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Cover Art, Walter Bruneel
Issue 1: No. 1, May 2011 - "Mythemes & Dragons"
Table of Contents
1. What Does It Mean to Shine: Feeding the Energy Body
2. Dragon Watchtowers
3. When Comets Were Dragons: From Tiamat to Tunguska
4. Did Comets Inspire the Labyrinth?
5. Book Review: Embodying Osiris6. The Dragons of Serbia:: Faeries, Dragons & Witches Blood
Table of Contents
1. What Does It Mean to Shine: Feeding the Energy Body
2. Dragon Watchtowers
3. When Comets Were Dragons: From Tiamat to Tunguska
4. Did Comets Inspire the Labyrinth?
5. Book Review: Embodying Osiris6. The Dragons of Serbia:: Faeries, Dragons & Witches Blood
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"Gateways", Bruneel
1. What Does It Mean "to Shine"?
Feeding the Energy Body
Torus/Twister, Iona Miller, 2006
God redeems humanity,
but nature needs to be redeemed by human alchemists,
who are able to induce the process of transformation,
which alone is capable of liberating the light imprisoned in physical creation.
— Stephan Hoeller
(Gnosis, Vol. 8, Summer 1988)
Illustrious Ancestors
The word “aether” means “shine” in Greek, and the fundamental reality of such an unseen, fluidlike source of universal energy has long been a hallmark of the world’s secret mystery schools. The works of Greek philosophers Pythagoras and Plato discuss it at great length, as do the Vedic scriptures of ancient India, referring to it by several names such as “prana” and “Akasha.” In Asia, it is often known as “chi” or “ki,” and special emphasis is placed on its interactions with the human body. The ancients claimed we could essentially link individual and universal fields through resonance by breathing in this 'subtle' energy as a form of nourishment for the energy body. It is the ancient root of Qabalistic practices such as the Middle Pillar Exercise.
In THE DRAGON LEGACY, we learn, "The ability to ’shine’, a phenomenon which can still be subjectively experienced, is the result of a transcendent, balanced state of mind related to certain processes connected with cellular rejuvenation. The ability is rare enough and is an innate genetic capacity manifested in the outworking of certain ’shamanic’ exercises related to ’climbing the Tree of Life’. . . If you have realized to any extent that you are of the Clan, you will know that from the very beginning the fairies were called the ’Shining Ones’.
This stems from the Sumerian era when ’The Controllers of the Fate of Men’ were known as both the Anunnaki and the Anunnagi, the former meaning "those who are manifest when Heaven meets Earth" and the latter meaning simply ’Shining Ones’ or Star Children. The two mean the same thing and refer to the nocturnal habits of our ancestors as much as anything else. These habits are directly related to the production and maintenance of certain hormones, which then relate to the core meaning itself. In particular the epithet ’Shining One’ was appended to Prince Shamash, brother of Erishkigal, Queen of the otherworld. Shamash was the Uncle of Lilith and was also called the ’Prince of Justice’.
We All Shine On... Like the Moon and the Stars and the Sun...
The Elven Gods were called Shining Ones for their shamanic ability to shimmer or glow radiantly. In ancient Scythian the Asuras were called Devas or "shining ones", also related to the Neteru, Vedic Nagas, and the "Fairies" -- all Dragon royalty. Nicholas de Vere claims the high strength of their morphic energy field, maintained by the DNA blueprint, "gave the Albi-gens, the Maidens of the Grail, the perceptible "glow" that earned them the Epithet "The Shining Ones". The Flame of Life burned brighter in them." He links it to the concentration of energy in the chakras or sephiroth that supercharge the endcrine glands. He says this faculty can remain dormant until we resonate with the genetic memory of other dragonkin descendants.
Accelerating Transformation
We are waking up to our true gifts - and stewarding the emergence of a new era. We're evolving new forms infused with integrity, authenticity, generosity and virtue. And we're living more purposefully and finding ways to serve a cause greater than ourselves. It's not an easy path. We're learning as we go - transforming our past, exploring our inner truths and expressing our strengths in new ways. We're learning to lead boldly without dominating, feel fully and freely, and use our power to protect instead of destroy. And we have further to go - both for the sake of our liberation and the world's.
Over the past decade, the amount of information available to us all has accelerated, stimulated by advances in technology which enhance the exploration of both our inner and outer environments. Mystics say that this process is increasing due to the dropping of the veil between the dimensions of reality, bombarding our consciousness with those things previously hidden in mystery until all is revealed.
Are we ready? Will we be able to tell the difference between our awake and asleep state? How will we redefine ourselves as the psyche expands to envelop all dimensions of existence? Faced with a cornucopia of opportunities the individual must steer a clear path to achieve their life’s purpose; yet who is at the helm? More than ever before it is important to tap into the pulse of the soul, know our authentic self and live in integrity.
Life seems to be moving faster than ever with the "stage" changing daily both at home and around the world, creating the feeling we are living on the edge of chaos unsure of which structures will survive and which will be swept away in the next wave of consciousness. And yet this place -- the creative edge -- between structure and chaos is a powerful place of growth and transformation. Here intentionality can become highly focused allowing all energy to be used to create our reality from the deepest part of our being, benefiting all concerned.
Assimilation
Paradigms serve important integrative psychological and social functions. They help us read the sacred pages in the Book of Nature. Wisdom traditions explore the same territory of natural philosophy with spiritual technologies. Virtual photons and photons are the key to biology. Photons bridge the gap between physics, biology and philosophy. How do the alchemists know? They simply look inside themselves. We are all evidence of that Brilliance.
Now science is catching up with spiritual tech. Biophotonics is a rapidly increasing field of current scientific research and applications, based on the discovery of biophotons, a permanent, weak photon current emanating from all living systems. The biophoton emission reflects some, if not all, of the essential biological and physiological activities in biological systems. Biophotonics provides a powerful tool for investigating electromagnetic interactions. The theoretical approach requires holistic models of living systems, rather than local analytical models. Consequently, these new insights into living matter create a new basis of "integrative biophysics" that is concerned with the questions of regulation, communication and organization of biological systems.
Instead of an absence of energy in the vacuum, there is a tremendous amount of it, from a completely non-electromagnetic source, a "seething cauldron" of energy in very high magnitudes. All of physical matter is ultimately made of pure energy, and there are no “hard particles” to be found in the quantum realm.
The universal field, the hyperfield, is a biofield, a bioplasma. There is no practical distinction between organic and inorganic matter. Nikola Tesla claimed in 1891 that the aether “behaves as a fluid to solid bodies, and as a solid to light and heat,” and that under certain conditions it could be accessed. Mystics claimed to have done so for aeons. They claim such a field can be absorbed and amplified, and re-emitted in related spiralling or vortex motions often described as 'serpentine'.
Plasma physics has merged with or has applications in psychobiology. It has been suggested that strong emotional energy may cause a measurable at-a-distance reaction, and this is where our concepts of psychic phenomena and consciousness come into the picture.
The vital life-giving energy of chi acts in the hyperspatial flux of bioplasma. Plasma can be modified through its electromagnetic field. Intention is electric and magnetic in the action of breathing chi from the universal field, uniting the individual and cosmic fields with resonance.
Intentionality is an electromagnetic energy that may importantly affect the plasma field, especially toward absorbing chi nourishment for the energy body via vase breathing, aso called "womb breathing" for both men and women. It adds conscious attention to a normally unconscious process, deliberately amplifying it.
The electronic process of metabolism may be treated as a plasma state within the solid state of organic compounds. Chi breathed into the human body with the electric action of intentionality feeds vital energy into the life vase. The life vase then feeds the human energy body, using magnetic body channels.
To amplify the life-giving energy of chi in the hyperfield, one breathes bioplasma taking in its informational content, that guides and corrects its process of action. That information can be considered a magnetic field connection between the chi or primordial essence breathed and the fundamental life-giving chi in the human body.
The word “aether” means “shine” in Greek, and the fundamental reality of such an unseen, fluidlike source of universal energy has long been a hallmark of the world’s secret mystery schools. The works of Greek philosophers Pythagoras and Plato discuss it at great length, as do the Vedic scriptures of ancient India, referring to it by several names such as “prana” and “Akasha.” In Asia, it is often known as “chi” or “ki,” and special emphasis is placed on its interactions with the human body. The ancients claimed we could essentially link individual and universal fields through resonance by breathing in this 'subtle' energy as a form of nourishment for the energy body. It is the ancient root of Qabalistic practices such as the Middle Pillar Exercise.
In THE DRAGON LEGACY, we learn, "The ability to ’shine’, a phenomenon which can still be subjectively experienced, is the result of a transcendent, balanced state of mind related to certain processes connected with cellular rejuvenation. The ability is rare enough and is an innate genetic capacity manifested in the outworking of certain ’shamanic’ exercises related to ’climbing the Tree of Life’. . . If you have realized to any extent that you are of the Clan, you will know that from the very beginning the fairies were called the ’Shining Ones’.
This stems from the Sumerian era when ’The Controllers of the Fate of Men’ were known as both the Anunnaki and the Anunnagi, the former meaning "those who are manifest when Heaven meets Earth" and the latter meaning simply ’Shining Ones’ or Star Children. The two mean the same thing and refer to the nocturnal habits of our ancestors as much as anything else. These habits are directly related to the production and maintenance of certain hormones, which then relate to the core meaning itself. In particular the epithet ’Shining One’ was appended to Prince Shamash, brother of Erishkigal, Queen of the otherworld. Shamash was the Uncle of Lilith and was also called the ’Prince of Justice’.
We All Shine On... Like the Moon and the Stars and the Sun...
The Elven Gods were called Shining Ones for their shamanic ability to shimmer or glow radiantly. In ancient Scythian the Asuras were called Devas or "shining ones", also related to the Neteru, Vedic Nagas, and the "Fairies" -- all Dragon royalty. Nicholas de Vere claims the high strength of their morphic energy field, maintained by the DNA blueprint, "gave the Albi-gens, the Maidens of the Grail, the perceptible "glow" that earned them the Epithet "The Shining Ones". The Flame of Life burned brighter in them." He links it to the concentration of energy in the chakras or sephiroth that supercharge the endcrine glands. He says this faculty can remain dormant until we resonate with the genetic memory of other dragonkin descendants.
Accelerating Transformation
We are waking up to our true gifts - and stewarding the emergence of a new era. We're evolving new forms infused with integrity, authenticity, generosity and virtue. And we're living more purposefully and finding ways to serve a cause greater than ourselves. It's not an easy path. We're learning as we go - transforming our past, exploring our inner truths and expressing our strengths in new ways. We're learning to lead boldly without dominating, feel fully and freely, and use our power to protect instead of destroy. And we have further to go - both for the sake of our liberation and the world's.
Over the past decade, the amount of information available to us all has accelerated, stimulated by advances in technology which enhance the exploration of both our inner and outer environments. Mystics say that this process is increasing due to the dropping of the veil between the dimensions of reality, bombarding our consciousness with those things previously hidden in mystery until all is revealed.
Are we ready? Will we be able to tell the difference between our awake and asleep state? How will we redefine ourselves as the psyche expands to envelop all dimensions of existence? Faced with a cornucopia of opportunities the individual must steer a clear path to achieve their life’s purpose; yet who is at the helm? More than ever before it is important to tap into the pulse of the soul, know our authentic self and live in integrity.
Life seems to be moving faster than ever with the "stage" changing daily both at home and around the world, creating the feeling we are living on the edge of chaos unsure of which structures will survive and which will be swept away in the next wave of consciousness. And yet this place -- the creative edge -- between structure and chaos is a powerful place of growth and transformation. Here intentionality can become highly focused allowing all energy to be used to create our reality from the deepest part of our being, benefiting all concerned.
Assimilation
Paradigms serve important integrative psychological and social functions. They help us read the sacred pages in the Book of Nature. Wisdom traditions explore the same territory of natural philosophy with spiritual technologies. Virtual photons and photons are the key to biology. Photons bridge the gap between physics, biology and philosophy. How do the alchemists know? They simply look inside themselves. We are all evidence of that Brilliance.
Now science is catching up with spiritual tech. Biophotonics is a rapidly increasing field of current scientific research and applications, based on the discovery of biophotons, a permanent, weak photon current emanating from all living systems. The biophoton emission reflects some, if not all, of the essential biological and physiological activities in biological systems. Biophotonics provides a powerful tool for investigating electromagnetic interactions. The theoretical approach requires holistic models of living systems, rather than local analytical models. Consequently, these new insights into living matter create a new basis of "integrative biophysics" that is concerned with the questions of regulation, communication and organization of biological systems.
Instead of an absence of energy in the vacuum, there is a tremendous amount of it, from a completely non-electromagnetic source, a "seething cauldron" of energy in very high magnitudes. All of physical matter is ultimately made of pure energy, and there are no “hard particles” to be found in the quantum realm.
The universal field, the hyperfield, is a biofield, a bioplasma. There is no practical distinction between organic and inorganic matter. Nikola Tesla claimed in 1891 that the aether “behaves as a fluid to solid bodies, and as a solid to light and heat,” and that under certain conditions it could be accessed. Mystics claimed to have done so for aeons. They claim such a field can be absorbed and amplified, and re-emitted in related spiralling or vortex motions often described as 'serpentine'.
Plasma physics has merged with or has applications in psychobiology. It has been suggested that strong emotional energy may cause a measurable at-a-distance reaction, and this is where our concepts of psychic phenomena and consciousness come into the picture.
The vital life-giving energy of chi acts in the hyperspatial flux of bioplasma. Plasma can be modified through its electromagnetic field. Intention is electric and magnetic in the action of breathing chi from the universal field, uniting the individual and cosmic fields with resonance.
Intentionality is an electromagnetic energy that may importantly affect the plasma field, especially toward absorbing chi nourishment for the energy body via vase breathing, aso called "womb breathing" for both men and women. It adds conscious attention to a normally unconscious process, deliberately amplifying it.
