, or trying to turn into someone that they are not: it is more a case of  someone from a culture where long generations have now elapsed since this ancient light was put out going to someone where that flame was preserved right up to recent memory.  

We might say it is also like someone from a boat or a ship that has been blown to pieces, and who is now floating in the ocean, paddling over to boats or vessels that may on the outside look very different from the one that they were originally from, but that were also designed with the same primary purpose in mind. Recreating the old boat is pretty much out of the question at this point: Eleusis went silent so many centuries ago that there are now none living who can say with any certainty what techniques were used in their mysteries.

When these refugees learn the techniques that have been preserved in other cultures and other places and then head out to try to navigate the waters of this life using what they have learned, their "boats" and methods of sailing may and probably will have a different look and feel. That fact should not lead to their being criticized or rejected as somehow being inauthentic or counterfeit. The evidence presented above shows that the broadly "shamanic worldview" is the heritage of all humanity, even though it is and probably indeed must be expressed differently by different cultures living in different parts of the world or different centuries and using different technologies. The fact that it will be expressed differently by practitioners in our modern day who have their own different cultural backgrounds and baggage should not be cause for division or criticism or rejection of the desire to follow this ancient path in the circumstances of today's world.

In fact, given some of the evidence touched on above, it could be argued that we do not have the luxury of declaring the pursuit of shamanic experience to be "off limits" to any group or family of humanity. It is clear from evidence stretching all the way back to the Pyramid Texts (and perhaps much further back even than that) that the knowledge of and the ability to enter into altered states of consciousness and in doing so to travel into non-ordinary reality (the other realm, the implicate order) in order to gain information or to effect change that cannot be accomplished any other way is absolutely essential to individual health and to the health of society at large.

If "Western society" and the world at large is dangerously off-track or imbalanced, then this fact itself would argue that the recovery and active practice of that shamanic worldview which was lost (and, it could be argued, deliberately stolen) must be given the highest priority. 

The shamanic foundation of the world's ancient wisdom

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

The previous post on "The sacrifice of Odin" presented abundant evidence that the important Norse god Odin is a shamanic figure, frequently depicted as undertaking journeys in search of hidden knowledge, and knowledge which specifically can only be obtained through shamanic methods. 

The most central and most shamanic of all of these vision-quest journeys undertaken by Odin is undoubtedly his ascent to hang himself upon Yggdrasil, sacrificing in his own words "myself to myself," wounded with "the spear" which we can assume would likely mean deliberately and with his own spear Gungnir, and through a nine-night-long ordeal eventually obtaining a breakthrough into another reality in which he sees with non-ordinary vision the secret of the runes.

We saw that the power of the runes is far more than "just writing" (as if the power to write, which most of us take for granted, is not incredible enough in and of itself): the ability to see and know and use the runes implies the ability to create worlds through the power of words, sounds, language, speech, and mind. In a very real sense (as Shakespeare, George Orwell, and a host of other thoughtful writers have perceived) we are composed of our thoughts and thought-patterns and narratives, and those thoughts and thought-patterns and narratives are ultimately composed of words and of language, that is to say of symbols -- and we could say of runes.

Students of Old English will know that the very word "spell" which in modern English means a formula to alter reality was the Old English word spel that meant generally "word" or "message" (and hence the English word gospel is derived from the combination of the Old English words god  pronounced "gode" and meaning "good" and spel  meaning "word"). This fact reflects and illustrates the reality-altering power of words, language, and runes. 

Interestingly enough, in light of the tremendous reality-altering power of words (and runes) is the fact that in order to obtain the knowledge of the runes, Odin had to undertake a journey that is clearly shamanic in its elements, including the ascent up a pole or tree: examples abound of the use of a pole or  "tree" in the ritual shamanic journeys described in Mircea Eliade's compendium of shamanic observations from around the world entitled Shamanism: Archaic techniques of ecstasy (originally published in French in 1951). It is quite clear from the details of many of these shamanic poles that they represent the celestial pole, which is in fact the World-Tree, and thus they correspond directly to the "pole" upon which Odin had to ascend during his own ordeal to transcend ordinary reality and obtain the power of runic reality-creation and reality-manipulation.

Eliade offers numerous examples of shamanic rituals which involve, "as an essential rite, climbing a tree or some other more or less symbolic means of ascending to the sky" (123) including the "South American consecration, that of the machi, the Araucanian shamaness," who undergoes an initiation ceremony centered upon "the ritual climbing of a tree or rather of a tree trunk stripped of bark, called rewe. The rewe is also the particular symbol of the shamanic profession, and every machi keeps it in front of her hut indefinitely" (123). Eliade informs us that the rewe is always nine-feet tall in this particular culture, and that the multi-day ceremony involves drumming, drum circles, dancing, stripping naked, the sacrifice of lambs, falling into trance or the state of ecstasy, and the ritual cutting of the fingers and lips of both the shamaness candidate and the initiating shamaness, using a white quartz knife (123-124).  Eliade then goes on to describe a shamanic initiation rite among the Pomo of North America involving "the climbing of a tree-pole from twenty to thirty feet long and six inches in diameter," and similar (and sometimes even more dangerous) symbolic ascents among shamanic cultures from the regions of Hungary, Iran, Australian aborigines, the Sarawak of Malaysia, and the Carib shamans of Dutch Guiana (125-131).

If the reader is not thoroughly convinced that this most central vision quest undertaken by Odin indicates his shamanic nature -- and is thus additional powerful evidence that all the ancient sacred mythologies are in fact shamanic in their core message -- there is the additional evidence that he is known for riding through the heavens upon his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir (shown in the upper section of the carved runestone above). 

While other Norse gods and goddesses of course had horses too, Odin's was the horse most well-known, most unique, and most associated with his wild journeys through the heavens in the company of the wild band of the Valkyries (in this he resembles Dionysus, who was often accompanied by Maenads -- and whose rites in the hills and wilderness were described in terms indicating that they involved ecstasy). As the authors of Hamlet's Mill point out, the shaman's drum was described as the "horse" that serves to carry him or her into the state of ecstasy and to enable the shaman's soul to ascend to the sky (Hamlet's Mill, 122).

Odin's horse, Sleipnir, was notable for having eight legs -- four in the front and four in the back -- making him twice as fast as any other horse. Celestially, since Odin embodies the characteristics of the planet Mercury (who was also a transcendent god associated with breaking through barriers and with language, as explored in this important previous post), the fact that his swift steed Sleipnir had eight legs may be a mythological embodiment of the fact that Mercury is the swiftest of the planets (by virtue of its being so close to the sun). In fact, as you can easily confirm for yourself, the orbital period of Mercury is . . . 88 earth days! So, of course, Odin's steed would be expected to have eight legs -- what other number would have been appropriate?

But, if we see that Odin is clearly a shamanic figure, and that the shaman's horse is his or her drum, then the rhythmic drumming that would be produced by the hoofbeat of an eight-legged steed would be quite rapid, and quite apropos of the very rapid drumbeat used to produce a state of ecstasy in shamanic cultures around the world. So, the eight-legged nature of Odin's steed works to convey esoteric knowledge to us on many levels.

The previous post also demonstrated that the shamanic nature of Odin's sacrifice upon the Tree has direct parallels to the sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross. In The Undying Stars, I explore the ways in which the realization that all the myths of the world (including those found in the Old and New Testaments) unites the world's ancient wisdom, and leads to the possible conclusion that they were all at their very core conveying a message that is essentially and profoundly shamanic (that is, in fact, what I call shamanic-holographic).

This assertion is bolstered by the evidence that the celestial Tree which Odin must ascend (and which the shamans ascend in the ceremonies cited by Eliade) corresponds to the Djed-column of Osiris which must be "raised up" and to the Ankh or Cross of Life of ancient Egypt which has a horizontal component representing the "cast down" nature of our material existence (in which we must go about in an "animal" body), but which also has a vertical component representing our spiritual nature which comes down from above and which is immortal (a fact emphasized on the Ankh itself by the unending loop at the top of the cross), and which represents both the motion of our rise and return to the spiritual realms after each incarnation and also the motion of the raising of the inner spiritual component or fire which we can perform during this life as an essential part of our mission in this earthly existence. 