The electronic process of metabolism may be treated as a plasma state within the solid state of organic compounds. Chi breathed into the human body with the electric action of intentionality feeds vital energy into the life vase. The life vase then feeds the human energy body, using magnetic body channels.
To amplify the life-giving energy of chi in the hyperfield, one breathes bioplasma taking in its informational content, that guides and corrects its process of action. That information can be considered a magnetic field connection between the chi or primordial essence breathed and the fundamental life-giving chi in the human body.
Novum Lumen Naturae
by Iona Miller, 2009
I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness
the astonishing light of your own being." ~ Hafiz
Dark Sparks
FIAT LVX! Only light is omnipresent and eternal. Science now confirms what the alchemists knew centuries ago that it is more than metaphorical. The meaning of Life is Light. Absolute Light, archetypal divine fire, radiates from the Tree of Life as the vital formative principle. The light of earth and heaven, the animating power, mingle in our consciousness. The Light fulfills us and we are fulfilled in its revelation. It shines through us.
Behold, the natural light of natural philosophy, the study of nature in all her dimensions. As Homo Lumen we intentionally cultivate and realize the Body of Light, the diamond vehicle of consciousness. Alchemy is the sensuous science through which we love that natural light into being, even as Lumen Naturae kindles ourselves. The light is our connection to all that is wholly existent and our own immortality. In fact, there is nothing else but this light of grace and glory that complements the celestial light. Mending this division makes us whole.
Internal Sun
The full force of the clear Light of the Divine would blind us, but it is mediated by the Lux Naturae which is always with us. Only in this new millennium have we learned just how literal it is. Light is hidden in matter and the forces of nature, so you must seek and see it for yourself. We must cultivate it like an artist. Our medium is the energy body; our means spiritual technology for the soft machine. By this secret fire, the living balsam of nature is brought forth from darkness to light.
In the One World of alchemy, inner and outer light are identical, seamlessly wed like Luna and Sol in illumined lunacy. The light within life is our own awareness, mediated by our energy bodies (field body) which fills each particle of being. Direct communication is healing, realigning body and soul. We finally come to our senses. When we sit in meditation we come to know the meaning of scintillae and the light of the darkness. We see it gleaming beyond the Abyss that distinguishes being from nondual unmanifest existence.
Matter is composed of and utterly dependent on organic light that fills the universe and our bodies. The Great Work is an operation of Light. This light has an earthly and spiritual aspect, psychosomatic and archetypal nature. This meaningful light of our own darkness is the holy Grail, the diamond Stone, the curative Elixir that links our ego-experience and spiritual unity. Self-knowledge is the science of Creation.
Star of David
The Lux Natura is a revelation of living Light and source of true knowledge. But this light is hidden like a secret since it is experiential not merely conceptual. Now you see it, now you don't. This Hermetic secret is in the power and the power is in the secret. Mystic knowledge can only be known directly by initiation, not merely explained.
One must deeply comprehend the nature of the Hermetic language and make the journey to one's own depths. Only the Light of Darkness illuminates our depths. Only by comprehending its nature can we comprehend our own. We learn from astral vision, beginning in self-initiation leading toward emergent psychedelic illumination (peacock's tail), which heralds the final stage of stabilized integration by uniting the opposites of the black and white stages. It can happen gradually or suddenly. Soul and Spirit rise into the Mystic.
This sacred light is personified as the androgynous Mercurius, the soul guide, with his shining torch that lights the Way, the scintillating fire of nature. This spirit of life comes to us as that secret light. Lumen Naturae is the Heart of Mercurius, the meaning in experience. This Mercurial spirit, the bringer of light, is the key element of transformation, but only for those with the highest aspirations.
Meditation releases the photobiochemical imagination-stimulating spirit molecule of the pineal gland, associated with illumination -- DMT. Its luminescence is more than an image of regeneration; it is the Elixir of Life. Effects include blinding white light, access to seemingly infinite dimensions of awareness, a rush of irridescent colors, encounters with demonic and angelic entities, ecstatic emotions, timelessness, heavenly sounds, feelings of having died and being reborn, contacting a powerful and loving presence underlying all of reality. You are essentially "another" person. The Homunculus thrives as the Divine Child, expressing the potential of ever-renewing self.
Sense of Wonder
Meditation modulates pineal activity, eliciting a standing wave through resonance effects that coordinates other brain centers with both chemicals and electromagnetism. Resonance is induced in the pineal gland using electric, magnetic, or sound energy, resynchronizing both hemispheres of the brain, resulting in a chain of synergetic harmony that releases DMT, an endogenous psychedelic. Curiously, this gland -- the Third Eye -- is light sensitive and actually has a lens, cornea, and retina.
The mindbody is electronic, but it is rooted in the luminosity of its invisible ground. Living systems are very sensitive to tiny energy fields and resonance phenomena, both locally and at a distance. They allow the cells of the body to work together instantaneously and symphonically. All biological processes are a function of electromagnetic field interactions. EM fields are the connecting link between the world of form and resonant patterns. EM fields embody or store gestalts, patterns of information. Biochemical action and bioelectronic action meet at the quantum-junction.
Alchemists work hard and long to find and release the dark light hidden in matter and the forces of nature -- the Lumen Naturae, or light of nature that is also chthonic, that is, buried in matter. This dark light is hidden because it is of the Void, metaphysical, non-observable virtual photon fluctuation and biophysical manifestations -- biophotons. This radiant wisdom Stone mediates between psyche and soma, the interaction of spirit and matter.
Soft Radiance
Lumen naturae is the radiant basis of life. Self-organization is a term for those types of pattern forming systems which are driven by a constant input of energy. All atoms and molecules undergo continuous Brownian motion and so collide with each other. Movements of single cells, cell division and cell locomotion, as well as the movements of multicellular organisms such as animals and plants are based on the cooperative action of many molecular motors driven by Brownian motion. Man-ifestation.
Psychological images meet outer facts in physical knowledge. From the Heart of Darkness springs the Light, and we are That. Virtual Photon Fluctuation is the Source of the photons that form and sustain our Being. We are truly Light Beings: Homo Lumen. We literally inhabit and embody a Temple of Living Light, which is interconnected with the deepest level of Cosmos. We are shiny Diamonds of Rainbow Light. We are made in the Images of its Brilliance. The Shining
Lumen naturae illuminates consciousness and is heralded by emergent scintillae or sparks of light before illumination becomes stabilized. We are beings of living Light. We can articulate a contemporary as well as medieval perspective on alchemy. The new view of physics (energy science) is grounded in scalar electromagnetics, the potential of ZERO-POINT energy. It is not qualitatively different from the hidden light in any way.
Multiple realities contain all possibilities, but in enfolded or virtual states. This theory alleges that there are clustered worlds, which are three-dimensional to an observer within them, yet virtual to an observer from outside. Hyperspace dimensions are orthogonally rotated (90 degrees) in respect to one another. Selecting a frame, or cube of space, facilitates access.
When we consider the vastness of space, we perceive emptiness due to our relative position in this universe. The Void is actually densely packed with virtual energy which awaits translation, or transduction into our observable 3-dimensional reality. These energies or entities appear as virtual because they are unobservable through ordinary means. Crosstalk across these channels is the basis for the collective unconscious, paranormal phenomena, and the manifestation of our material world.
Like philosophy, physics is not any absolute description of Truth. Rather, both disciplines invite us to "Look at it this way." So does alchemy. This approach is very much in line with the long-standing tradition of speculative Qabala and Hermetic philosophy.
Numen & Lumen
The light spans from ethical instinct to mystic illumination. Paracelsus declares, "And as little as aught can exist in man without the divine numen, so little can aught exist in man without the natural lumen. A man is made perfect by numen and lumen and these two alone. Everything springs from these two, and these two are in man, but without them man is nothing, though they can be without man."
Dorn states, "For the life, the light of men, shineth in us, albeit dimly, and as though in darkness. It is not to be extracted from us, yet it is in us and not of us. But of Him to Whom it belongs, Who deigns to make us his dwelling place. . . . He has implanted that light in us that we may see in its light the light of Him Who dwells in inaccessible light, and that we may excel His other creatures; in this wise we are made like unto Him, that He has given us a spark of His light. Thus the truth is to be sought not in ourselves, but in the image of God which is within us."
In Sanguis Naturae (1696), Christopher Grummet says, "And forasmuch as none as none are permitted to touch the Mysteries of Nature with foul Fingers; therefore it behooves all who attempt such matters, to lay aside their Natural Blinders (from which, by the Light of the Holy Scripture and a steadfast Faith, they may be freed) that being the means by which the Holy Spirit doth clearly make manifest the most profoundly hidden light of Nature; which Light alone lays open the way to the Wisdom of Nature, and to unlock the most abstruse Mysteries thereof."
Flux & LVX
This holistic theoretical framework (physics, biology, philosophy) includes the idea that we are light-enabled technology -- Photonic Humans. The mass of the physical body exists because there is some informational code of access to an unlimited source of energy mediated by Light. All mass is interaction. Related photic phenomena are described using the informational, material and energetic characteristics of existence, plus the complexity and entropy characteristics of dynamic development.
The organization of any biological system is established by a complex electrodynamic field which is, in part, determined by its subquantal components. This field, in turn, determines the behavior and orientation of psychophysical being. DNA is our antenna. This dynamic is mediated initially through wave-based genomes where DNA functions as the holographic projector of the psychophysical system, a quantum biohologram. Supersymmetry points to a deep link between the quantum realm of particle physics and the quasi-classical realm of protein assembly.
An interdisciplinary spiritual meta-theory and correlation is also proposed. It seems we do literally come from sacred Light and Sound (Word, Logos) as many traditions assert. It is neither figurative nor metaphorical. Is space absolute and generative (a sea of virtual particles in the vacuum) or is it a generated domain (spacetime)? Are there veils of negative existence? Is the groundstate Consciousness, Sacred or Divine?
Natural Light
ABSOLUTE SPACE, the womb of Nature.
Virtual Photon Fluctuation, boundary layer where nothing becomes something.
Photons, the basic unit of energy and cosmos.
Biophotons, radiant basis of life.
Bioplasma, state of matter/energy, bioluminescent EM medium.
Photonic Body, biohologram of coherent Light and Sound.
Illuminative Sacred Light from Pineal DMT.
What IS-IS, and it is Radiant. In the Now there is something Brilliant. Fathomless numbers of scintillating points of light outnumber the stars.
The nature of embodiment is light. The deep nature of the Photonic Body, the energy body, is this same Light. We all have a light-filled body, but more are real-I-zing that Light is our truly fundamental nature. We can embody the evidence of that Brilliance. We are nothing but Brilliance; "Nothing," but Brilliance. Transformation is real-I-zation at ever-deeper levels of existence. Yet psychological resistance is as real as electrical resistance.
Absolute space is the womb of creation and the physics of virtual photon fluctuation reflects not only Nature, but our nature. Spiritual traditions have spoken about emanation within the Divine and Illumination since the dawn of human history. But only now are we learning just how literal that experience of Light is, and the interactive mechanisms it engages in our holistic psychophysical Being. For millennia humans have perceived it, cultivated it and now we can demonstrate existence of this subtle energy.
Psychomagnetic Bioluminescence
At the very core of ourselves deep within our Photonic Body, Inner Light is the Effulgence of its Brilliance, and we are That. Our subatOMic nature is Pure Radiant Light with no separation from Cosmos. Signals rooted in ZPE in the light and sound frequencies form and mobilize the body and mind. The whole stable world of matter is sustained at each instant by this underlying sea of quantum light fluctuations of empty space.
Zero-point fields drive particle motion and that collective cosmic motion generates the zero-point fields. These simultaneous meta-level dynamic interconnections call us to search for a better understanding of the apparent illusion we call Reality. We must turn to the metaphysical Void for our answers. But the Void is only the absence of everything except real existence, the nonlocal micro-matrix, the Mother Luminosity of the Universe.
Postluminal Field Body
Quantum Bioholography, biofields, bioluminescence
ABSOLUTE SPACE, the womb of Nature. The fundamental, primordial groundstate; the physical vacuum, not just absence of matter; absolute nature. Plenum/Void. Metaphysical Being. Subspace. Singularity. Unborn luminous emptiness. Ground Reality. Self-Effulgence. In Kabbalah, Three Veils of Negative Existence: Ain (Nothing), Ain Soph (Limitless Nothing), and Ain Soph Aur (Limitless Light). Ain is the primordial nondual basis of the Universe; emanating from it (but existing simultaneously with it) is Ain Soph, infinite but at a lower level of abstraction than the primordial. The final emanation is Ain Soph Aur, "the Boundless Light," primordial light, Shekinah. In Eastern thought: Logos, Shabd and Nam, Mother Luminosity, Immortal Light, Clear Light, Intrinsic Radiance, Naked Existence.
ZPE Virtual Photon Fluctuation is the boundary layer where nothing becomes something. Vacuum fluctuation, virtual photon fluctuation, scalar field, subspace, ZPE, Brownian Motion. Source of photons blinking into and out of existence from Absolute Space. Zero-point energy is made up of photons created by all those electrons in distant stars. Virtual photons in space are created by the motions of other electrons, mainly by “distant matter.” Each zigzag of a local electron is actually a nonlocal communication between it and distant matter. Each quantum photon consists of many photon pulses, which are collectively the ZPE of the vacuum of space. Emanation. Light is the first thing to emerge from the Unknown. Particle/antiparticle annihilation. Likewise, the entire world of experience constantly appears and disappears every moment. Fohat. Brownian motion. Flux.
PHOTONS are the basic unit of energy and cosmos. A photon is a single particle of light. The radiant ground is the fundamental source beyond the boundary layer of quantum foam. Photons are the self-luminous manifestation of Absolute Space. Plants, animals and humans generate up to 100 photons per second, per .15 square inches (1 sq. centimeter) of surface area. Basic quantal unit of energy and cosmos. Light possesses energy but has no mass. Einstein’s equations predict that from light’s own point of view time has stopped, and distance has shrunk to zero. So all light knows is now. It doesn't exist in time and space as we do. Light, somehow, lies beyond the world of space, time, and matter. It is not part of the material world. Lux.
Electromagnetic waves are carried by particles called quanta. By using particle theory electromagnetic radiation can be examined as if it were composed of small particles of energy called quanta. Finite bundles, quanta of light are called photons. Though they can demonstrate particulate properties they are believed to be massless. However, though photons do not have mass, they do have momentum. The discrete 'particle' properties of Matter and Light (quanta) are in fact caused by Standing Wave interactions. Radiation.
BIOPHOTONS. Light is stored in the cells of organisms, in DNA molecules of their nuclei. A dynamic web of light constantly released and absorbed by the DNA connects cell organelles, cells, tissues, and organs within the body and serves as the organism's main communication network and as the principal regulator for all life processes. Radiant basis of life. Self-organization is a term for those types of pattern forming system which are driven by a constant input of energy. All atoms and molecules undergo continuous Brownian motion and so collide with each other. Movements of single cells, cell division and cell locomotion, as well as the movements of multicellular organisms such as animals and plants are based on the cooperative action of many molecular motors driven by Brownian motion. Man-ifestation.
DNA and the genome have now been identified as active "laser-like" environments. Biophotons are weak emissions of light radiated from the cells of all living things. The light is too faint to be seen by the naked eye, but biophotons have been detected and verified using photomultiplier tubes. Light is constantly being absorbed and remitted by DNA molecules within each cell's nucleus, creating a dynamic, coherent web of light. This system could be responsible for chemical reactions within the cells, cellular communication throughout the organism, and the overall regulation of the biological system, including embryonic development into a predetermined form. The laser-like coherence of the biophoton field is a prime candidate for exchanging information in a highly functional, efficient and cooperative fashion. Bioradiation.
BIOPLASMA. Plasma is the fourth state of matter (liquid, gaseous, solid). Living organisms, including humans, are plasmas which produce waves. Life is electric, however, its control takes place magnetically, electromagnetically. The manifestations of life may be ultimately summarized in terms of plasma and radiation. The secret of life lies in process control through small energy and with minimal noise. Plasmas are conductive and only respond to electric and magnetic fields and can be efficient sources of radiation.
Magnetohydrodynamics is based on magnetic transmission over a plasma carrier. Sedlak proposes that magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) can be used to model living bioplasma. This MHD controlled state correlates with metabolic process, such as anabolism-catabolism and oxidation, physiological currents and weakly luminescent effects (biophotons; bioluminescence). A complex signaling system is formed involving electric, magnetic, optical and acoustic effects. This signaling system must operate on the level of single macromolecules like DNA and on groups of molecules, such as cells, tissues, organs and the organism, and above all on the level of the metabolism as an ensemble of chemical processes. Bioluminescence.
PHOTONIC BODY is a biohologram projected by coherent light and sound. We arise from and are sustained by field phenomena, waves of biophotonic light and sound, which form our essential nature through acoustic holography This coherent light transduces itself into radio waves (holographic biophoton field), which carry sound as information that decodes the 4-D form as a material object. Chromosomes probably transform their genetic-sign laser radiations into broadband genetic-sign radio waves. The polarizations of chromosome laser photons are connected nonlocally and coherently to polarizations of radio waves. This is an explicit physical analogue for the traditional mystical apprehension of inner Light and the Audible Life Stream. Bioholography.
LUX and FLUX. Self-illumined Light is both an inner (biophysical) and outer (quantum and cosmological) essential phenomena. Energy/matter emerges as light from the boundary layer where nothing becomes something. Quantum nonlocality is directly related to laser radiation from chromosomes (coherent light), which jitterbugs its polarization plane to radiate or occlude photons. DNA and the genome have now been identified as active "laser-like" environments. Roughly speaking, DNA can be considered as a liquid crystal gel-like state that acts on the incoming light in the manner of a solitonic lattice. A soliton is an ultra stable wave train that arises in the context of non-linear wave oscillation. Despite their rarity on Earth, over 99% of the universe is in the plasma state. Earth, with its high density and low temperature (astrophysically speaking) is an anomaly! Stars, including our Sun, are big balls of hot, dense plasma. Interstellar space is filled with a dilute cold plasma. Supernova are the plasma remnants of exploded stars. Closer to home, lightning, flames and the aurora are examples of naturally occurring plasmas.
CLEAR LIGHT. Sacred Light is generated internally by DMT, the spirit molecule, and within the ventricles but that is a correlation with the universal Clear Light. Meditation evokes pineal DMT release through EM vibrations. Visionary experience with symbolic or religious content gives way to dazzling light of illumination, reported in eastern and western religions. Meditation modulates pineal activity, eliciting a standing wave through resonance effects that coordinates other brain centers with both chemicals and electromagnetism. Resonance is induced in the pineal gland using electric, magnetic, or sound energy, resynchronizing both hemispheres of the brain, resulting in a chain of synergetic harmony that releases DMT, an endogenous psychedelic. The pineal contains high levels of enzymes and building-blocks for DMT, which may be secreted when inhibitory processes cease blocking its production with other chemicals, such as beta-carbolines which magnify and prolong DMT effects. DMT is the source of visionary Light in transpersonal experiences. Its primary source, the pineal, has traditionally been referred to as the Third Eye. Curiously, this gland is light sensitive and actually has a lens, cornea, and retina. DMT production is particularly stimulated in the extraordinary conditions of birth, sexual ecstasy, childbirth, extreme physical stress, near-death, psychosis, and physical death, as well as meditation. Pineal DMT may also play a significant role in dream consciousness.
Meditative techniques using sound, sight, or awareness may generate particular wave patterns whose fields induce resonance in the brain. Millennia of human trial and error have determined that certain ‘sacred’ worlds, visual images, and mental exercises exert uniquely desired effects, causing multiple systems to vibrate and pulse at certain frequencies. When our minds and bodies resonate with these spiritual exercises the pineal begins to ‘vibrate’ at frequencies that weaken its multiple barriers to DMT formation and release.
The mindbody is electronic, but it is rooted in the luminosity of its invisible ground. Living systems are very sensitive to tiny energy fields and resonance phenomena, both locally and at a distance. They allow the cells of the body to work together instantaneously and symphonically. All biological processes are a function of electromagnetic field interactions. EM fields are the connecting link between the world of form and resonant patterns. EM fields embody or store gestalts, patterns of information. Biochemical action and bioelectronic action meet at the quantum-junction.
We can return to Nature and our nature, collectively preparing a paradigm shift for a new shared reality and trajectory of physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual coherence. The silent frictionless flow of living intelligence is beyond words and conceptual constructs. We are a process of recursive self-generation. This continuum, which is our groundstate or creative Source, is directly discoverable in the immediacy of the emergent embodied moment, in the living Light that generates our Being.
21st Century Field Body
New physics (hyperphysics) calls for new biology, new medicine, new technology. We need to revision ourselves fundamentally as HOMO LUMEN. At its most primal level, life is a quantum phenomenon. Quanta of light, photons are the building blocks of electromagnetic radiation. All electromagnetic radiation, from radio to gamma rays, is quantized as photons: that is, the smallest amount of electromagnetic radiation that can exist is one photon.
The field body is made up of overlapping electromagnetic, ionic and magnetic fields which sets up the overall quantum electrodynamic field (QED). If the field body is perturbed in any way, then this leads to deviations from optimal physical and emotional well-being. Chronic errors in the field body can lead to disease and serious illness. In Complementary Medicine, the field body is called the energy body.
Objects and organisms are generated by interaction of the quantum subatomic world and the environment. The form and dynamics of every living organism on this planet is controlled by a single molecule of DNA and its endogenous quantum fields. A typical molecule has many different energy levels. When a molecule absorbs a photon, its energy is increased by an amount equal to the energy of the photon. The molecule then enters an excited state. In a material, photons couple to the excitations of the medium and behave differently, such as converting to phonons, quanta of sound.
Quantum forces encourage transitions for biological molecules to self-assemble. In recent decades molecular biology research has begun to describe basic life processes in terms of elementary particles thus establishing a link to quantum chemistry and creating the new field of quantum biology. Quantum systems and natural selection drive evolution.
All biological phenomena, (mobility, metabolism, respiration, photosynthesis, replication and evolution), involves the motion of fundamental particles. These dynamics are governed, not by classical physics, but by the non-deterministic laws of quantum mechanics and information processing in the biological domain.
In quantum chemistry, the concept of virtual states was coined to describe the way the state in which a molecule is observed is just one of a manifold of empty states that it can access by quantum jumps. Virtual states are empty states; they are not real in a material sense. Rather, they are mathematical forms, patterns of order, or bits of information. Nevertheless, they exist in the sense that a molecule can make a transition to such a state, which then becomes real in the ordinary sense.
In both quantum physics and biology, the irreducible relation of the part to the whole is crucial. Biology borrows results from physics and chemistry to obtain explanations for biological phenomena, thus explaining them with some degree of quantitative accuracy. Nevertheless, the fact remains that quantum mechanics is precision- oriented and biology process-oriented, and that to some extent the two goals are incompatible with each other.
In the biological context the quantum vacuum state is represented by a specific vector in Hilbert space. It is interpreted as a specific collective mode of the system rather than as no oscillation at all. Particles correspond to various kinds of modulation of the special oscillation that corresponds to the vacuum state. The operators describing these modulations have the same interrelations with each other as do particle creation and annihilation operators in quantum field theory.
Quantum physics and molecular biology developed independently but there is a link at the functional level of ‘electric’ DNA, molecules, and organisms. There is some 'other' function, field or consciousness controlling the self-organizing biological systems present in the body, in addition to the biochemical and physical. There is a hypothesis that biological systems are quantum information processing based chemical and quantum computer designs.
Subjective consciousness is generated through an unusual property of quantum non-locality. Chaos and bifurcation serve to link quantum transactions to global brain dynamics through the fractal architecture and dynamics of the central nervous system. The resulting process operates at the boundary between quantum computation and wave-particle reduction, thus combining optimality and free-choice.
We begin by assuming that a quantum subsystem, such as an electron translates into what in the biological model is regarded as a signal. Quantum processes effect signal transduction. It is distinctly possible that quantum chaos expresses in biological systems right at the transition between the quantum and classical worlds. Chaotic systems may thus be able to amplify quantum effects into global fluctuations.
Quantum biology is developing its own agenda and technology. The living cell is an information replicating and processing system that is replete with naturally-evolved nanomachines, which at some level require a quantum mechanical description. As quantum engineering and nanotechnology meet, increasing use will be made of biological structures, or hybrids of biological and fabricated systems, for producing novel devices for information storage and processing, and other tasks. An understanding of these systems at a quantum mechanical level will be indispensable.
Matti Pitkanen, a Finnish theoretical physicist, has proposed that many theories in quantum physics can be applied to biological systems. He suggests that information transfer in biology takes place via a superconductive pathway, and that electrons and photons are the carriers of this information.
Only living systems emit biophotons. A biophoton signal is easily identifiable by its characteristic features. A biophoton signal is very sensitive to physiological and environmental changes. Its sensitivity is unpredictable and quite often shows some oscillatory components. The intensity of the signal increases during biological processes; the increase is much higher during mitosis and death. Biophotons hold the secret of life.
The mandatory requirement of photon signal in an entangled quantum state explains the non-classical features of biophoton signals. DNA replication and protein synthesis are essential for any biological processes and occur in all living systems all the time. As a result, biophoton emission is also ubiquitous and incessant.
Both biophoton and entangled photon signals demonstrate the quantum nature of photons and are experimental inputs. The non-classical features of biophoton signals highlights the limitations of molecular biology and cannot be accounted in the classical framework of photon emission. The entangled photon signals exhibit quantum non-locality and provide channels for quantum information transfer. The observation of entangled states has stimulated investigations on the nature of reality and information, which are generating new knowledge and insights.
The subspace effect (virtual photon fluctuation) pervades the entire universe and permeates the particles of all life. The molecules making up a living organism are not subject to Brownian motion but are under quantum order. Virtual photons can be used to describe electrodynamic forces.
Electrons release virtual photons and then reabsorb virtual photons. All of these virtual particles come in and out of subspace. Virtual photons differ from actual photons in that the rest mass of a virtual photon is not zero; only zero rest-mass photons cannot escape and become actual photons.
The main difference between a real and a virtual photon is that the real photon does not violate the conservation law of mass and energy. A virtual photon, when created, avoids the law, via the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. But once created, if a virtual photon has no rest mass, it will have the appearance, feel and range of a real photon; thus infinity. So the human being, a virtual photon producer and absorber, is capable of reaching out to the stars and other planets via this virtual photon production. The effect reaches in and out of subspace with the effect of polymorphic resonance. (Nelson)
Real photons have energy equal to momentum times velocity of light (C). Virtual photons are photons whose energy is not equal to momentum times C. This constant release and absorption of what are known as virtual particles is happening at very great speeds within all matter. A sea of infrared photons is the basis of life/biology. All forms of energy, including the human organism, originate as light.
Quantum bioholography (Gariaev) shows that DNA literally produces coherent light, which transduces to sound that directs the formative processes of life. Radiant energy is radiant energy. A wave of light behaves as if it were a wave; it also behaves as if it were a series of quanta particles called photons.
Quantum nonlocality is directly related to laser radiation from chromosomes (coherent light), which jitterbugs its polarization plane to radiate or occlude photons. The Gariaev group discovered a wave-based genome and DNA phantom effect which strongly supports the holographic concept of reality (Miller, Webb, Dickson). This main information channel of DNA is the same for both photons and radio waves.