We have also seen evidence that this "divine spark" in each individual man or woman is associated with the fire brought down from heaven by Prometheus in the ancient Greek mythos, and with the Thunderbolt or Vajra found in the ancient Vedic texts, and that the mission of recognizing this inner divine element and of raising it up is central to our overcoming our cast-down state. 

And -- although "orthodox" (a word that means "straight-teaching" or by implication "right-teaching") and literalist Christianity would strongly object to such an assertion -- this mission of recognizing and the of raising up the divine inner spark can clearly be seen to be a possible interpretation of the message  taught by Paul in some of his early letters urging his listeners to recognize the Christ within (Galatians 1:16,   Colossians 1:27, 2 Corinthians 13:5) and to realize that they themselves undergo the process of being crucified and raised by virtue of this mystical identification with the Christ within (Galatians 2:20). 

This connection advances the strong possibility that the patterns found in the ancient scriptures preserved in the Bible were actually the very same patterns found in the myth-system of ancient Egypt and the Djed-column and Ankh-Cross imagery associated with the Osiris, and the very same patterns found in the myth-system of the Norsemen and the World-Tree sacrifice associated with the shamanic questing of Odin. 

It also supports the conclusion that -- like those other world-myths -- the symbology and esoteric message of the Bible scriptures is in fact deeply shamanic, and pointing towards the same individual ascent and breaking free of the bonds of the material body and the material world undertaken by shamans in the rituals recorded by Eliade and other researchers in the early twentieth century and in the centuries immediately preceding.

Powerful evidence, perhaps even conclusive evidence, to support this conclusion -- the conclusion that the imagery employed by Paul and the other early pre-literalist teachers was actually composed of exquisite metaphors designed to teach a message closely aligned with the message embodied in the Osirian imagery of "the Djed-column cast down" and "the Djed-column raised up," the same message found in the sacrifice of Odin and the Thunderbolt of Indra (the Vajra) and in the ascent to the heavens by the shaman along the celestial tree -- can be seen in the fact that the traditional symbology surrounding the Crucifixion of Christ quite clearly reflects the imagery surrounding the Osirian imagery of the Djed cast down and the Djed raised up.

Below is an image from the temple of Seti I at Abydos which comes from a series of images depicting scenes from the myth-cycle of Osiris, Isis, Set and Horus. Specifically, the image shown below depicts Isis retrieving the casket containing the slain body of Osiris from the King of Byblos. 

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

Significantly (as I discuss in some detail in my first book), the casket containing the body of Osiris had lodged in a tamarisk bush and then been concealed when the tamarisk grew into a tree around it, which the King of Byblos then cut down to use as a pillar in his palace, thus connecting the body of Osiris to the World-Tree which is cut down in many myths around the world (including to Yggdrasil, which ultimately cracks apart and falls at Ragnarokk) and thus to the unhinging of the world-axis and to the precession of the equinoxes. 

This aspect of the story links the Djed-column (also called the "Backbone of Osiris") even more strongly to Yggdrasil and the sacrifice of Odin as alleged in the previous post -- and we can see that, sure enough, in the image above the column that the King of Byblos is handing over to Isis has the horizontal "vertebrae" lines that indicate it is a Djed-column and the Backbone of Osiris.  

Although you may see or hear some people describe the image above from the temple of Seti I at Abydos as depicting the "raising of the Djed-column," it actually is not showing the raising of the Djed. In fact, it is showing the "bringing down" of the Djed and the corpse of Osiris, preparatory to his being laid in the tomb (in later scenes). Only later will Osiris be "raised up."

This fact is very important, because it is my assertion that the above scene is analogous to the taking down of the body of Christ from the Cross (sometimes called "the Descent from the Cross")! 

If all the foregoing discussion and analysis is correct, and the myths from around the world (including those found in the Bible) are actually closely connected, and that they teach a shamanic message, and that they often use the absolutely central symbol of the Djed-column/Cruciform Cross/Ankh Cross/World Tree/Shamanic Pole to embody that message (a message of the "divine spark within" or the "Christ in you," as Paul phrases it), then the symbology of the "casting down" of the Christ into the tomb prior to his subsequent "raising up" is another manifestation of the same pattern, and the taking down of Christ from the Cross would parallel the taking down and giving to Isis of the Djed-column containing the corpse of the now-dead Osiris.

The imagery surrounding the Descent from the Cross supports this connection in absolutely breathtaking fashion. See, for example, this collection of images taken from art through the centuries of this event.

Even more striking, however, is the Christian art in the category known as Pietà and depicting the Virgin Mary holding the body of Christ after the Crucifixion.

Below is perhaps the most famous such Pietà, that by Michelangelo situated in the Vatican:

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

If we remember from previous posts that the "Djed cast down" corresponds to the horizontal line between the equinoxes, then the imagery of Isis and of Mary receiving the "cast down" or "nearly-horizontal" body of Osiris (ancient Egypt) and of Christ (New Testament) makes perfect sense: the sign of Virgo is positioned at the point of the fall equinox -- when the sun is declining down towards the grave, but just before the exact horizontal point of the equinox!

The "Virgo imagery" in both the above images (of Isis from the temple of Seti I, who died in 1279 BC and of the Virgin Mary from the work of Michelangelo who died in AD 1564) should be quite clear by now to anyone who has read The Undying Stars or looked at some of the images provided in previous posts about the constellation Virgo in the world's mythology (see for instance here, here, here, and here). 

Specifically, look at the "outstretched arm" -- which is one of the most characteristic aspects of the Virgo constellation and which is embodied in ancient myth (and ancient art depicting Virgo-connected figures) over and over and over again. It is most evident in the image of Isis receiving the tilted (descending towards the horizontal) Djed-column from the King of Byblos, but the exact same outstretched hand is also present in Michelangelo's masterpiece:

Now that it is pointed out, you can see that the outstretched arm in the Isis image is over-elongated -- as if to ensure that you do not fail to notice it.

For those who may not be as familiar with the constellation Virgo (again, they can go check out the Virgo discussions above, or any of the others linked on this extensive index of constellations) and the way this constellation overlays on ancient sacred art, take a look at the image below from ancient Greece, circa 440 BC, depicting the Pythia: a priestess whose very role was to go into a trance or state of ecstasy in order to obtain knowledge from the other realm which could not be obtained in "ordinary reality." The outline of Virgo (with distinctive outstretched arm) is superimposed:

What does all this mean?

I would submit that it proves the connection of the world's ancient myths -- from ancient Egypt, to ancient Sumer and Babylon (who also had a central story of a "World-Tree" in the mighty cedar whose top reached to the heavens), to ancient India, to ancient Greece, to the myths found in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, to the myths of the Norse, and the list goes on and on (to Africa, North and South America, the islands of the Pacific, Australia, east Asia . . . ). 

It also proves the connection and close kinship of all these myths, their central symbology, and most importantly their esoteric message with each other and with the world's surviving shamanic cultures and traditions.

This connection suggests an even more radical and even more transformative ramification for what we have discovered above, because the esoteric and shamanic nature of the world's ancient wisdom-texts and traditions indicates that these teachings are meant to be put into practice by each man and woman who is incarnated in a body: by each man and woman who, these ancient scriptures teach, embodies a divine spark, a divine Thunderbolt, a divine "Christ within." 

This evidence above suggests that it is part of our purpose here in this incarnation (perhaps even our central purpose) to recognize and to raise

that inner spark of divinity, that "vertical portion of the Ankh," that Djed-column which we each share with Osiris, along that central axis that inside the human microcosm reflects the celestial axis of the World-Tree found in the macrocosm.

Perhaps this can be done through the practice of Yoga(whose name itself we have seen to be connected to the Ankh and hence to the Djed). 

Perhaps this can be done through the practice of Kung Fu (whose name may also be related to the "name of the Ankh," and which is most definitely related to the precession of the equinoxes and the other celestial cycles which allegorize our divine spark cycling back upwards after first plunging downwards). 

Perhaps this can be done through art and the creative force (as eloquently argued by Jon Rappoport, who connects that activity to the smashing of artificial realities embodied by trickster gods including Hermes, and by John Anthony West, who demonstrates that the ancient Egyptians appear to have had strong ideas about the transformative and consciousness-raising power of the artistic process of creating itself).