Physicist Matti Pitkanin says magnetic fields could play key role in the biological information processing if the quantum numbers of magnetic fields serve as carriers of bio-information. "Wormhole magnetic fields provide a quantum mechanism for a control at distance, say of the control of the behavior of cell organelles by cell nucleus as well as a model for the memory of biosystem in terms of integer valued winding numbers identifiable as quantized momenta of the wormhole supra currents.
One of the basic problems of biology is how the genetic code is transformed into spatial structures during ontogeny, and an attractive idea is that each DNA sequence corresponds to a characteristic wormhole magnetic field configuration serving as a template for the topological condensation of the ordinary matter. The fact that wormhole flux tubes are hollow cylinders, is in nice accordance with this idea (microtubules, axonal membranes, etc. are hollow cylinders)."
Coherent wave phenomena can describe information exchange processes. Wave fronts that do not interfere with one another, the pulses of which are like soldiers marching in step on a rope bridge. If the timing of the soldiers’ steps resonates with the natural frequency of the bridge’s oscillation, the two motions reinforce one another. Coherent waves maintain their intensity by having their energy focused into a small area.
The coherent waves we associate with the DNA molecule are acoustically modified. The propagating medium actually serves to amplify and channel their energy into narrow layers of absorption in the surrounding environment. In the molecule’s transition from its normative to its critical state, coherent waves are generated which carry the signature of this transition to the surrounding environment. The absorption of these coherent waves at discrete phase boundaries (e.g., the cell membrane) releases sufficient energy stored at these boundaries which, upon entering the DNA molecule, catalyzes its return to the normative state.
Imagine the information pleroma, beyond energy and matter, as the source of all infinitely coherent light, “shining” itself into its own entropic womb where our temporo-spatial universe is given its life-potential as a single laser beam. Superposed coherent waves of different types in the cells interact to form diffraction patterns, firstly in the acoustic domain, secondly in the electromagnetic domain -- a quantum hologram -- a translation process between acoustical and optical holograms.
In the end there is just something Brilliant.
FIAT LVX! Only light is omnipresent and eternal. Science now confirms what the alchemists knew centuries ago that it is more than metaphorical. The meaning of Life is Light. Absolute Light, archetypal divine fire, radiates from the Tree of Life as the vital formative principle. The light of earth and heaven, the animating power, mingle in our consciousness. The Light fulfills us and we are fulfilled in its revelation. It shines through us.
Behold, the natural light of natural philosophy, the study of nature in all her dimensions. As Homo Lumen we intentionally cultivate and realize the Body of Light, the diamond vehicle of consciousness. Alchemy is the sensuous science through which we love that natural light into being, even as Lumen Naturae kindles ourselves. The light is our connection to all that is wholly existent and our own immortality. In fact, there is nothing else but this light of grace and glory that complements the celestial light. Mending this division makes us whole.
Internal Sun
The full force of the clear Light of the Divine would blind us, but it is mediated by the Lux Naturae which is always with us. Only in this new millennium have we learned just how literal it is. Light is hidden in matter and the forces of nature, so you must seek and see it for yourself. We must cultivate it like an artist. Our medium is the energy body; our means spiritual technology for the soft machine. By this secret fire, the living balsam of nature is brought forth from darkness to light.
In the One World of alchemy, inner and outer light are identical, seamlessly wed like Luna and Sol in illumined lunacy. The light within life is our own awareness, mediated by our energy bodies (field body) which fills each particle of being. Direct communication is healing, realigning body and soul. We finally come to our senses. When we sit in meditation we come to know the meaning of scintillae and the light of the darkness. We see it gleaming beyond the Abyss that distinguishes being from nondual unmanifest existence.
Matter is composed of and utterly dependent on organic light that fills the universe and our bodies. The Great Work is an operation of Light. This light has an earthly and spiritual aspect, psychosomatic and archetypal nature. This meaningful light of our own darkness is the holy Grail, the diamond Stone, the curative Elixir that links our ego-experience and spiritual unity. Self-knowledge is the science of Creation.
Star of David
The Lux Natura is a revelation of living Light and source of true knowledge. But this light is hidden like a secret since it is experiential not merely conceptual. Now you see it, now you don't. This Hermetic secret is in the power and the power is in the secret. Mystic knowledge can only be known directly by initiation, not merely explained.
One must deeply comprehend the nature of the Hermetic language and make the journey to one's own depths. Only the Light of Darkness illuminates our depths. Only by comprehending its nature can we comprehend our own. We learn from astral vision, beginning in self-initiation leading toward emergent psychedelic illumination (peacock's tail), which heralds the final stage of stabilized integration by uniting the opposites of the black and white stages. It can happen gradually or suddenly. Soul and Spirit rise into the Mystic.
This sacred light is personified as the androgynous Mercurius, the soul guide, with his shining torch that lights the Way, the scintillating fire of nature. This spirit of life comes to us as that secret light. Lumen Naturae is the Heart of Mercurius, the meaning in experience. This Mercurial spirit, the bringer of light, is the key element of transformation, but only for those with the highest aspirations.
Meditation releases the photobiochemical imagination-stimulating spirit molecule of the pineal gland, associated with illumination -- DMT. Its luminescence is more than an image of regeneration; it is the Elixir of Life. Effects include blinding white light, access to seemingly infinite dimensions of awareness, a rush of irridescent colors, encounters with demonic and angelic entities, ecstatic emotions, timelessness, heavenly sounds, feelings of having died and being reborn, contacting a powerful and loving presence underlying all of reality. You are essentially "another" person. The Homunculus thrives as the Divine Child, expressing the potential of ever-renewing self.
Sense of Wonder
Meditation modulates pineal activity, eliciting a standing wave through resonance effects that coordinates other brain centers with both chemicals and electromagnetism. Resonance is induced in the pineal gland using electric, magnetic, or sound energy, resynchronizing both hemispheres of the brain, resulting in a chain of synergetic harmony that releases DMT, an endogenous psychedelic. Curiously, this gland -- the Third Eye -- is light sensitive and actually has a lens, cornea, and retina.
The mindbody is electronic, but it is rooted in the luminosity of its invisible ground. Living systems are very sensitive to tiny energy fields and resonance phenomena, both locally and at a distance. They allow the cells of the body to work together instantaneously and symphonically. All biological processes are a function of electromagnetic field interactions. EM fields are the connecting link between the world of form and resonant patterns. EM fields embody or store gestalts, patterns of information. Biochemical action and bioelectronic action meet at the quantum-junction.
Alchemists work hard and long to find and release the dark light hidden in matter and the forces of nature -- the Lumen Naturae, or light of nature that is also chthonic, that is, buried in matter. This dark light is hidden because it is of the Void, metaphysical, non-observable virtual photon fluctuation and biophysical manifestations -- biophotons. This radiant wisdom Stone mediates between psyche and soma, the interaction of spirit and matter.
Soft Radiance
Lumen naturae is the radiant basis of life. Self-organization is a term for those types of pattern forming systems which are driven by a constant input of energy. All atoms and molecules undergo continuous Brownian motion and so collide with each other. Movements of single cells, cell division and cell locomotion, as well as the movements of multicellular organisms such as animals and plants are based on the cooperative action of many molecular motors driven by Brownian motion. Man-ifestation.
Psychological images meet outer facts in physical knowledge. From the Heart of Darkness springs the Light, and we are That. Virtual Photon Fluctuation is the Source of the photons that form and sustain our Being. We are truly Light Beings: Homo Lumen. We literally inhabit and embody a Temple of Living Light, which is interconnected with the deepest level of Cosmos. We are shiny Diamonds of Rainbow Light. We are made in the Images of its Brilliance. The Shining
Lumen naturae illuminates consciousness and is heralded by emergent scintillae or sparks of light before illumination becomes stabilized. We are beings of living Light. We can articulate a contemporary as well as medieval perspective on alchemy. The new view of physics (energy science) is grounded in scalar electromagnetics, the potential of ZERO-POINT energy. It is not qualitatively different from the hidden light in any way.
Multiple realities contain all possibilities, but in enfolded or virtual states. This theory alleges that there are clustered worlds, which are three-dimensional to an observer within them, yet virtual to an observer from outside. Hyperspace dimensions are orthogonally rotated (90 degrees) in respect to one another. Selecting a frame, or cube of space, facilitates access.
When we consider the vastness of space, we perceive emptiness due to our relative position in this universe. The Void is actually densely packed with virtual energy which awaits translation, or transduction into our observable 3-dimensional reality. These energies or entities appear as virtual because they are unobservable through ordinary means. Crosstalk across these channels is the basis for the collective unconscious, paranormal phenomena, and the manifestation of our material world.
Like philosophy, physics is not any absolute description of Truth. Rather, both disciplines invite us to "Look at it this way." So does alchemy. This approach is very much in line with the long-standing tradition of speculative Qabala and Hermetic philosophy.
Numen & Lumen
The light spans from ethical instinct to mystic illumination. Paracelsus declares, "And as little as aught can exist in man without the divine numen, so little can aught exist in man without the natural lumen. A man is made perfect by numen and lumen and these two alone. Everything springs from these two, and these two are in man, but without them man is nothing, though they can be without man."
Dorn states, "For the life, the light of men, shineth in us, albeit dimly, and as though in darkness. It is not to be extracted from us, yet it is in us and not of us. But of Him to Whom it belongs, Who deigns to make us his dwelling place. . . . He has implanted that light in us that we may see in its light the light of Him Who dwells in inaccessible light, and that we may excel His other creatures; in this wise we are made like unto Him, that He has given us a spark of His light. Thus the truth is to be sought not in ourselves, but in the image of God which is within us."
In Sanguis Naturae (1696), Christopher Grummet says, "And forasmuch as none as none are permitted to touch the Mysteries of Nature with foul Fingers; therefore it behooves all who attempt such matters, to lay aside their Natural Blinders (from which, by the Light of the Holy Scripture and a steadfast Faith, they may be freed) that being the means by which the Holy Spirit doth clearly make manifest the most profoundly hidden light of Nature; which Light alone lays open the way to the Wisdom of Nature, and to unlock the most abstruse Mysteries thereof."
Flux & LVX
This holistic theoretical framework (physics, biology, philosophy) includes the idea that we are light-enabled technology -- Photonic Humans. The mass of the physical body exists because there is some informational code of access to an unlimited source of energy mediated by Light. All mass is interaction. Related photic phenomena are described using the informational, material and energetic characteristics of existence, plus the complexity and entropy characteristics of dynamic development.
The organization of any biological system is established by a complex electrodynamic field which is, in part, determined by its subquantal components. This field, in turn, determines the behavior and orientation of psychophysical being. DNA is our antenna. This dynamic is mediated initially through wave-based genomes where DNA functions as the holographic projector of the psychophysical system, a quantum biohologram. Supersymmetry points to a deep link between the quantum realm of particle physics and the quasi-classical realm of protein assembly.
An interdisciplinary spiritual meta-theory and correlation is also proposed. It seems we do literally come from sacred Light and Sound (Word, Logos) as many traditions assert. It is neither figurative nor metaphorical. Is space absolute and generative (a sea of virtual particles in the vacuum) or is it a generated domain (spacetime)? Are there veils of negative existence? Is the groundstate Consciousness, Sacred or Divine?
Natural Light
ABSOLUTE SPACE, the womb of Nature.
Virtual Photon Fluctuation, boundary layer where nothing becomes something.
Photons, the basic unit of energy and cosmos.
Biophotons, radiant basis of life.
Bioplasma, state of matter/energy, bioluminescent EM medium.
Photonic Body, biohologram of coherent Light and Sound.
Illuminative Sacred Light from Pineal DMT.
What IS-IS, and it is Radiant. In the Now there is something Brilliant. Fathomless numbers of scintillating points of light outnumber the stars.
The nature of embodiment is light. The deep nature of the Photonic Body, the energy body, is this same Light. We all have a light-filled body, but more are real-I-zing that Light is our truly fundamental nature. We can embody the evidence of that Brilliance. We are nothing but Brilliance; "Nothing," but Brilliance. Transformation is real-I-zation at ever-deeper levels of existence. Yet psychological resistance is as real as electrical resistance.
Absolute space is the womb of creation and the physics of virtual photon fluctuation reflects not only Nature, but our nature. Spiritual traditions have spoken about emanation within the Divine and Illumination since the dawn of human history. But only now are we learning just how literal that experience of Light is, and the interactive mechanisms it engages in our holistic psychophysical Being. For millennia humans have perceived it, cultivated it and now we can demonstrate existence of this subtle energy.
Psychomagnetic Bioluminescence
At the very core of ourselves deep within our Photonic Body, Inner Light is the Effulgence of its Brilliance, and we are That. Our subatOMic nature is Pure Radiant Light with no separation from Cosmos. Signals rooted in ZPE in the light and sound frequencies form and mobilize the body and mind. The whole stable world of matter is sustained at each instant by this underlying sea of quantum light fluctuations of empty space.
Zero-point fields drive particle motion and that collective cosmic motion generates the zero-point fields. These simultaneous meta-level dynamic interconnections call us to search for a better understanding of the apparent illusion we call Reality. We must turn to the metaphysical Void for our answers. But the Void is only the absence of everything except real existence, the nonlocal micro-matrix, the Mother Luminosity of the Universe.
Postluminal Field Body
Quantum Bioholography, biofields, bioluminescence
ABSOLUTE SPACE, the womb of Nature. The fundamental, primordial groundstate; the physical vacuum, not just absence of matter; absolute nature. Plenum/Void. Metaphysical Being. Subspace. Singularity. Unborn luminous emptiness. Ground Reality. Self-Effulgence. In Kabbalah, Three Veils of Negative Existence: Ain (Nothing), Ain Soph (Limitless Nothing), and Ain Soph Aur (Limitless Light). Ain is the primordial nondual basis of the Universe; emanating from it (but existing simultaneously with it) is Ain Soph, infinite but at a lower level of abstraction than the primordial. The final emanation is Ain Soph Aur, "the Boundless Light," primordial light, Shekinah. In Eastern thought: Logos, Shabd and Nam, Mother Luminosity, Immortal Light, Clear Light, Intrinsic Radiance, Naked Existence.
ZPE Virtual Photon Fluctuation is the boundary layer where nothing becomes something. Vacuum fluctuation, virtual photon fluctuation, scalar field, subspace, ZPE, Brownian Motion. Source of photons blinking into and out of existence from Absolute Space. Zero-point energy is made up of photons created by all those electrons in distant stars. Virtual photons in space are created by the motions of other electrons, mainly by “distant matter.” Each zigzag of a local electron is actually a nonlocal communication between it and distant matter. Each quantum photon consists of many photon pulses, which are collectively the ZPE of the vacuum of space. Emanation. Light is the first thing to emerge from the Unknown. Particle/antiparticle annihilation. Likewise, the entire world of experience constantly appears and disappears every moment. Fohat. Brownian motion. Flux.
PHOTONS are the basic unit of energy and cosmos. A photon is a single particle of light. The radiant ground is the fundamental source beyond the boundary layer of quantum foam. Photons are the self-luminous manifestation of Absolute Space. Plants, animals and humans generate up to 100 photons per second, per .15 square inches (1 sq. centimeter) of surface area. Basic quantal unit of energy and cosmos. Light possesses energy but has no mass. Einstein’s equations predict that from light’s own point of view time has stopped, and distance has shrunk to zero. So all light knows is now. It doesn't exist in time and space as we do. Light, somehow, lies beyond the world of space, time, and matter. It is not part of the material world. Lux.
Electromagnetic waves are carried by particles called quanta. By using particle theory electromagnetic radiation can be examined as if it were composed of small particles of energy called quanta. Finite bundles, quanta of light are called photons. Though they can demonstrate particulate properties they are believed to be massless. However, though photons do not have mass, they do have momentum. The discrete 'particle' properties of Matter and Light (quanta) are in fact caused by Standing Wave interactions. Radiation.
BIOPHOTONS. Light is stored in the cells of organisms, in DNA molecules of their nuclei. A dynamic web of light constantly released and absorbed by the DNA connects cell organelles, cells, tissues, and organs within the body and serves as the organism's main communication network and as the principal regulator for all life processes. Radiant basis of life. Self-organization is a term for those types of pattern forming system which are driven by a constant input of energy. All atoms and molecules undergo continuous Brownian motion and so collide with each other. Movements of single cells, cell division and cell locomotion, as well as the movements of multicellular organisms such as animals and plants are based on the cooperative action of many molecular motors driven by Brownian motion. Man-ifestation.
DNA and the genome have now been identified as active "laser-like" environments. Biophotons are weak emissions of light radiated from the cells of all living things. The light is too faint to be seen by the naked eye, but biophotons have been detected and verified using photomultiplier tubes. Light is constantly being absorbed and remitted by DNA molecules within each cell's nucleus, creating a dynamic, coherent web of light. This system could be responsible for chemical reactions within the cells, cellular communication throughout the organism, and the overall regulation of the biological system, including embryonic development into a predetermined form. The laser-like coherence of the biophoton field is a prime candidate for exchanging information in a highly functional, efficient and cooperative fashion. Bioradiation.
BIOPLASMA. Plasma is the fourth state of matter (liquid, gaseous, solid). Living organisms, including humans, are plasmas which produce waves. Life is electric, however, its control takes place magnetically, electromagnetically. The manifestations of life may be ultimately summarized in terms of plasma and radiation. The secret of life lies in process control through small energy and with minimal noise. Plasmas are conductive and only respond to electric and magnetic fields and can be efficient sources of radiation.
Magnetohydrodynamics is based on magnetic transmission over a plasma carrier. Sedlak proposes that magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) can be used to model living bioplasma. This MHD controlled state correlates with metabolic process, such as anabolism-catabolism and oxidation, physiological currents and weakly luminescent effects (biophotons; bioluminescence). A complex signaling system is formed involving electric, magnetic, optical and acoustic effects. This signaling system must operate on the level of single macromolecules like DNA and on groups of molecules, such as cells, tissues, organs and the organism, and above all on the level of the metabolism as an ensemble of chemical processes. Bioluminescence.
PHOTONIC BODY is a biohologram projected by coherent light and sound. We arise from and are sustained by field phenomena, waves of biophotonic light and sound, which form our essential nature through acoustic holography This coherent light transduces itself into radio waves (holographic biophoton field), which carry sound as information that decodes the 4-D form as a material object. Chromosomes probably transform their genetic-sign laser radiations into broadband genetic-sign radio waves. The polarizations of chromosome laser photons are connected nonlocally and coherently to polarizations of radio waves. This is an explicit physical analogue for the traditional mystical apprehension of inner Light and the Audible Life Stream. Bioholography.
LUX and FLUX. Self-illumined Light is both an inner (biophysical) and outer (quantum and cosmological) essential phenomena. Energy/matter emerges as light from the boundary layer where nothing becomes something. Quantum nonlocality is directly related to laser radiation from chromosomes (coherent light), which jitterbugs its polarization plane to radiate or occlude photons. DNA and the genome have now been identified as active "laser-like" environments. Roughly speaking, DNA can be considered as a liquid crystal gel-like state that acts on the incoming light in the manner of a solitonic lattice. A soliton is an ultra stable wave train that arises in the context of non-linear wave oscillation. Despite their rarity on Earth, over 99% of the universe is in the plasma state. Earth, with its high density and low temperature (astrophysically speaking) is an anomaly! Stars, including our Sun, are big balls of hot, dense plasma. Interstellar space is filled with a dilute cold plasma. Supernova are the plasma remnants of exploded stars. Closer to home, lightning, flames and the aurora are examples of naturally occurring plasmas.
CLEAR LIGHT. Sacred Light is generated internally by DMT, the spirit molecule, and within the ventricles but that is a correlation with the universal Clear Light. Meditation evokes pineal DMT release through EM vibrations. Visionary experience with symbolic or religious content gives way to dazzling light of illumination, reported in eastern and western religions. Meditation modulates pineal activity, eliciting a standing wave through resonance effects that coordinates other brain centers with both chemicals and electromagnetism. Resonance is induced in the pineal gland using electric, magnetic, or sound energy, resynchronizing both hemispheres of the brain, resulting in a chain of synergetic harmony that releases DMT, an endogenous psychedelic. The pineal contains high levels of enzymes and building-blocks for DMT, which may be secreted when inhibitory processes cease blocking its production with other chemicals, such as beta-carbolines which magnify and prolong DMT effects. DMT is the source of visionary Light in transpersonal experiences. Its primary source, the pineal, has traditionally been referred to as the Third Eye. Curiously, this gland is light sensitive and actually has a lens, cornea, and retina. DMT production is particularly stimulated in the extraordinary conditions of birth, sexual ecstasy, childbirth, extreme physical stress, near-death, psychosis, and physical death, as well as meditation. Pineal DMT may also play a significant role in dream consciousness.
Meditative techniques using sound, sight, or awareness may generate particular wave patterns whose fields induce resonance in the brain. Millennia of human trial and error have determined that certain ‘sacred’ worlds, visual images, and mental exercises exert uniquely desired effects, causing multiple systems to vibrate and pulse at certain frequencies. When our minds and bodies resonate with these spiritual exercises the pineal begins to ‘vibrate’ at frequencies that weaken its multiple barriers to DMT formation and release.
The mindbody is electronic, but it is rooted in the luminosity of its invisible ground. Living systems are very sensitive to tiny energy fields and resonance phenomena, both locally and at a distance. They allow the cells of the body to work together instantaneously and symphonically. All biological processes are a function of electromagnetic field interactions. EM fields are the connecting link between the world of form and resonant patterns. EM fields embody or store gestalts, patterns of information. Biochemical action and bioelectronic action meet at the quantum-junction.
We can return to Nature and our nature, collectively preparing a paradigm shift for a new shared reality and trajectory of physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual coherence. The silent frictionless flow of living intelligence is beyond words and conceptual constructs. We are a process of recursive self-generation. This continuum, which is our groundstate or creative Source, is directly discoverable in the immediacy of the emergent embodied moment, in the living Light that generates our Being.
21st Century Field Body
New physics (hyperphysics) calls for new biology, new medicine, new technology. We need to revision ourselves fundamentally as HOMO LUMEN. At its most primal level, life is a quantum phenomenon. Quanta of light, photons are the building blocks of electromagnetic radiation. All electromagnetic radiation, from radio to gamma rays, is quantized as photons: that is, the smallest amount of electromagnetic radiation that can exist is one photon.
The field body is made up of overlapping electromagnetic, ionic and magnetic fields which sets up the overall quantum electrodynamic field (QED). If the field body is perturbed in any way, then this leads to deviations from optimal physical and emotional well-being. Chronic errors in the field body can lead to disease and serious illness. In Complementary Medicine, the field body is called the energy body.
Objects and organisms are generated by interaction of the quantum subatomic world and the environment. The form and dynamics of every living organism on this planet is controlled by a single molecule of DNA and its endogenous quantum fields. A typical molecule has many different energy levels. When a molecule absorbs a photon, its energy is increased by an amount equal to the energy of the photon. The molecule then enters an excited state. In a material, photons couple to the excitations of the medium and behave differently, such as converting to phonons, quanta of sound.
Quantum forces encourage transitions for biological molecules to self-assemble. In recent decades molecular biology research has begun to describe basic life processes in terms of elementary particles thus establishing a link to quantum chemistry and creating the new field of quantum biology. Quantum systems and natural selection drive evolution.
All biological phenomena, (mobility, metabolism, respiration, photosynthesis, replication and evolution), involves the motion of fundamental particles. These dynamics are governed, not by classical physics, but by the non-deterministic laws of quantum mechanics and information processing in the biological domain.
In quantum chemistry, the concept of virtual states was coined to describe the way the state in which a molecule is observed is just one of a manifold of empty states that it can access by quantum jumps. Virtual states are empty states; they are not real in a material sense. Rather, they are mathematical forms, patterns of order, or bits of information. Nevertheless, they exist in the sense that a molecule can make a transition to such a state, which then becomes real in the ordinary sense.
In both quantum physics and biology, the irreducible relation of the part to the whole is crucial. Biology borrows results from physics and chemistry to obtain explanations for biological phenomena, thus explaining them with some degree of quantitative accuracy. Nevertheless, the fact remains that quantum mechanics is precision- oriented and biology process-oriented, and that to some extent the two goals are incompatible with each other.
In the biological context the quantum vacuum state is represented by a specific vector in Hilbert space. It is interpreted as a specific collective mode of the system rather than as no oscillation at all. Particles correspond to various kinds of modulation of the special oscillation that corresponds to the vacuum state. The operators describing these modulations have the same interrelations with each other as do particle creation and annihilation operators in quantum field theory.
Quantum physics and molecular biology developed independently but there is a link at the functional level of ‘electric’ DNA, molecules, and organisms. There is some 'other' function, field or consciousness controlling the self-organizing biological systems present in the body, in addition to the biochemical and physical. There is a hypothesis that biological systems are quantum information processing based chemical and quantum computer designs.
Subjective consciousness is generated through an unusual property of quantum non-locality. Chaos and bifurcation serve to link quantum transactions to global brain dynamics through the fractal architecture and dynamics of the central nervous system. The resulting process operates at the boundary between quantum computation and wave-particle reduction, thus combining optimality and free-choice.
We begin by assuming that a quantum subsystem, such as an electron translates into what in the biological model is regarded as a signal. Quantum processes effect signal transduction. It is distinctly possible that quantum chaos expresses in biological systems right at the transition between the quantum and classical worlds. Chaotic systems may thus be able to amplify quantum effects into global fluctuations.
Quantum biology is developing its own agenda and technology. The living cell is an information replicating and processing system that is replete with naturally-evolved nanomachines, which at some level require a quantum mechanical description. As quantum engineering and nanotechnology meet, increasing use will be made of biological structures, or hybrids of biological and fabricated systems, for producing novel devices for information storage and processing, and other tasks. An understanding of these systems at a quantum mechanical level will be indispensable.
Matti Pitkanen, a Finnish theoretical physicist, has proposed that many theories in quantum physics can be applied to biological systems. He suggests that information transfer in biology takes place via a superconductive pathway, and that electrons and photons are the carriers of this information.
Only living systems emit biophotons. A biophoton signal is easily identifiable by its characteristic features. A biophoton signal is very sensitive to physiological and environmental changes. Its sensitivity is unpredictable and quite often shows some oscillatory components. The intensity of the signal increases during biological processes; the increase is much higher during mitosis and death. Biophotons hold the secret of life.
The mandatory requirement of photon signal in an entangled quantum state explains the non-classical features of biophoton signals. DNA replication and protein synthesis are essential for any biological processes and occur in all living systems all the time. As a result, biophoton emission is also ubiquitous and incessant.
Both biophoton and entangled photon signals demonstrate the quantum nature of photons and are experimental inputs. The non-classical features of biophoton signals highlights the limitations of molecular biology and cannot be accounted in the classical framework of photon emission. The entangled photon signals exhibit quantum non-locality and provide channels for quantum information transfer. The observation of entangled states has stimulated investigations on the nature of reality and information, which are generating new knowledge and insights.
The subspace effect (virtual photon fluctuation) pervades the entire universe and permeates the particles of all life. The molecules making up a living organism are not subject to Brownian motion but are under quantum order. Virtual photons can be used to describe electrodynamic forces.
Electrons release virtual photons and then reabsorb virtual photons. All of these virtual particles come in and out of subspace. Virtual photons differ from actual photons in that the rest mass of a virtual photon is not zero; only zero rest-mass photons cannot escape and become actual photons.