Perhaps this can be done through meditation, which science has shown can send the brain into a altered state -- perhaps even akin to a shamanic state -- when performed by those who have spent long hours practicing the discipline.

Perhaps this can be done through rhythmic chanting, which appears to have been a central component in the ancient wisdom and which amazingly seems to share a fairly similar form or pattern across many cultures and languages around the world.

Perhaps this can be done through the use of special plants and organisms such as mushrooms, which can be ingested or brewed into teas (please note the strong words of warning regarding the dangers of mistakenly consuming the wrong mushrooms posted on the website of mushroom expert Paul Stamets and repeated on this blog post here).

And certainly this can be done through the practice of what we commonly label as shamanic techniques (deliberately inducing states of ecstasy or the experience of non-ordinary reality, through a variety of methods available to humanity, including shamanic drumming): as we have seen, there is strong evidence to believe that all of the world's ancient wisdom was at one time shamanic, a fact which suggests that part of the world has been deliberately robbed of its shamanic heritage. In other words, the ancient myths were not intended to teach that Osiris "raised the Djed-column" so that we don't have to. The ancient myths were not intended to teach that Christ "raised the Djed-column" so that we don't have to. The ancient myths were not intended to teach that Odin "raised the Djed-column" so that we don't have to.

They contained those stories, and showed that pattern so many times, because it is what we are here to do.

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

Your song

image: Medicine Man Yellow Plume, photographed by Roland W. Reed, 1912. Wikimedia commons (link).

The book Empire of the Summer Moon, by S. C. Gwynne (2010), is remarkable on many levels and for many reasons. It relates the unforgettable story of the Comanche people, and of Quanah Parker, in the face of forces which would inexorably destroy their traditional way of life, but in the face of which they demonstrated qualities which have many profound lessons to teach us even if we live in very different times and face a different series of forces and currents. 

The events described in the book are worthy of prolonged meditation and contemplation, but right now only one particular subject -- by no means the most important of the subjects in the book but an important subject nonetheless -- will be examined here, and one which takes up only three sentences in the entire 371 pages, and it concerns a phenomenon which was common to many other Native American tribes and cultures: the subject of singing. Here are those three sentences from Empire of the Summer Moon, quoted in context as part of a general description Gwynne presents of the Comanche warrior:

To their enemies, the Comanches were implacable buffalo-horned killers, grim apostles of darkness and devastation. Inside their own camps, however, where Rachel Parker Plummer, Cynthia Ann Parker, and the others now found themselves they were something entirely different. Here, wrote Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, one of the first Americans to observe them closely, the Comanche "is a noisy, jolly, rollicking, mischief-loving braggadoccio, brimful of practical jokes and rough fun of any kind . . . rousing the midnight echoes with song and dance, whoops and yells." He loved to gamble and would bet on anything -- absolutely anything -- but especially on horses and games of chance, and would happily wager his last deerskin. He loved to sing. He especially loved to sing his personal song, often written expressly for him by a medicine man. He often woke up singing and sang before he went to bed. He adored games of any kind, but more than anything else in the world he liked to race horses. He was vain about his hair -- often weaving his wife's shorn tresses in with his own to create extensions, as modern women do. He would roll those extensions in beaver or otter skin. He was an incurable gossip and had, according to Dodge, "a positive craving to know what is going on around him." He would dance for hours, or days. 47.

While Colonel Dodge (1827 - 1895), Gwynne's source for much of the above description, was no doubt reporting through the lens of his own nineteenth-century cultural biases (and prejudices, and his writing is occasionally very condescending but also at other points very respectful of the cultures he lived among and described), there is little reason to doubt the report regarding the importance of singing described in this passage. The description is short, but provides important observations to consider: the Comanche loved to sing, he especially loved to sing his own personal song, which was often written expressly for him by a shaman, and he often sang first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening before going to bed.

How many of us can say the same? Would it be written of us by an outside observer that we generally sing first thing in the morning and last thing before going to bed?

Richard Irving Dodge's entire book from which both of the quotations cited in the above passage were taken can be read online in facsimile form here. It was published in 1883 and entitled Our Wild Indians: Thirty-three Years' Personal Experience among the Red Men of the Great West. In it, Dodge mentions the importance of song many times, and not just among the Comanche but also among the Cheyenne, the Sioux, the Pawnee, the Arapahoe, and many others among whom Dodge traveled.

He also gives some description and even transcription of some of the songs, including an attempt to capture the musical notes of some of them for which he enlisted the services of the leader of the regimental band of the 23rd Infantry. The twenty-seventh chapter of his book, beginning on page 348 in the text linked above, is entirely devoted to a discussion of "Indian Music and Musicians -- Curious Musical Instruments -- Poetry and Songs." Dodge writes:

For music for all warlike and religious ceremonies, for gambling bouts, for dances, for all social gatherings and merry-makings, the Indian relies on his voice. Scarcely anything is done without this music, and similar and monotonous as it all appears to be to the uninstructed ear, each particular ceremony and dance has its own invariable music.

[. . .]

Many of the songs have words, but by far the greater number are "songs without words," but to which words may be adapted on special occasions. The words constantly vary, the music never.

The adaptation of words to a special song is frequently a matter of grave importance. A party of warriors returning from a successful foray, must embalm their exploits in song. They have decided on the music, but the work before them is to fit words to it which will be expressive and most highly eulogistic, not only of the performances of the party, but of each individual who distinguished himself. Night after night is spent in this grand effort. One man will propose a line; all try the effect by singing it in chorus. If satisfactory, it is adopted; if not, rejected or amended. The song must be, and is, ready by the time they get home, and on the first occasion thereafter is sung to the pride and gratification of all. 

So also in other songs. One man will adapt a set of words, whose appropriateness to some situation or personal peculiarity will make them popular for a little while, or until another set of words displaces them. Even the nursery songs of the mothers are a mere jumble, no two mothers using the same words, though singing the same song.

[. . .]

Indian songs are very curious, and though on all subjects, what may be termed the mechanism is the same in all. An isolated thought is expressed in a few words, possibly in one compound word. This, followed by a number of meaningless sounds sufficient to fill out the music to the end of the beat, constitutes the first line or verse. The other lines are constructed in the sam manner. Whatever is intended to be said is generally expressed in four lines or verses, though some of the songs have many lines.

The constant use of sounds without meaning, to fill up gaps in the lines, makes it easy for any Indian to be his or her own poet. 350-352.

Undoubtedly, there must have been much more to the subject of singing than Colonel Dodge was able to perceive as an outsider to the cultures he is writing about, but nevertheless he has preserved some valuable observations which are worthy of careful consideration. Perhaps chief among these is the fact that their culture, and the structure of these songs, made it possible for every man or woman "to be his or her own poet" -- it was not only possible but it was encouraged, and it was clearly common practice, for everyone to do so, and great importance was attached to doing so. 

Contrast this description to the situation today in modern society, where the creation of songs is almost entirely "outsourced" to the manufacturers of popular culture -- professional songwriters, professional musicians, and (in most cases) a professional class of gatekeepers who determine what gets published and distributed and promoted. It would be difficult to argue with the observation that, for the most part, men and women today hum or sing (whether out loud or simply in their minds) songs that are created by others, and that the idea that everyone can "be his or her own poet" is far from the situation that prevails a little over a hundred years after Dodge wrote down his observations.

Clearly, he is discussing Native American cultures, in which singing -- and personal songs -- played an even more important role than in most European cultures of the same period, but it could also be noted that even in European cultures a hundred years ago, singing appears to have been much more of a pastime and an event that played a part of the rhythm of everyday life than it is today. That is to say, music was generated -- and sung -- by a much wider portion of the populace than is the case today, where a large portion of the populace can be said to consume music (and at times to sing along with music), but cannot be said to really create music or participate in its creation to the same degree that was once common.

For evidence to support this change, I can point to institutions that have existed for a hundred years or so, or which came to be in the late 1800s or early 1900s, which still have a tradition of singing, such as many rugby clubs, or the Norwegian Club of San Francisco (in which singing is a part of every meal, before during and after). You can also see evidence of the difference between the role singing once played and the role it plays today by watching certain films depicting the situation a hundred years ago, including the film Breaker Morant which was discussed in this previous post and which depicts incidents surrounding the period from August of 1901 to February of 1902. One memorable scene in the film portrays a heartfelt song after a supper, and at another point, Edward Woodward playing the lead role of Lieutenant Morant is shown in a flashback singing a remarkable rendition of a poem that was actually written by Morant himself, to the woman he hopes to one day marry.