The main difference between a real and a virtual photon is that the real photon does not violate the conservation law of mass and energy. A virtual photon, when created, avoids the law, via the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. But once created, if a virtual photon has no rest mass, it will have the appearance, feel and range of a real photon; thus infinity. So the human being, a virtual photon producer and absorber, is capable of reaching out to the stars and other planets via this virtual photon production. The effect reaches in and out of subspace with the effect of polymorphic resonance. (Nelson)
Real photons have energy equal to momentum times velocity of light (C). Virtual photons are photons whose energy is not equal to momentum times C. This constant release and absorption of what are known as virtual particles is happening at very great speeds within all matter. A sea of infrared photons is the basis of life/biology. All forms of energy, including the human organism, originate as light.
Quantum bioholography (Gariaev) shows that DNA literally produces coherent light, which transduces to sound that directs the formative processes of life. Radiant energy is radiant energy. A wave of light behaves as if it were a wave; it also behaves as if it were a series of quanta particles called photons.
Quantum nonlocality is directly related to laser radiation from chromosomes (coherent light), which jitterbugs its polarization plane to radiate or occlude photons. The Gariaev group discovered a wave-based genome and DNA phantom effect which strongly supports the holographic concept of reality (Miller, Webb, Dickson). This main information channel of DNA is the same for both photons and radio waves.
Physicist Matti Pitkanin says magnetic fields could play key role in the biological information processing if the quantum numbers of magnetic fields serve as carriers of bio-information. "Wormhole magnetic fields provide a quantum mechanism for a control at distance, say of the control of the behavior of cell organelles by cell nucleus as well as a model for the memory of biosystem in terms of integer valued winding numbers identifiable as quantized momenta of the wormhole supra currents.
One of the basic problems of biology is how the genetic code is transformed into spatial structures during ontogeny, and an attractive idea is that each DNA sequence corresponds to a characteristic wormhole magnetic field configuration serving as a template for the topological condensation of the ordinary matter. The fact that wormhole flux tubes are hollow cylinders, is in nice accordance with this idea (microtubules, axonal membranes, etc. are hollow cylinders)."
Coherent wave phenomena can describe information exchange processes. Wave fronts that do not interfere with one another, the pulses of which are like soldiers marching in step on a rope bridge. If the timing of the soldiers’ steps resonates with the natural frequency of the bridge’s oscillation, the two motions reinforce one another. Coherent waves maintain their intensity by having their energy focused into a small area.
The coherent waves we associate with the DNA molecule are acoustically modified. The propagating medium actually serves to amplify and channel their energy into narrow layers of absorption in the surrounding environment. In the molecule’s transition from its normative to its critical state, coherent waves are generated which carry the signature of this transition to the surrounding environment. The absorption of these coherent waves at discrete phase boundaries (e.g., the cell membrane) releases sufficient energy stored at these boundaries which, upon entering the DNA molecule, catalyzes its return to the normative state.
Imagine the information pleroma, beyond energy and matter, as the source of all infinitely coherent light, “shining” itself into its own entropic womb where our temporo-spatial universe is given its life-potential as a single laser beam. Superposed coherent waves of different types in the cells interact to form diffraction patterns, firstly in the acoustic domain, secondly in the electromagnetic domain -- a quantum hologram -- a translation process between acoustical and optical holograms.
In the end there is just something Brilliant.
Life is Light; Light is Life
Quantum dynamics is energetic, photonic, magnetic and vibrational, in addition to chemical. For every shift in quantum levels photons (light) must be absorbed or released. Photon control is dictated by electromagnetic fields, which are critical to life. Cells receive and react to photons. Life is Light.
“What is Life” was the title of a 1944 work by Ervin Schrodinger, pioneer of quantum mechanics. When Schrodinger first speculated on the nature of life, there was a wide disconnect between physics and biology. No one knew the physical nature of a gene, the term molecular biology had yet to be invented, and many of the smartest scientists went into elementary particle physics. Quantum mechanical effects include superposition, coherence and entanglement. Much of the biosphere uses light-harvesting to drive its metabolic processes.
What is light? We still do not know, but it emanates from the quantum foam of subspace. We know only that it behaves in two different and apparently incompatible ways, each of which appears to be a valid way of conceptualizing light, neither of which is obviously the whole truth. Light and the electron are among the simplest things in the universe but are complicated.
Thermodynamics is the science of death, and quantum physics is the science of life. Biosystems are macroscopic quantum systems. Fundamental biological processes that involve the conversion of energy into forms that are usable for chemical transformations are quantum mechanical in nature. These processes involve chemical reactions including light absorption, formation of excited electronic states, transfer of excitation energy, transfer of electrons and protons, etc.
There is a subspace set or sets pervading and connecting the universe. There appears to be a unified field uniting all space sets. At least one level of this field is an expression of universal consciousness.
There is a pathway to interaction of directed thought consciousness possible through this subspace connection. Thus a conscious quantic system can affect another through interaction via subspace. This phenomena follows quantic rules and is thus non reproducible, non reductionistic, subtle effecting indeterminant systems by shifting probabilities (Nelson).
Our task of understanding ultimate reality, as distinct from the behavioral properties of quasi-reality, is equally complicated. Virtual photons and photons correlate with all biological quantic change. Can we ever understand ourselves as photonic Beings with Photonic Minds in a Photonic Cosmos? We can begin to wrap our minds around a few of the “subatOMic”issues which mark us as “Photonic Humans”.
In the end there’s just something Brilliant.
Psychophysical Illumination
An interdisciplinary spiritual meta-theory and correlation is also proposed. Meditation masters speak of an inner Light that pervades the physical and energy bodies, and now science investigates it as biophotons. Through quantum physics we can watch matter/energy/information devolve back into the unstructured void from which potential emanates. Whether we look “objectively” outside into our environment or “subjectively” inside into ourselves we find primordial Light is the basis of existence.
Mystics have often equated this pervasive Light/Sound with primordial Consciousness and the source of life as well as matter. We are not concerned here with doctrine, but the reported phenomenology of meditation technology. Anecdotal self-reports of the experience of “Light” in meditation are ubiquitous. Under ideal conditions the body is a tuned spiritual resonator. Fortunately or unfortunately, when the mind goes exploring the only one it has a chance to explore is the psychobiological one that is there.
Light sustains all existence. It is not that we actively seek or “worship” Light, but that it is a phenomenological given when attention is focused inwardly in a conducive way, and “grace allows it”. These stories of “light experiences” have been hierarchically correlated in taxonomies of consciousness states. (J. C. Gowan; Tart; Grof; Wilber). Metaphorically, in the frequency domain, light has both an illuminative and reflective component.
We emerge through self-organization from the Void and to the Void we can return for renewal and sustenance. The Heart Sutra suggests, "Form is not other than Void; Void is not other than Form." Our human form is not other than this void, and biophysics now demonstrates this quantitatively and qualitatively. All of the potential information about the universe is holographically encoded in the spectrum of frequency patterns that constantly bombard us.
In the end there is just something Brilliant.
Mindbody Connection
There is a fundamental relationship between EM fields and our lives. Our fieldbodies are our most essential nature. We don't stop at our skin boundary. We are part of a single fabric of reality connected by subatomic fields. We don't just resonate with them; we ARE them. Our essence mixes with and permeates other organisms and the cosmos.
For most of human history, healing has had to do with contact with spirit, with consciousness, with rituals intended to create a shared biofield with a shaman who seemingly could exert mind over matter. This spiritual technology has yielded to technological medicine governed by the rational protocols of science. But noting that medical intuition and therapeutic rapport are real forces in the healing process, many practitioners are moving toward a new paradigm or model of healing.
Anomalies such as the proven power of prayer, placebo effect, spontaneous remission, therapeutic intentionality, and remote healing hint that the irrational, the mysterious, is an inherent part of the natural healing process. When we become ill, the fundamental nature of consciousness is revealed as it relates to both mind and matter, psyche and soma. Consciousness may be more fundamental than either energy or matter, as the Vedas claimed centuries ago. At this sensitive threshold, miniscule changes in the situation can lead to large differences in the outcome.
LUMEN NATURAE
The microcosm of the living vacuum is a coherent organization of spacetime structure. Time itself is compressed energy. “Free energy” emerges from a strong gradient, a negentropic scalar pump, an eternal fountain of cosmic creative energy. Vacuum fluctuation means observable emissions of light rapidly decay back into their zeropoint and then infinitely repeat the photon emission process. This relentless process is almost hypnotic in its appeal.
Massless observable radiant energy is often confused with nonobservable virtual vacuum fluctuation. So, don’t expect to comprehend just how it works right away. Let these notions sink in gradually and take root as the realization of your own essential nature. Perhaps you’ll find the effects or applications easier to understand than the concepts behind it.
Catch the Wave
When is a wave not a wave? When it’s a scalar or energy precursor, point intensity. A scalar potential, like ripples in a pond, either increases or decreases at each and every focal point throughout spacetime, including inside our bodies. Zero-Point Energy (ZPE) is observable; virtual vacuum fluctuation is nonobservable.
Matter boils into and out of existence. In this reiterative process the virtual becomes the observable. Subquantal disordered virtual state fluctuations of the vacuum is the groundstate of existence. Vacuum fluctuation of virtual photons is the universal hum, the OM of the cosmological constant.
“Let there be Light.” Potentials in the vacuum are primordial causal agents creating force fields as effects of their interference during virtual photon flux. Charge emits measurable photon energy. ZPE charge becomes observable emission. Real EM photons (quanta of light) are emitted from that charge and spread into 3-space at light speed.
Coherent integration implies continuous creation from virtual state energy input. Harmonic sets or series of wave/antiwave pairs form the scalar potential. Internally dynamic scalars essentially pump negentropy or increased order and information into existence as energy and/or mass.
In Synergetics, Buckminster Fuller called this cosmic pumping energy Cosmic Zero, described as the nexus of quantum jitterbugging of the Vector Equilibrium Matrix. Forces are enfolded in the vacuum that can be unzipped into manifestation. Artificially produced scalars can affect everything from our minds to the weather. This physics has even been used as a model of paranormal phenomena, healing and clandestine warfare.
The flow of mass, and our own mass, through time is generated by the ubiquitous interaction of photons with the mass. This is so for both virtual and observable photons. Mass moves through time by integrating virtual photons, and absorption/emission of observable photons/biophotons. The internal dynamic flow of time has infolded sublevels and engines that pump up the quantum field effects to breech the mystic threshold of observability.
Scalars exist only in the vacuum of empty space, including that between our own atoms. Tesla called this form of negative energy, radiant energy. This new physics has been called ether physics, scalar physics, virtual physics, plenum physics, scalar electromagnetics, energetics and psychotronics.
When massergy enters 3-space, it becomes entropic, while the negentropic potential remains unmanifest as its sustaining force. When negentropy manifests, it’s entropy crosses the mystic veil into nonobservability. The generative signal wave is always negentropic, instantaneously reordering previously scattered energy without requiring input energy.
So, the void isn’t empty. It just doesn’t contain physical matter. To illuminate ourselves, let’s look behind the Mystic Veil between the observable and nonobservable – the truly metaphysical which is literally “beyond physics.”
The mindbody is electronic, but it is rooted in the scalar luminosity of its invisible ground. Living systems are very sensitive to changes in tiny energy fields and resonance phenomena, both locally and remotely. Imbalances can lead to degenerative disease that can be corrected through Energy Medicine.
In this nonlocal model, bioenergetic distance healing is possible through pumping additional energy into the system, creating resonance and modulating electrically charged molecules. Any kind of field can be turned into any other kind of field by precise time synchronization. Healers use the Quantum Vacuum (QV) to facilitate order and coherence as a preventive measure.
Healing is a self-organizing emergent process. Our experiences become embodied in our structure, emotions and behaviors. Correcting imbalances and distortions in the energy field facilitates harmonization of subsystems, allowing the cells to work together, instantaneously and symphonically.
Fierce Luminosity
All biological processes are a function of electromagnetic field interactions. EM fields are the connecting link between the world of form and resonant patterns. EM fields embody or store gestalts, patterns of information. Biochemical action and bioelectronic action meet at the quantum-junction.
The body is both formed by and generates bioscalars and biophotons that both condition and signal its health. Our two brain hemispheres constitute natural scalar interferometers (or “engines”) actuating scalar fields. These fields possibly couple to the subtle anatomy of the body like chakras, acupuncture meridians or fields of the heart.
Our bodies are essentially “frozen light” as is everything else. This light is transduced from the vacuum by the holographic blueprint of our DNA, which acts as a cymatic projector employing biophotonic light and creative sound (phonons) to read and manifest our genetic code. (Gariaev; Miller).
The distinction between a living and nonliving system is simply the fact that the living system deterministically uses the inner EM energy channels inside scalar potentials. And those EM potentials are centered on the atomic nuclei of atoms comprising the living system's molecules, cells, tissues, and mass.
The mind/brain/body problem can only be solved by looking at this interior energetics, or we will never understand life, memory, personality or thought. The vacuum potential, a hidden internal EM energy channel, is the primary channel of biological control as well as human intent.
“Now you see it; now you don’t,” in the transitory world of the cosmic House of Mirrors. Disordered virtual energy can be turned into ordered observable EM energy. Matter is a small ripple on the seething ocean of virtual energy potential. Everything that ever existed or can exist is already potentially there in the nothingness of space, which contains all of being.
Your Zero Point
Mathematician, Charles Muses describes the nature of our embodiment: “Actually our bodies are like fountains [virtual dipoles]. The fountain has a shape only because it's being renewed every minute, and our bodies are being renewed. So we are standing waves; we are no exception.”
Visualizations, such as the qabbalistic Middle Pillar Exercise are designed to pump negentropy, as a fountain of light, into the practitioner. It is a means of bringing free energy into our systems for quantum wellness. Such meditations help us recalibrate ourselves from our own personal zero point or renewable energy.
Muses describes time as the master controller that cuts through the entire physical universe and holds all of space together, though not necessarily in each point of space. Time is, therefore, bigger than space. Wisdom traditions contend there is a fundamental unity between the universal mind and the cosmos itself -- including the unfolding of time.
Certain ancient and modern spiritual technologies are said to confer extraordinarily longer lifespans on their practitioners. Often yogis, lamas and masters appear far younger than their chronological age. They attribute these youthful qualities to their meditation practice. To meditate is a regenerative therapy in which we “die daily” into the unconditioned state and are instantaneously reborn anew.
Trauma locks up energies in the body, and the self image can become "frozen" and inhibit growth of the personality. This image can be de-structured or liquefied, eliminating the old holographic pattern, and returning all elements to a chaotic state. From this chaos, the new image automatically emerges in regenerated form. This death/rebirth is healing, and may be the mechanism of the placebo effect.
Self-image is locked up in identification with a multi-sensory image of self. It conditions the body and its state of health. The process of detachment from one's body, emotions, thoughts, and even the notion of self is a way of dis-identifying with the old outworn model, and creating a nonlocalized impression of oneself as identical with universal consciousness.
Healing is the psychophysical equivalent of creativity. Creativity is embodied inspiration and imagination. To the extent we intentionally commune with the source of infinite peace, love, health, bounty, and oneness we encourage their manifestation in outer reality.
The stability of matter itself is mediated by zero-point fluctuations (ZPF) of the electromagnetic field. In each and every nano-instant, we a reborn at the birthplace of matter, much like a refreshing screen and therefore have the potential to reform utterly, instantaneously. There is infinite healing potential in the undifferentiated creative energy, radiant wholeness.
Spiritual Psychology
The light of nature is the quinta essentia, extracted from the four elements, and dwelling in our hearts. It is enkindled by the Holy Spirit. The light of nature is an intuitive apprehension of the facts, a kind of illumination--one's own experience of nature.
Fire is one of the archetypal forms of Mercurius. Even the aqua mercurialis is a form of divine fire, paradoxically. This fire is highly vaporous, indeed really the only fire in the whole procedure. It is the universal and scintillating force of the light of nature, which carries the heavenly spirit within it; the source of mystical knowledge second only to the holy revelations of the Scriptures. But it shares in its essence an abysmal nature. The paradoxical merging of fire/water reveals the principle of the coincidence of opposites which is completed by absolute opposition in order to attain psychological validity. Hermes is a god of revelations, and this mystic fire is the fire in which God himself burns in divine love. Since Mercurius is of fiery nature, the fire does not harm him: he remains unchanged within it, rejoicing like the salamander. This fire is a portion of God's spirit, but is also Lucifer who became the fire of hell after his fall.
Eleazar says, "This old Father-Begetter will one day be drawn from the primordial Chaos, and he is the fire-spewing dragon." The igneous spirit of the natural fire is embodied in the substances which are analogous to it. Our stone is an astral fire, which sympathizes with the natural fire, and which as a true salamander receives its nativity, is nourished and grows in the elementary fire. The natural fire is proportionate to the astral life, and therefore, the former corporifies or coagulates the later. The body of the universe is created (coagulated) by means of proportion or analogy. Analogy is a process of relationship, making connections by "as if." Analogy corporifies or coagulates spirit. Alchemy is a treasury of analogies that embody the objective psyche and the processes it undergoes in development. The same applies to religion and mythology. The importance of analogy for realization of the psyche cannot be overestimated. It gives form and visibility to that which was previously invisible, intangible, not yet coagulated. Dreams, alchemical images and active imagination coagulate. They connect the outer and inner worlds by means of proportional or analogous images, coagulating soul-stuff. --Iona Miller, Psychogenesis
"While at the individual level alchemy may assuredly be concerned with the redemption of the Lumen NaturaeAurora a and also Jung's Answer to Job concealed in the psycho-physiological recesses of the human personality, the appear to point to a yet larger and more universal opus. Crying from the depths of the chaos of this world, the wisdom-woman Sophia calls out to the alchemists of our age. Depth-psychology has indeed served as one of the principal avenues through which this redemptive project has been made known. The time may be approaching, and may in fact have come already, when potential alchemists in various disciplines and spiritual traditions may address themselves to this universal task of alchemical liberation. . . In our time alchemy has come into its own...The stone that the builders rejected is moving ever closer to the structure of Western culture." (Hoeller) http://www.gnosis.org/jung_alchemy.htm
Conclusions: Theory & Practice
There is a certain Truth in occult operations. What the medieval alchemists once stated enigmatically can now be described in certain aspects with far more clarity. It doesn't mean we should cease our cognitive/affective penetration of the Mysteries. We should be encouraged in that direction both in theory and experimentation. Understanding becomes explicit only through direct experience. The Philosopher's Stone -- the lustrous negentropic body -- in its own nature is based in the dynamic qualities of matter kindled by the fire that is water.
"But our Water is not common Water, not our Fire common Fire, for no Man is so senseless as to think that Water and Fire can be united. But our Water is of a Celestial Nature, and therefore our Fire loves it. The same is to be understood of the two others, namely Air and Earth; Vulgar Earth is leprous, and abounds with Excrements, but our Earth is Crystalline Green, and therefore it is called Green Gold. And our Air is unctuous and therefore contains Fire." (Grummet)
* The Stone is made of One Thing that contains potential Gold and Silver, as we have suggested. Since sun and gold are equivalent concepts in alchemy, the solificatio (illumination) means that the "inwards of the head" are transformed into light. We light up with a new awareness of the unconscious.
* Lumen naturae is the core image of light in the matrix of alchemical ideas, the secret nature of nature.
* We compared traditional alchemical notions with contemporary counterparts in biophysics and scalar physics.
* We drew analogies between the dark "secret fire" and massless radiant energy and biophotons.
* We described how virtual photons and photons cross the mystic veil of manifestation and observability.
* We discussed the nature of the Void as not devoid.
* We described its negentropic effects, including healing and placebo effect.
* We detailed its therapeutic effect in spiritual psychotherapy as well as alchemy.
* We described DNA as generator of the quantum biohologram, modulated by coherent light and sound.
* We demonstrated the biophotonic nature of life and mind.
* We showed Virtual Photon Fluctuation (ZPE) is the Source of the photons that form and sustain our Being.
* We suggested a model of Homo Lumen for someone actively engaged with their hyperfield body and meditation with an aim toward pineal stimulation of the illuminative spirit molecule DMT.
* We reframed and revisioned the notion of the Lumen Naturae in contemporary photonic terms while validating its sacred nature in the circle of life.
REFERENCES
Bearden, Tom, Excalibur Briefing
Gariaev, Peter
Grummet, Christopher, Sanguis Naturae, London 1696 (RAMS reprint 1981) http://www.rexresearch.com/alchemy3/grummet.htm
Miller, Iona, Quantum Bioholography, JNLRMI
Miller, Iona, Photonic Human,
Miller, Iona, My Zero Point,
Miller, Iona, Wizard of Zero Point,
Miller, Iona, Psychogenesis
2. Dragon Watchtowers
Were They Observatories?
Templar Tower, Hyeres and Temple Church, London
Circle Watch Towers
Round towers are linked historically to The Watchers and ancient serpent/dragon cults. The "Shining Ones" were star watchers -- astronomers. The "watch tower" is a symbol of internal psychological ascent, the axis mundi - a ladder or gateway to heaven and the inner observatory of the Third Eye. The Axis Mundi of Earth pointed to Draco. The star door is the entrance or Phoenix Gate to the enlightened trance state. Typically, towers have an underground cave, mine, or passages and are close to a sacred spring.
In Egypt the ben-ben bird is called the phoenix and linked to the Ben-Ben Tower at the Temple of Heliopolis. Towers are both phallic and vaginal in their outer and inner essential nature, uniting male and female. Towers are a notable part of Templar buildings and function as giant storage batteries for virtual energy. Irish round towers were known as "snake houses.' The round temple, microcosm of the world, was a key architectural feature of the Knights Templar, which eventually gave rise to both the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons.
Twin Pillars
The Masonic pillars Joachim and Boaz are central to all their temples. The legendary mason Hiram is linked to the serpent, being from the tribe Naphtali or Dan, whose emblem is the serpent or basilisk. According to the Rabbis, Solomon's Temple was prefabricated by a giant serpent who could cut stones, perhaps with serpent-wisdom.
Symbolically, the Temple of Wisdom is built by the serpent, Kundalini energy -- a human electro-biochemical reaction. One's humanity is transmuted into gold through enlightenment. Thus, initiation is experiential and involves dangerous ordeals of life, death [of the ego] and catharsis. We awaken to a whole new world within us.
Rituals of secret societies have their origins in ancient rites of serpent-worship which literally and figuratively went underground in these groups with esoteric, gnostic and mystical leanings. The round tower is also related to the djed pillar or backbone of Osiris -- the kundalini serpent energy. Globally, many round towers have astronomical alignments.They also drew on the arcane knowledge of the serpent-worshipping Druids and Templars.
Serpent/Dragon Cult
Architect gods, such as Thoth and Hermes, are linked to the serpent wisdom cult. Thoth consecrated the linked species of dragons and serpents. The healing version of Thoth was symbolized by the serpent. Round towers are also huge resonant systems -- gateways to the other world.
Healing abilities of megalithic stones such as those found at Louisenlund are attributed to the serpent seen in the Phoenix Portal. The serpent/dragon is the symbol of eternity and immortality. The labyrinth -- the womb of the Mother Goddess -- is a stylized symbol of the initiatory serpentine way from death to resurrection. The path to the center leads to the hidden treasure -- the original self, the clear light or primordial awareness without content. In this state, time stops or is utterly suspended from its ever-cycling nature. The true temple is within.
Portals or gateways to the "land of serpents" were places of mystery and rebirth. One enters the serpent and goes through it to be resurrected, much like Osiris. Abraham's name is derived from Ab Ram, "exalted snake," and the same can be said of the magus Abramelin and Hiram, Ahi-Ram. Brahmin is not unrelated as a title, rather than a personal name. When Hiram was slain, his jewel was found and placed on a triangular altar in a secret vault under Solomon's Temple.
Magdalene
Mary Magdalene is said to mean "Beloved Tower", Ladder to God or Stairway to Heaven, as cited by William Henry in Mary Magdalene, the Illuminator. The cosmic-axis connects heaven and earth
Preview book - http://books.google.com/books?id=I9honL070lMC&printsec=frontcover&hl=it#v=onepage&q&f=false
Round towers are linked historically to The Watchers and ancient serpent/dragon cults. The "Shining Ones" were star watchers -- astronomers. The "watch tower" is a symbol of internal psychological ascent, the axis mundi - a ladder or gateway to heaven and the inner observatory of the Third Eye. The Axis Mundi of Earth pointed to Draco. The star door is the entrance or Phoenix Gate to the enlightened trance state. Typically, towers have an underground cave, mine, or passages and are close to a sacred spring.
In Egypt the ben-ben bird is called the phoenix and linked to the Ben-Ben Tower at the Temple of Heliopolis. Towers are both phallic and vaginal in their outer and inner essential nature, uniting male and female. Towers are a notable part of Templar buildings and function as giant storage batteries for virtual energy. Irish round towers were known as "snake houses.' The round temple, microcosm of the world, was a key architectural feature of the Knights Templar, which eventually gave rise to both the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons.
Twin Pillars
The Masonic pillars Joachim and Boaz are central to all their temples. The legendary mason Hiram is linked to the serpent, being from the tribe Naphtali or Dan, whose emblem is the serpent or basilisk. According to the Rabbis, Solomon's Temple was prefabricated by a giant serpent who could cut stones, perhaps with serpent-wisdom.
Symbolically, the Temple of Wisdom is built by the serpent, Kundalini energy -- a human electro-biochemical reaction. One's humanity is transmuted into gold through enlightenment. Thus, initiation is experiential and involves dangerous ordeals of life, death [of the ego] and catharsis. We awaken to a whole new world within us.
Rituals of secret societies have their origins in ancient rites of serpent-worship which literally and figuratively went underground in these groups with esoteric, gnostic and mystical leanings. The round tower is also related to the djed pillar or backbone of Osiris -- the kundalini serpent energy. Globally, many round towers have astronomical alignments.They also drew on the arcane knowledge of the serpent-worshipping Druids and Templars.
Serpent/Dragon Cult
Architect gods, such as Thoth and Hermes, are linked to the serpent wisdom cult. Thoth consecrated the linked species of dragons and serpents. The healing version of Thoth was symbolized by the serpent. Round towers are also huge resonant systems -- gateways to the other world.
Healing abilities of megalithic stones such as those found at Louisenlund are attributed to the serpent seen in the Phoenix Portal. The serpent/dragon is the symbol of eternity and immortality. The labyrinth -- the womb of the Mother Goddess -- is a stylized symbol of the initiatory serpentine way from death to resurrection. The path to the center leads to the hidden treasure -- the original self, the clear light or primordial awareness without content. In this state, time stops or is utterly suspended from its ever-cycling nature. The true temple is within.
Portals or gateways to the "land of serpents" were places of mystery and rebirth. One enters the serpent and goes through it to be resurrected, much like Osiris. Abraham's name is derived from Ab Ram, "exalted snake," and the same can be said of the magus Abramelin and Hiram, Ahi-Ram. Brahmin is not unrelated as a title, rather than a personal name. When Hiram was slain, his jewel was found and placed on a triangular altar in a secret vault under Solomon's Temple.
Magdalene
Mary Magdalene is said to mean "Beloved Tower", Ladder to God or Stairway to Heaven, as cited by William Henry in Mary Magdalene, the Illuminator. The cosmic-axis connects heaven and earth
Preview book - http://books.google.com/books?id=I9honL070lMC&printsec=frontcover&hl=it#v=onepage&q&f=false
Masonic Mystery Tower of St. Germain, Hermetic Garden, Louisenlund
3. When Comets Were Dragons
From Tiamat to Tunguska
Ancient myths suggest that a giant comet may have visited the Earth a few thousand years ago, raining fireballs and meteors. A cometary or planetary near-encounter results in falling of gases, hydrocarbons, burning pitch and stones. Such events are unknown to modern experience but are indicated by ancient legends from many places and by various geological and biological phenomena. The big difference between comets and meteors is that, as luminous objects, their frightening aspect can be seen in the heavens, whether they are headed for earth impact or not.