Thus, it is clear that something has happened in the past hundred years to greatly diminish the role of singing in "western culture" as well -- most likely the rise of mass-production and mass-distribution of music due to certain technological advances, which has had the effect of "specializing" and "centralizing" the production and performance of music and diminishing its production and performance among the general public, although of course this is a broad generalization and there are certainly plenty of people who continue to make their own music and to sing and listen to one another in social gatherings. 

It is clear from the descriptions given above and from other records, however, that the role of singing among Native American cultures has a distinctly sacred, ceremonial and personal component which goes beyond even that of personal artistic expression or expression of deep feeling. As S. C. Gwynne writes in Empire of the Summer Moon, a Comanche warrior's personal song was "often written expressly for him by a medicine man." Other sources explain the importance of singing before battle (Dodge mentions this as well, in addition to describing in detail the importance attached to commemorating a successful war-party in song, in the passage quoted earlier). Dodge also explains that in many cases, an individual would sing the personal song at the time of passage into the next world, and it would be the last words spoken in this life. 

From these examples, it is clear that the singing being discussed had a personal spiritual component, closely connected to the individual's identity, but also connecting him or her to the universe. The fact that the most personal individual song was often given by a shaman, an individual who used song to travel to the realm of the stars and to the realm of the spirits, indicates that the song almost certainly connects the individual to the order of the cosmos.

This aspect of the personal song may in fact account for the descriptions Dodge records, that the songs almost always stayed within a single octave and emphasized rhythm more than melody or lyrical content: they can probably be more accurately described as a form of chant, as discussed in this previous post in which the importance of chanting is discussed, and examples of chanting that clearly have a strong spiritual component, from cultures around the globe, are given along with embedded videos of each.

Note that in each of those videos, the only instrument used is the human voice (video links here, here, here, and here). Dodge states at the beginning of the passage quoted above that the voice is usually the only instrument used, although he also notes that the tom-tom is the universal and predominant additional instrument, when another instrument is added. It is notable that the drum is one of the most characteristic and universal pieces of equipment of the shaman the world over (see this previous post), and that the authors of Hamlet's Mill provide clear evidence that the rhythm of the shaman's drum was connected to the motions of the celestial bodies, and especially the planets. 

There, much discussion and examination of the world's myths links the planet Saturn to the rhythm created by all of the planets in their orbits. Saturn was seen as "the giver of measures"  -- both measures of time and of distance -- and by having the longest orbit of the visible planets was seen as the one who "ordered the time" for all the other planets -- and for human beings on this planet as well (note that Saturn is associated in some ways with Kronos, the ancient Greek god of Time). Saturn was mythologically linked to the mysterious figure of the Smith (this connection can be seen in Greek myth, for example, where Hephaestos is a Saturnian figure, but also in many other myths of the world).

The rhythm of the smith's hammer upon the anvil was described as the origin of all musical instrumentation in some myths (see Appendix 10 of Hamlet's Mill for some discussion of this connection), and is almost certainly connected with the beating of the drum, an instrument which had clear celestial aspects as documented by the authors of Hamlet's Mill as well as by Mircea Eliade in his landmark examination of shamanism the world over. 

Thus, it is no exaggeration to say that the beating of the drum was seen to be directly connected to the motions of the cosmic cycles and to the higher realms of the planets, according to the ancient wisdom found in many cultures around the world. As such, the rhythmic nature of the songs or chants described above, the fact that if they were accompanied at all they were accompanied by a drum or tom-tom, and the fact that the most special or personal of them were often given by a shaman (who is associated with a drum and with shamanic journeys to the celestial and spiritual realm), strongly suggests that this particular category of singing clearly links the singer to the entire universe of which he or she is a part, including the spiritual realms which are strongly connected to the motions of the circling heavens.

In light of the foregoing discussion, it is worthwhile to contemplate what a powerful and positive role singing and chanting clearly played among the people of the Americas, and what an example that can be to us living today in a world which over the past several decades has seen mass-produced music replace individually-produced song to a greater and greater degree. It is evident from the four different examples of chanting linked earlier, each in different languages and each originating from a different culture dispersed widely across our planet, that the specific words or languages may be less important than the general form and rhythm of the song: and indeed, the specific testimony given by Dodge and quoted in the passages above, seems to confirm that very conclusion.

The attitude described by Colonel Dodge, that each Native American man and woman was not afraid "to be his or her own poet" is one which we might carefully consider emulating. In an age in which music is so commonly produced only by professionals, it is easy to forget that we can sing whenever we want, simply for the love of it (as described in the passage from S. C. Gwynne above) and not even for the consumption of anyone else at all! We can realize that singing is not something we need to do to impress anyone else, or with the approval of anyone else, or even loud enough for anyone else to really perceive it -- but it is also something that can connect us in very profound and real ways to the "music of the spheres" in the endless heavens above us, and even to aspects of the unseen realm which interpenetrates the visible world at all times, even when we are unaware of it.

We can find sources of such song from a variety of different places, but perhaps most importantly we can simply make it ourselves.

Hamlet, Hamlet's Mill, and Astro-Theology

image: From Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, E. A. Wallis Budge, 1911 (link). Labels added to show correspondence to characters in the story of Hamlet. 

The previous post, entitled "Shakespeare and the Creation of Reality," examined aspects of Shakespeare's plays, and in particular Shakespeare's love of language and of playing with multiple meanings of words and phrases, relating to the concept of "reality creation" and human consciousness.

That post especially focused in upon one of the most famous scenes from Hamlet, which may well be Shakespeare's most famous play. It is particularly fitting that Shakespeare's Hamlet is so overtly concerned with the question of reality and epistemology (the subject of knowing, and the question of how we know what we know, or whether and what we can know), as well as the extent to which words and thoughts shape and even create reality, because the fundamental storyline of Hamlet is a celestial storyline, connected to the ancient sacred traditions of many cultures. 

As I endeavor to demonstrate in my latest book The Undying Stars, these ancient myths -- to which the plot of Hamlet is so closely connected -- are almost certainly deeply concerned with the exact same issues: the creation of reality, the nature of human existence, and the degree to which reality and in fact the entire cosmos is in some sense contained and even created inside the head of each individual man and woman (and thus the well-known scene of young Hamlet contemplating the skull is a beautiful dramatization of this very question).

The fact that the basic plot outline of Hamlet is a very ancient one, hearkening all the way back to the myths of ancient Egypt, is thoroughly established in the seminal 1969 study of ancient wisdom and astro-theology, Hamlet's Mill: An essay on myth and the frame of time, by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend. In that text, they demonstrate that the legend of Hamlet (or Amlethus, as he was called by Saxo Grammaticus, a Danish historian and scholar of myth and poetry who lived c. AD 1150 to c. AD 1220) in which a king-father is killed by a treacherous brother, and whose murder must be avenged by his son, corresponds directly to the outline of the myth of Osiris (murdered by his treacherous brother Set) and Horus.

The connections between these myths (and the connection to the plot of The Lion King) is discussed in this previous post, among others. 

Hamlet's Mill also demonstrates that this ancient myth -- like so many others from around the globe and across the millennia -- is based upon a common system of celestial allegory that can be perceived underneath the different costumes and cultural trappings of all the various sacred stories. 

However, as many readers of Hamlet's Mill are no doubt aware, it can be difficult to follow the argument at times, due to the book's tendency to come right up to the edge of making the connection before suddenly dancing away to take up a different angle or a myth from a different culture, always promising to come back and "close the loop" later on (the reader can be the judge of whether or not that promise is completely serious). 

This is not to say that Hamlet's Mill is not a valuable text that rewards multiple readings and careful study: it absolutely is and it absolutely does, and it has been seminal to my own understanding and to the work of many other researchers who cite it favorably and indicate its importance to their analysis. Contrary to the extremely biased entry on the text in Wikipedia

(and the rambling and completely negative essay that is the only "External Links" source that Wikipedia has featured in the bottom section in their misleading and unfair Hamlet's Mill page for some years now), Hamlet's Mill has not been "debunked," and I believe that its arguments are not only sound but are supported by so much evidence from ancient myth that the conclusion is practically undeniable at this point. My reply to the arguments in that sole reference selected by Wikipedia in their "External Links" for Hamlet's Mill can be found in the previously-linked blog post here.

All that aside, due to the fact that Hamlet's Mill is a somewhat difficult work which generally requires a few complete read-throughs, it may be helpful to read some more straightforward and systematic explications of the ancient system of celestial metaphor prior to tackling Hamlet's Mill itself (although I will say again that it is absolutely worthwhile to eventually tackle it, with the idea that you may have to tackle it again once you've tackled it once!). 

One such book, focusing particularly on the Osiris-Set-Horus conflict isThe Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt (originally published in 1992), by Jane B. Sellers.

Another, I would respectfully submit, is The Undying Stars, in which I endeavor to explain the ancient system in a clear and thorough fashion, as well as to examine the possible purpose and meaning for the widespread presence of star-myths at the heart of virtually every sacred tradition in the cultures of our planet. The outstanding teaching videos of Santos Bonacci, available on the web in various places including his website here, are also an excellent source and were fundamental to my own analysis as well, as are some of the texts he has listed on his site. 

Many previous posts (probably over fifty now) have treated specific myths and traced the connections to the motions of the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars and planets). Some of these have been listed in previous posts such as this one. Here is another convenient compilation, grouping them this time by general culture or ancient civilization, for those who would like a handy index to past posts dealing with star-myths and astro-theology:

ANCIENT SUMER AND BABYLON

• Gilgamesh and Enkidu (see here, here, and here). See also further discussion in my first book, The Mathisen Corollary.
• Ishtar (here).
• The Scorpion Goddess Ishara (here).
• The Oannes (here and here).

ANCIENT EGYPT

• Isis (see here, here, and here).
• Osiris (see here, here, here and here).
• Horus (see here and here).
• Set (see here, here, and here). See also further discussion in my first book, The Mathisen Corollary.

ANCIENT INDIA

• Indra, Vishnu, and the Vajra (hereand here).
• Agni (here).
• The Seven Rishis (here).
• Rahu (here).

OLD TESTAMENT

• Sarah (here).
• Jacob and Esau (here).
• Moses (here). 
• A land flowing with milk and honey (here).
• Samson (here).
• Noah and the Ark (here).
• Elisha the Prophet (here).

NEW TESTAMENT

• The Cross (here, here and here).
• Apostle Peter (here).
• The Scorpion and the Smoky Abyss of Revelation 9 (here).
• Hell (here).

ANCIENT GREECE

• Demeter and Eleusis (here).
• Delphi and the Pythia (here).
• Okeanos or Oceanus (here).
• Hercules (here and here).
• Atlas (here).
• Prometheus (here).
• Ares and Aphrodite (here).
• Ares and the Brazen Cauldron (here).
• Zeus and Aphrodite (here).
• Hermes and Aphrodite (here).
• Zeus-Jupiter (here).
• Pan (here).
• Asclepius (here).
• Amaltheia (here).
• Phaethon (here and here).

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

• Odin and Gunnlod
• Loki
• Skade
• Freya
• Sif
• Heimdall
• Valhalla
• Gefjon and her Plow

JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

• Amaterasu and Uzume

SACRED TRADITIONS AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE AMERICAS

• The Old Man and his Daughter
• The Lucky Hunter
• The Hero Twins
• Tezcatlipoca
• Mother Scorpion

SACRED TRADITIONS AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC

• Maui and the Jawbone
• Wahine Taweka
• The hairy man who fetched the Sun

ANCIENT CHINA

• The Magpie Bridge
• The Bow of the Emperors

Many more in addition to these are discussed in The Undying Stars as well.

Prometheus, Bringer of Fire

Previous posts have explored myths from around the world regarding the origins of fire which center on the stars of the fall equinox, particularly the constellations Virgo, Boötes, and Centaurus (see for example "The Old Man and his Daughter").

However, there is another well-known ancient myth regarding the obtaining of fire by mankind: the myth of Prometheus.

As related by Apollodorus in the seventh section of Book I of his Bibliotheca (translated by James George Frazier, 1921):

Prometheus moulded men out of water and earth and gave them also fire, which unknown to Zeus, he had hidden in a stalk of fennel. But when Zeus learned of it, he ordered Hephaestus to nail his body to Mount Caucasus, which is a Scythian mountain. On it Prometheus was nailed and kept bound for many years. Every day an eagle swooped on him and devoured the lobes of his liver, which grew by night. That was the penalty that Prometheus paid for the theft of fire until Hercules afterwards released him, as we shall show in dealing with Hercules. 1.7.1.

Note that as in the case of the Old Man and his Daughter, the bringing of fire to humanity involves a theft -- one for which Prometheus in this case is severely punished. This aspect of the myth recalls the theft of the mead of poetry by Odin from the maiden Gunnlod -- another myth which, like that of the Old Man and his Daughter and the theft of fire -- is based around the constellation Virgo, and one which also features an eagle (in this case, two eagles, as well as the additional twist that Odin and his adversary each transform into eagles, which adds a shamanic element to the story as well).

In Hamlet's Mill, authors Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend explore the evidence which suggests that poetry -- which Odin had to go to so much trouble to steal -- was anciently regarded with the most profound respect, and treated as a high technology connected to the order of the cosmos. Poetic versification was not something to be trifled with, and they cite evidence that poets took great care to align their use of the technology of metaphor and meter with the deep patterns of the universe:

Every era, of course, has freely invented its own ballads, romances, songs and fables to entertain it. That is another matter. This concerns the poet, poiētēs, as he was understood in early times. There was an original complex of meaning which comprised the words poet, vates, prophet, seer. Every knowledge and law, Vico wrote with a flash of genius two centuries ago, must once upon a time have been "serious poetry," poesia seriosa. It is in this sense that Aristotle in a sophisticated age still refers respectfully to "the grave testimony of [early] poets." 119.

Note that Hamlet's Mill is available to read online here (although every home library should probably have a physical paper copy!); the passage cited above can be found in chapter 8, here.

In light of this role, we can understand why the ancient myths described poetry as something which came down to earth from the heavens, and which "properly belonged" to the celestial regions (hence its portrayal in Norse myth as something which must be stolen, or which drops to earth from the gods). If poetry somehow relates to the motions of the cosmos, then we begin to sense the thought process behind the ancient requirement that the poetry must conform to certain patterns ("as above, so below"). The Edda of Snorri Sturluson, one of the most important sources for Norse myth, spends most of its time explaining the technology of poetry, kenning, and naming.

We can further surmise that the "stealing of fire" may somehow be describing the same concept as the stealing of poetry, in that it is bringing down to humanity something which properly belongs to the heavenly spheres -- and that these myths are about much more than supposedly-primitive humans trying to explain the discovery of the method of kindling fire in their supposedly-primitive past.

This suspicion that the stealing of fire and the stealing of poetry might be pointing us to the same esoteric truths is further bolstered by the fact that Hamlet's Mill  spends a good bit of time examining the importance of the rebel Titan Prometheus, and finds evidence that he is also somehow closely associated with the ancient figure of Kronos-Saturn, "the giver of measures."  In support of this assertion, they cite the thirteenth Orphic Hymn:

So the (13th) Orphic Hymn to Kronos addresses the god as "Father of the blessed gods as well as of man, you of changeful counsel, . . .  strong Titan who devours all and begets it anew [lit. "you who consume all and increase it contrariwise yourself"], you who hold the indestructible bond according to the apeirona (unlimited) order of Aiōn, Kronos father of all, wily-minded Kronos, offspring of Gaia and starry Ouranos . . . venerable Prometheus." 132-133. Bracketed material appears as such in the original text by de Santillana and von Dechend.

Here Prometheus is specifically identified as an aspect of Kronos, giver of measures. The ominous figure of Kronos-Saturn appears in the myths of the world with specific characteristics shared across the globe: he is in one sense a benevolent figure, who came and dwelt among men in a distant Golden Age, teaching them the civilizing arts, but he is also a doomed figure, destined to be imprisoned beneath the earth or beneath the sea (or, in the case of King Arthur, beneath the surface of the Lake), a figure bound in chains, a figure who simultaneously gives the measures of time and space, and is at the same time bound by them. Saturnian figures discussed in Hamlet's Mill include Yama, Varuna, Phaethon, Ea, Enmesharra, Osiris, Hephaestus, Pan, Jamshyd, Yima xsaēta, Balder, Attis, and the Yellow Emperor of ancient China (268-286).

Saturn "gives the measures" because he is the furthest visible planet, with the longest orbit -- a fact which can be observed from earth by seeing that it takes him the longest to return to the same zodiac constellation in the night sky (presently he is in Libra).

We can immediately see that the one who "gives the measures" is related to the gift of poetry -- which is almost by definition a metrical form of language. There is also, as de Santillana and von Dechend discuss, a clear connection to the shaman, whose drum is an important part of the shaman's paraphernalia the world over and which helps connect the shaman to the celestial motions of the universe, and to traverse the ladder to the "other realm" or "spirit realm" -- the realm of the gods.

As noted above, many myths from around the world describe Saturn (or their Saturnian figure in their system) as ruling over a vanished Golden Age, in which he walked among men and women and taught them the civilizing arts, including the growing of crops (in some accounts, in the Golden Age men and women abstained from eating the flesh of animals -- and in some accounts, the Saturn-figure is the one who taught them to not eat one another!). We can immediately see why Prometheus the Giver of Fire fits into this pattern of the god who came down to give higher technology to mankind.

In Hamlet's Mill, the authors provide evidence (without stating it explicitly or at least systematically) that this lost Golden Age corresponds to the Age of Gemini. The key piece of evidence they cite to support this identification is their discussion of the Galaxy and the fact that in the Age of Gemini, the band of the Milky Way would have aligned with the two points of equinox (the spring equinox then being located in Gemini -- hence the name of the Age of Gemini -- and the fall equinox then being located in Sagittarius, who is located next to the other end of the Milky Way band). They note that with such an alignment the "gates" of the equinox would align with the "gates" of that shimmering path of souls (the Milky Way in the night sky). Also, there would have been a satisfactory poetic harmony in the fact that the fiery path of the sun (the ecliptic path, which crosses the celestial equator at equinox) was then aligned with the smoky path of the Galactic band.

As you can see for yourself in the predawn sky at this early-August time of the year, and has been discussed previously (see this post for example), the prominent constellations above the horizon in the Age of Gemini are Gemini (of course) and Orion, who is so close to the Twins that the end of his upraised club (or mace) nearly touches the bottoms of their feet. Below is an image of those constellations arranged on the horizon, first without lines drawn in and then with the outlines as suggested by H.A. Rey:

Above is the view of the eastern horizon: you can see the stunning figure of Orion (look for the three stars of his nearly-vertical belt, directly up from the number "19" in the date-time window of the Neave Planetarium controls). Above him you can see the dazzling "V" of the Hyades, and above them the shimmering cluster of the Pleiades. To the "left" of the "V" of the Hyades are the two stars that make up the long "horns" of the Bull, and above them is the lantern-jawed charioteer of Auriga. 

To the "left" of Orion (towards the north, along the horizon) are the Twins of Gemini, their two brightest stars being their two heads: Castor and Pollux. Below is the same sky-shot, with the lines drawn in as I like to imagine them (following primarily along the recommendations of H.A. Rey, with some slight deviations mainly in Taurus):

If you are able to go have a look for yourself tomorrow morning before the sun begins to lighten the eastern horizon, you will see that as the massive Orion looms above the eastern horizon, he really steals the show, in spite of the fact that this is the lineup of the Age of Gemini and it is the Twins who give their name to that Age. These stars are on the predawn horizon now, in early August, due to the "delaying" motion of precession but they were in their current predawn lineup at the time of the March equinox four long Ages ago (prior to the Age of Pisces, which followed the Age of Aries, which followed the Age of Taurus, which followed the Age of Gemini).

Thus Orion is also associated with that lost Golden Age, and hence with Saturn and Saturnian figures in the myths of the world (most notably perhaps with Osiris). But the constellation of the Twins is extremely important too: Prometheus is described as bringing fire to mankind hidden inside a smoldering reed. There is reason to believe that the stick-like figures of Gemini represent this "fire-reed" -- and that they are also associated with the "fire sticks" mentioned in so many ancient myths in conjunction with the bringing of fire to humanity, including the Vedas of India -- fire sticks which belong to the gods.

In the Vedas, these fire-sticks are described with specific names -- Pramantha for the "upper fire stick," the active drill, and Arani for the passive stick in which the fire is kindled. It has been noted by many previous authors that the name pramantha may well be linguistically connected to the name of Prometheus (Hamlet's Mill discusses this connection on pages 139-140).

Having examined all of these connections, we can begin to understand that the star myths surrounding Prometheus and the bringing of fire to mankind -- like all star myths -- are not "simply" about hiding a message about the stars inside of a mythological story. On the contrary, these stories and their celestial connections were designed to impart life-changing truths about who we are as human beings and what we are doing here in these bodies, on this earth.

The fact that the Twins can be seen as fire-sticks, through which fire is kindled by the action of one vertical stick turning in one horizontal stick, can clearly be seen to relate back to the concept of the "raising of the Tat-cross (or Djed column)," discussed at some length in this post on the most-recent summer solstice. In that post, we saw that:

the horizontal line between the two equinoxes was seen by the ancient sages as representative of the soul of the man or woman "cast down" into incarnation, as if the spirit had "fallen upon its face" or was going about horizontally like an animal (because the spirit was now incarnated in an "animal" body), but that the vertical line which ascends from the winter solstice up to the pinnacle of the summer solstice represents the spirit ascending again, overcoming its "death" in the body, reclaiming its divine nature even though for a time it was imprisoned in the flesh of the material world.

The two lines together, of course, form a cross (as can be seen on the zodiac wheel).

The two sticks of the fire-drill, one vertical and one horizontal, can also be seen as forming a cross, and one which poetically embodies the kindling of the divine spark of the spirit within the inert or passive animal (or horizontal) body. It has been noted by many commentators that in ancient India those fire-sticks have long been understood in just such an esoteric manner, kindling the divine fire within the individual, and then raising the inert or animal nature (figured by the horizontal) to the vertical. The raising of the kundalini along the spinal column, through the seven chakras, can be understood as the raising of this divine spark within the body of our incarnate material form.   

Hence, we can understand that the myth of Prometheus bringing the fire imparts the esoteric understanding that each man and woman consists of a divine spark or fire from heaven, plunged into a body of water and earth (a body of clay -- look again at the passage quoted earlier from Apollodorus describing the Prometheus legend). The important constellations of the Twins of Gemini convey this message in their role as the hollow reed or narthêx stalk (Frazer in his 1921 translation has an extensive footnote in which he discusses the possible genus and species of the plant in question, when of course the reed with which Prometheus brings the fire in the myth is actually a constellation in the sky). 

But the personage of Prometheus himself also embodies the same esoteric message! The bringer of the spark of fire down from heaven, Prometheus ends up chained to a rock, or nailed to a mountain: crucified, that is, upon the cross of matter. Note that in the version cited by Apollodorus, he is nailed there by Hephaestus himself -- another Saturnian figure! All those within the wide orbit of Saturn, of course, are metaphorically Saturn's children, bound during this incarnation within the coils of time and space. He is the one who gives the measures, and he is the one who himself figures our imprisonment, by being bound himself and cast down to the depths, where he sleeps in the cave of Ogygia (in Greek myth) or beneath the waves of the Lake (in the Arthurian legend), or lies bound as a mummy within the underworld (in the form of Osiris).

Returning to the myth as we see it in the book of the heavens, we see that if Gemini can be seen to play the role of the fire sticks or smoldering reed in the story, the imposing figure of Orion must play the role of the fire-giving Titan himself. And we know from Egyptian mythology that Orion corresponds to Osiris: this fact, and the evidence we have already seen which establishes the connection between Prometheus and Saturn-Kronos, supports the conclusion that in this myth, Prometheus is also Orion.

Note that, just as we saw with the horizontal and vertical fire-sticks, Orion begins his journey across the sky in a horizontal posture -- suggestive of Osiris lying inert in the underworld, or Saturn-Kronos chained and asleep in the cave of Ogygia beneath the waves. However, as the video above entitled "Orion rising and crossing the sky" (which I made using the Neave Planetarium online) demonstrates, his very motion figures the esoteric teaching of the "raising up of the Djed column" or the "Tat cross" -- the backbone of Osiris. You can see in the video (or in the procession of the actual stars shining against the backdrop of infinity in the actual sky above our heads) that Orion begins his journey in the east and horizontal, but by the time he reaches his zenith above the due-south-point on the southern horizon (for viewers in the northern hemisphere), he has been raised-up like the Djed column of ancient Egypt to a vertical posture.

This silent message, which the stars give forth "night unto night" (in the words of the 19th Psalm), proclaims to us that we -- who are ourselves like stars that have been cast down from the fiery heavens into this world of earth and water (this world of miry clay) -- will and must raise up this divine spark which is hidden inside of us, and that this process is an essential part of our sojourn here in this incarnate existence.

That the stars of Orion and the constellations around him are being allegorized in the ancient Saturnian myths is quite evident from the artwork of the ancient Egyptians, which often depicted Osiris lying horizontal in the underworld and yet retaining distinctive features of the constellation Orion, as in the artwork below from Dendera which was reproduced in the 1911 text by E.A. Wallis Budge entitled Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection:

Note the "striding" position of the legs, very characteristic of Orion (whom the Egyptians named Sahu -- a name which may in fact have etymological connections in the syllable Sa with the name of Saturn).

Below is another image of the supine Osiris. Note the attendance in the image below of the jackal-headed god Anubis (at the feet of Osiris):

Note that the constellation we know as Canis Major (the Big Dog) closely accompanies Orion on his journey across the sky. The outlines of Canis Major in the video above and in the various free planetarium apps (such as the Neave Planetarium and the downloadable stellarium.org) do not really do justice to the constellation of Canis Major. As with many other constellations, the outlines suggested by author H.A. Rey are in my opinion far superior (and far more helpful for actually identifying the constellations in the night sky).

Below I have added the outline to the stars of Canis Major as suggested by H.A. Rey in The Stars: A New Way to See Them. Once you know the outline, you should be able to identify this majestic celestial hound in the video above showing Orion rising from the horizon towards zenith before sinking back down towards the west. Better yet, you should be able to identify the outline of the Big Dog in the sky, with the Dog Star Sirius in the upper forward shoulder of the constellation.

Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, and was associated with the goddess Isis in ancient Egypt (Isis can be seen in the above image, hovering over the dead Osiris in the form of a falcon). Even though Sirius is associated with Isis, it does seem from the image above that the position of Anubis in relation to the supine Osiris suggests that in this image at least Anubis might be associated with the outline of Canis Major. I have left the stars of Orion as they appear without the lines -- he looks best that way, the way he actually appears in the night sky:

From the foregoing discussion, it is evident that the ancient star myths describing the bringing of fire from the heavens (its proper dwelling-place) down to earth concern far more than simply "legends to explain how humans first obtained fire." The fire in question is divine fire -- the spark of divinity -- and the legends are there in part to remind us of a truth which we have forgotten, in our dizzying plunge from the world of spirit into this deadening world of animal nature, this world of muddy clay. 

As we have seen, the myths are telling us that we must ascend and transcend the earthly nature, and in doing so raise the material nature and transform it (as the horizontal or passive fire-stick is imbued with the spark from above, and blazes into something completely new, possessed of something it did not appear to have before).

We have also seen that the descent of the fire -- a gift from the gods -- parallels the descent of the mead of poetry from heaven down to earth, and that poetry too is in some way meant to convey a transformative message. Poetry, properly understood, has to do with creating new realities, creating new worlds, transcending limits (poetry by its very nature makes metaphors which connect two disparate things or disparate ideas -- thereby busting through boundaries, smashing down literal thinking). See the explication of the inspiring speech given by Jon Rappoport on this subject, here. 

As such, we can finally see that the subjects we have been discussing lie at the heart of the message of the myths: consciousness, the realization that we can transcend the chains which bind Osiris, the nails which pin Prometheus to the rock.

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 Love of Ares and Aphrodite Crowned with Flowers

Above is a link to a video in which I used the very user-friendly online planetarium app at neave.com to illustrate the well-known "star myth" describing the dalliance of Ares and Aphrodite -- which ends in embarrassment, as Aphrodite's husband has prepared a little trap for the illicit lovers.

The celestial aspects of this ancient myth were discussed in this previous post from June 10, 2011 -- and if you want to go to the Neave browser-based planetarium (or any other planetarium where you can  easily adjust the date and time) you can re-create the events shown in the above video for yourself.  

Just set the date back to June 11, 2011 and set the time for about 4am (you may want to adjust your location on the globe to a point that's between 30 and 35 degrees north latitude), swivel the field of view around until you are looking along the horizon towards the east, and then press down on the little arrow below the "minutes" portion of the time-field to set the heavens in motion! If you press and hold, the sky will begin to smoothly rotate and the stars and planets will begin to rise in the east; if for some reason the stars and planets are setting in the east, then you are obviously going backwards in time and will want to hold down the bottom-arrow below the minute-dial, not the top-arrow.

When you do so, or if you carefully watch the motions of the planets Mars, Venus and Mercury in the above video of the same process, you will experience direct evidence that the ancient myths and sacred traditions from around the globe are all star myths -- they are all based upon a common system of celestial metaphor, and encode the endless, silent, majestic motion of the heavens circling above our heads. For a list of about twenty other star myths containing links to blog posts which explain their connection to the motions of the stars, planets, sun and moon, see this previous post.

As explained in the previous post regarding the conjunction of Mars and Venus underneath the shimmering Pleiades, and explained as well by the authors of Hamlet's Mill (see this online version, and page 177 in the chapter entitled "Samson under many skies") and by the ancient writer Lucian of Samosata (c. AD 120 - c. AD 200), the famous liaison of Aries the god of war (Roman Mars) and Aphrodite the goddess of love (Roman Venus) in which they are snared by the net of Hephaestus the god of fire and the forge (Roman Vulcan) almost certainly depicts a specific heavenly event. 

The story of the trap used by the plodding Hephaestus to ensnare his unfaithful wife and her lover is found in the Odyssey. It is presented below in my favorite English translation, by the late great Robert Fagles, along with screen-shots when appropriate to illustrate the celestial counterpart of the myth:

now the bard struck up an irresistible song:

The Love of Ares and Aphrodite Crowned with Flowers . . .

how the two had first made love in Hephaestus' mansion,

all in secret. Ares had showered her with gifts

and showered Hephaestus' marriage bed with shame

but a messenger ran to tell the god of fire --

Helios, lord of the sun, who'd spied the couple

lost in each other's arms and making love. VIII. 301-308.

A bit of translation -- when the above passage says "but a messenger ran to tell the god of fire -- Helios, lord of the sun, etc." it means that Helios is the messenger who ran to tell the god of fire (that is, Hephaestus). It does not mean that Helios is the god of fire: Helios is the lord of the sun, "who'd spied the couple lost in each other's arms and making love." This aspect of the story indicates that the liaison between the two lovers occurs close to the rising sun, as indeed it does on the morning indicated (June 10, 2011). 

Since the planet Venus is on an orbit whose path is closer to the sun than that of the earth, observers on earth will always see Venus somewhat close to the sun, but she can be found on either the sunrise side of the sun, or the sunset side of the sun, depending on the relative position of earth and Venus. For more details on the motions of Venus, see the fascinating discussion in this previous post.

Hephaestus, hearing the heart-wounding story,

bustled toward his forge, brooding on his revenge --

planted the huge anvil on its block and beat out chains,

not to be slipped or broken, all to pin the lovers on the spot.

This snare the Firegod forged, ablaze with his rage at War,

then limped to the room where the bed of love stood firm

and round the posts he poured the chains in a sweeping net

with streams of others flowing down from the roof beam,

gossamer-fine as spider webs no man could see,

not even a blissful god --

the Smith had forged a masterwork of guile. VIII. 309 - 319.

The authors of Hamlet's Mill establish that this net of Hephaestus corresponds to the Pleiades by tracing the appearance of the heavenly net and its connection with the Pleiades in other sacred myths from around the globe. On page 175 of the same chapter linked above, they write:

Then there is a true avenger-of-his-father, the Tuamotuan Tahaki, who, after long travels, arrives in the dark at the house of the goblin band who tortured his father. He conjures upon them "the intense cold of Havaiki" (the other world) which puts the to sleep. Then Tahaki gathered up the net given to him by Kuhi, and carried it to the door of the long house. He set fire to the house. When the goblin myriads shouted out together "Where is the door?" Tahaki called out: "Here it is." They thought it was one of their own band who had called out, and so they rushed headlong into the net, and Tahaki burned them up in the fire.

What the net could be is known from the story of Kaulu. This adventurous hero, wanting to destroy a she-cannibal, first flew up to Makalii the great god, and asked for his nets, the Pleiades and the Hyades, into which he entangled the evil one before he burned down her house. It is clear who was the owner of the nets up there. The Pleiades are in the right hand of Orion on the Farnese Globe, and they used to be called the "lagobolion" (hare net). The Hyades were for big game.

The Farnese Globe to which they refer, of course, is that born by the statue of Atlas discussed in this previous post; the fact that it contains clues which indicate that the ancients had a sophisticated level of astronomical understanding is discussed in this older post.

So, having established that the "gossamer-fine" web woven by the master-smith Hephaestus in this myth corresponds to the Pleiades in the night sky, the stage is now set for the actual drama involving the gods. The poet continues, explaining that Hephaestus pretends he has to head off on a long trip to visit his most-cherished town -- but he is really setting a trap for his unfaithful wife Aphrodite, and he has tasked the sun-god (actually, a Titan) Helios with keeping watch, and alerting him when the trap has been sprung:

Once he'd spun that cunning trap around his bed

he feigned a trip to the well-built town of Lemnos,

dearest to him by far of all the towns on earth.

But the god of battle kept no blind man's watch.

As soon as he saw the Master Craftsman leave

he plied his golden reins and arrived at once

and entered the famous god of fire's mansion,

chafing with lust for Aphrodite crowned with flowers. VIII. 320 - 327.

Below is a screen-shot from 04:44 am, in which Ares has now arrived on the scene, "chafing with lust for Aphrodite crowned with flowers":

In the above image, a dotted line has been added to help distinguish the line of the horizon (Venus is still invisible, below this line). The cluster of the Pleiades is indicated by the longer, bluish arrow. The location of the impatient god Mars (Aries) is indicated by the orange arrow (and Mars himself is orange-red in color).

The poet continues, and now describes Venus herself, and then the two go off to bed:

She'd just returned from her father's palace, mighty Zeus,

and now she sat in her rooms as Ares strode right in

and grasped her hand with a warm, seductive urging:

"Quick, my darling, come, let's go to bed

and lose ourselves in love! Your husband's away --

by now he must be off in the wilds of Lemnos,

consorting with his raucous Sintian friends." So he pressed

and her heart raced with joy to sleep with War

and off they went to bed and down they lay -- VIII. 328 - 336.

Below is a screen-shot of the same scene, but now from 04:53 am, and Venus has arrived on the scene, following Mars off to the bed of love:

In the above diagram, Venus is indicated by a green arrow. Mars and the Pleiades, each now slightly higher in the sky than they were at 04:44 am, are still indicated by the short orange and long blue arrows, respectively.

And now, the bard in the Odyssey tells his listeners, the two lovers are caught in a trap (they can't walk out):

and down around them came those cunning chains

of the crafty god of fire, showering down now

till the couple could not move a limb or lift a finger --

then they knew at last: there was no way out, not now.

But now the glorious crippled Smith was drawing near . . .

he'd turned around, miles short of the Lemnos coast,

for the Sungod kept his watch and told Hephaestus all,

so back he rushed to his house, his heart consumed with anguish.

Halting there at the gates, seized with savage rage,

he howled a terrible cry, imploring all the gods,

"Father Zeus, look here --

the rest of you happy gods who live forever --

here is a sight to make you laugh, revolt you too!

[. . .]" VIII. 337 - 349.

Notice the repeated mention of the Sungod in line 343 -- once again we are reminded that it is the Sun deity who spies the lovers, just as he did earlier when he informed Hephaestus of what was going on, enabling the Smith to create the web in the first place.

If we dial the time forward some more (you can do this yourself if you go to the online planetarium app mentioned earlier) the sky will begin to lighten in the east and the corona of the Sungod will begin to crest the horizon -- followed by the sunrise and the advent of the Sun himself. Trapped beneath the cunning net of Hephaestus, the two lovers are now exposed to the full light of day -- and the gathering of the immortals to laugh at their plight:

So Hephaestus wailed

as the gods came crowding up to his bronze-floored house.

Poseidon god of the earthquake came, and Hermes came,

the running god of luck, and the Archer, lord Apollo,

while modesty kept each goddess to her mansion.

The immortals, givers of all good things, stood at the gates,

and uncontrollable laughter burst from the happy gods

when the saw the god of fire's subtle, cunning work.

One would glance at his neighbor, laughing out,

"A bad day for adultery! Slow outstrips the Swift!"

"Look how limping Hephaestus conquers War,

the quickest of all the gods who rule Olympus!"

"The cripple wins by craft!" "The adulterer,

he will pay the price!" So the gods would banter

among themselves but lord Apollo goaded Hermes on:

"Tell me, Quicksilver, giver of all good things --

even with those unwieldy shackles wrapped around you,

how would you like to bed the golden Aphrodite?"

"Oh Apollo, if only!" the giant-killer cried.

"Archer, bind me down with triple those endless chains!

Let all you gods look on, and all you goddesses too --

how I'd love to bed that golden Aphrodite!" VIII. 364 - 384.

The image below will set the scene as it appears in the sky:

Again, if the resolution of the images is too low, head on over to a planetarium app and dial up the scene for yourself. However, it is hoped that in the above scene you can make out the following players:

• The Sun, rising over the horizon (marked with the number 1 in the version of the same image, below).
• Mercury, just above the Sun (marked with the number 2).
• Venus, almost directly below the Pleiades, and marked with the number 3.
• Mars, a bit ahead of her, along the same "ecliptic line" which the sun, moon, and planets follow across the sky (Mars is marked with the number 4 in the diagram below).
• The Pleiades, marked with the number 5.

In this final scene, one can really appreciate the breathtaking level of poetic correspondence between the myth itself, as related in the Odyssey, and the heavenly bodies of our solar system, who act out the drama recorded in the myth. 

Most notable, perhaps, is the final detail, in which Hermes and Apollo are described as sharing a joke over whether or not it would be worth it to exchange places with Ares at that moment, in order to be able to lie next to Aphrodite. Look again at the planetarium image above, and see how the planet Mercury (Hermes) is right next to the Sungod, as if the two gods are standing off to one side as they make fun of the situation. Mercury, of course, is always located close to the sun itself, a fact which helps set up the stage-directions which translate into the myth as Apollo and Hermes sharing a laugh together at Aphrodite's expense.

Anyone who reads the lines from the Homeric epic, and then studies the diagram shown above, should have no further doubts that the ancient stories embody the motions of the heavenly spheres -- and that they do so with a degree of precision and sophistication that is absolutely astonishing and delightful to behold.

But, as previous posts have argued, and as my latest book The Undying Stars works to establish, the allegorization in exquisite myth of the motions of the celestial actors was not simply for entertainment or delight -- as entertaining and delightful as the star myths undeniably are. These ancient treasures were intended to convey profound wisdom to men and women of all parts of the world, and in all the ages of humanity. 

They contain a message of liberation from bondage and mental slavery. Hermes, the one who laughingly offers to be chained up if only he can be next to the goddess of love, ironically enough is the one who most embodies the transcending of false barriers and mental chains, as discussed in this post entitled "Jon Rappoport on the trickster-god and creating reality."

And so, even as we enjoy the wonderful ancient myths found in the Odyssey and the rest of the world's sacred traditions, we can also ponder the profound messages which they want to carry to each and every one of us.