Excessive influx of cometary debris (without impact events) may precipitate an enhanced zodiacal light, and provoke extreme aurora events caused by a disturbance of the geomagnetic field in our planet (http:www.mythopedia.info/). These spectacular instabilities in the plasma were remembered as dragons and waring gods. Of course, the phenomenon of an enhanced aurora may be triggered by an extreme solar weather, the passage through a gigantic molecular cloud or the disintegration of a giant comet in the inner solar system, event by a combination of these parameters. Such visual experiences reformed the psychological, sociological and artistic aspects of the myths.
Scientists are starting to recognise that the evolution of life on Earth has been affected, if not largely shaped, by its celestial environment. We now recognise that throughout its history the Earth has been bombarded by comets, small asteroids, meteorites (small rocky or iron bodies) and smaller particle and dust (meteor) showers. Over the years, astronomers have detected a substantial population of such small bodies out there in the Solar System, confirming that the threat of their impact with the Earth is a significant one. Current estimates, for example, suggest that between 10 and 30 impacts similar to the one that occurred in Tunguska in Siberia in 1908 have happened over recorded history, with perhaps one or more exploding with a force equivalent to that produced by 500 to 1000 megatonnes of TNT.
Excessive influx of cometary debris (without impact events) may precipitate an enhanced zodiacal light, and provoke extreme aurora events caused by a disturbance of the geomagnetic field in our planet (http:www.mythopedia.info/). These spectacular instabilities in the plasma were remembered as dragons and waring gods. Of course, the phenomenon of an enhanced aurora may be triggered by an extreme solar weather, the passage through a gigantic molecular cloud or the disintegration of a giant comet in the inner solar system, event by a combination of these parameters. Such visual experiences reformed the psychological, sociological and artistic aspects of the myths.
Scientists are starting to recognise that the evolution of life on Earth has been affected, if not largely shaped, by its celestial environment. We now recognise that throughout its history the Earth has been bombarded by comets, small asteroids, meteorites (small rocky or iron bodies) and smaller particle and dust (meteor) showers. Over the years, astronomers have detected a substantial population of such small bodies out there in the Solar System, confirming that the threat of their impact with the Earth is a significant one. Current estimates, for example, suggest that between 10 and 30 impacts similar to the one that occurred in Tunguska in Siberia in 1908 have happened over recorded history, with perhaps one or more exploding with a force equivalent to that produced by 500 to 1000 megatonnes of TNT.
The potential hazards vary in size - from asteroids less than a kilometre wide to comets several hundred kilometres across. There is no known upper limit to the size of comets. In assessing current and near-future risks, we must therefore pay attention to the rare, giant comets that enter short-period, Earth-crossing orbits on timescales of 100,000 years. Such comets, which are made of a mixture of ice and dust, disintegrate as they approach the Sun. As they do, they generate a dense swarm of meteors which may include short-lived concentrations of dust along with streams of sub-kilometre bodies. These concentrations spread out along the orbit of the comet and are generally invisible except when the Earth intercepts the track and the particles manifest themselves as shooting stars. With the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, however, which operated in the 1980s, such trails of material were also detected in the infrared, one of them following Comet Encke - a short-period comet (orbital period 3.3 years) first observed in 1786.
If a giant comet were thrown into a short-period, Earth-crossing orbit, its disintegration under the effect of sunlight would release a copious amount of dust into the inner planetary system. Ploughing through such dust, the Earth would acquire a reflective blanket and cool by up to about 5 degrees, possibly sliding into a new ice age. Even after this phase, brief, sharp climatic coolings would be expected during epochs when the Earth passed annually through the comet's meteor stream. Precession of the cometary orbit, analogous to the slow wobble of a spinning top, is guaranteed to lead to epochs when the orbits of Earth and comet intersect. Passing through the 'IRAS trail', annual meteor storms of huge intensity would then be expected, with a correspondingly enhanced risk of a Tunguska-like impact, perhaps concentrated into brief but devastating swarms. http://sott.sott.net/articles/show/156224-Comets-dragons-prophets-of-doom
If a giant comet were thrown into a short-period, Earth-crossing orbit, its disintegration under the effect of sunlight would release a copious amount of dust into the inner planetary system. Ploughing through such dust, the Earth would acquire a reflective blanket and cool by up to about 5 degrees, possibly sliding into a new ice age. Even after this phase, brief, sharp climatic coolings would be expected during epochs when the Earth passed annually through the comet's meteor stream. Precession of the cometary orbit, analogous to the slow wobble of a spinning top, is guaranteed to lead to epochs when the orbits of Earth and comet intersect. Passing through the 'IRAS trail', annual meteor storms of huge intensity would then be expected, with a correspondingly enhanced risk of a Tunguska-like impact, perhaps concentrated into brief but devastating swarms. http://sott.sott.net/articles/show/156224-Comets-dragons-prophets-of-doom
In fact, a number of entities in the inner part of the Solar System, such as the Taurid meteor stream seen in November - the bulk of meteor dust responsible for the so-called zodiacal light and Comet Encke itself (associated with the Taurids) - are thought to be the remnants of a very large comet. It seems that this object was actively disintegrating as recently as 5000 years ago, although it may be very much older. The night sky at that time, and probably for some millennia after, would have looked very disturbed, lit up by a bright zodiacal light, with recurring cometary fragments drifting through the constellations, and with a brilliant firework display recurring annually in the form of the associated meteor storm. Stories of immense fires and "scorched lands" or "wastelands" arise in different eras and locales.
Evidence for a giant comet
Is there any evidence for this giant comet in the terrestrial record? One of the most puzzling and widespread features of early societies is their preoccupation with the sky. People have assumed that this was driven by the need for a calendar for both agricultural and ritual purposes. However, this explanation does not account for the doom-laden nature of much cosmic iconography and early sky-centred cosmic religions associated with these societies. For example, some of them involve celestial combat myths in which winged serpents battle it out in the sky before one or other crashes to Earth.
Numerous prophecies of doom, from Zoroaster to the Book of Revelation, clearly show celestial impact motifs: the Persian prophet Zoroaster (c. 500 BC) predicts a world-end in which "Ahriman (Satan) will make a comet strike the Earth causing a huge conflagration"; the Book of Revelation describes a huge burning mountain falling from the sky, dropping hail and fire on the Earth, while the Sun and Moon are darkened by smoke pouring from the abyss; Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by a rain of fire from Heaven, and so on. Cometary as well as meteor motifs are also found in these myths (for example, Revelation has a huge, red, multiple-headed dragon in the sky) and were recognised as such by ancient writers.
Other hints of an interest extending beyond the practical need for a calendar are to be found in the omen astrology of the Babylonians, which was largely fireball-based (a fireball is an extremely bright meteor), and in the widespread occurrence of icons apparently depicting comets, such as the omega symbol found throughout the Near East. The ancient swastika may be another such - for example, it explicitly represents a cometary type in a Chinese classification scheme depicted in a Han dynasty tomb dated 168 BC. This symbol is of great antiquity, going back to at least 1400 BC, and is found from China (Chinese comet atlas below) through India to the New World.
Evidence for a giant comet
Is there any evidence for this giant comet in the terrestrial record? One of the most puzzling and widespread features of early societies is their preoccupation with the sky. People have assumed that this was driven by the need for a calendar for both agricultural and ritual purposes. However, this explanation does not account for the doom-laden nature of much cosmic iconography and early sky-centred cosmic religions associated with these societies. For example, some of them involve celestial combat myths in which winged serpents battle it out in the sky before one or other crashes to Earth.
Numerous prophecies of doom, from Zoroaster to the Book of Revelation, clearly show celestial impact motifs: the Persian prophet Zoroaster (c. 500 BC) predicts a world-end in which "Ahriman (Satan) will make a comet strike the Earth causing a huge conflagration"; the Book of Revelation describes a huge burning mountain falling from the sky, dropping hail and fire on the Earth, while the Sun and Moon are darkened by smoke pouring from the abyss; Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by a rain of fire from Heaven, and so on. Cometary as well as meteor motifs are also found in these myths (for example, Revelation has a huge, red, multiple-headed dragon in the sky) and were recognised as such by ancient writers.
Other hints of an interest extending beyond the practical need for a calendar are to be found in the omen astrology of the Babylonians, which was largely fireball-based (a fireball is an extremely bright meteor), and in the widespread occurrence of icons apparently depicting comets, such as the omega symbol found throughout the Near East. The ancient swastika may be another such - for example, it explicitly represents a cometary type in a Chinese classification scheme depicted in a Han dynasty tomb dated 168 BC. This symbol is of great antiquity, going back to at least 1400 BC, and is found from China (Chinese comet atlas below) through India to the New World.
The swastika symbol has been used for thousands of years among practically every group of humans on the planet. According to Barbara G. Walker, in The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets: "... Swastikas appear on Paleolitic carvings on mammoth ivory from the Ukraine, dated ca. 10,000 B.C. Swastikas figure on the oldest coinage in India. Persia, Asia Mior, and Greece represented the rotating axis mundi with the symbol of a swastika. On a Boeotian amphora of the 7th century B.C., the swastika was presented as a sacred sign of the Goddess Artemis. It also represented many other deities from Iceland to Japan, Scandinavia to North Africa. It was much used in Troy and Mycenaie before the 13th century B.C. ... In Japan, the reborn Amida, "Buddha of Immeasurable Light", wore a left-handed swastika carved on his breast. A similar left-handed swastika was the sign of Thor's hammer on Scandinavian coins. ... Trojan images of the Great Goddess showed a swastika within a female triangle on her belly, indicating the hidden god prior to his next rebirth. Early Chiristians adopted the swastika to represent Christ, calling it a crux dissimulata or disguised cross. It was also called the crux gammata ... because it showed the Greek letter gamma four times repeated. To Saxons it was fylfot, translated either "four-foot", referring to the four heavenly pillars at the corners of the earth, or "fill-foot", referring to the Christian habit of filling in the foot of a church window with swastikas. ... ... A variant of the swastika [eight-armed double swastika] ... represented German Vehmic Courts (from Vehme, "punishment") which began in the Middle Ages as civil tribunals for persecuting heretics, and became connected with the Inquisition. ... From the Vehmgericht arose specifically anti-Semitic secret societies of Austria and Germany in the early 1900s - the forerunners of Nazism. ...".
As the "Cross of Thor", the symbol was even brought to England by Scandinavian settlers in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, long before Hitler.
It is interesting that the Nazis did not use the term "Cross of Thor", which is consistent with German history, but instead preferred to steal the Indian term "swastika. It is even more interesting that the swastika has been found on Jewish temples from 2000 years ago in Palestine, so Hitler was (inadvertently?) stealing a Jewish symbol as well as an Indian one. In the Americas, the swastika was used by Native Americans in North, Central, and South America. According to Barbara G. Walker, in The Woman's Encyclopedia of Symbols and Sacred Objects: "...[The]... rattlesnake swastika design from a Mississippian Indian burial mound ...[
As the "Cross of Thor", the symbol was even brought to England by Scandinavian settlers in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, long before Hitler.
It is interesting that the Nazis did not use the term "Cross of Thor", which is consistent with German history, but instead preferred to steal the Indian term "swastika. It is even more interesting that the swastika has been found on Jewish temples from 2000 years ago in Palestine, so Hitler was (inadvertently?) stealing a Jewish symbol as well as an Indian one. In the Americas, the swastika was used by Native Americans in North, Central, and South America. According to Barbara G. Walker, in The Woman's Encyclopedia of Symbols and Sacred Objects: "...[The]... rattlesnake swastika design from a Mississippian Indian burial mound ...[
An aspect of comets which is evident in ancient lore involves shapeshifting. A comet is three dimensional and could appear as quite a different animal when viewed from a different angle (e.g. the fabled ability of Yu mentioned above to transform into a pheasant or bear). Our ancestors' stories speak of weakening gods and fantastic births, because comets can also change spontaneously; a gas emitting area could become dust, or a piece of the comet could break away, creating another comet, perhaps initially more flamboyant than its parent. In Chinese lore, Ts'ang Chieh, the four eyed legendary inventor of writing, was inspired to create written symbols from noticing the marks of birds' feet in the sand. His ancient style is known as 'bird foot-prints writing'. [34, p. 31]
According to the Comet/bird hypothesis, when a comet approaches so close to Earth, the jets of gas streaming from it, bent by the comet's rotation, became visible, looking like a swastika. This observation is drawn from an ancient Chinese manuscript that shows comet tail varieties. [49] Respectively, the swastika-like comet on the Han Dynasty silk comet atlas was labeled a 'long tailed pheasant star' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty_silk_ comet_atlas#Comet-inspired_motifs).. So, many swastika and swastika-like motifs may have been representations of bird tracks, including many of those found by Schliemann in Troy. [30] http://www.drgeorgepc.com/DisasterArchHephaeLaoupi.html
According to the Comet/bird hypothesis, when a comet approaches so close to Earth, the jets of gas streaming from it, bent by the comet's rotation, became visible, looking like a swastika. This observation is drawn from an ancient Chinese manuscript that shows comet tail varieties. [49] Respectively, the swastika-like comet on the Han Dynasty silk comet atlas was labeled a 'long tailed pheasant star' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty_silk_ comet_atlas#Comet-inspired_motifs).. So, many swastika and swastika-like motifs may have been representations of bird tracks, including many of those found by Schliemann in Troy. [30] http://www.drgeorgepc.com/DisasterArchHephaeLaoupi.html
Unless these speculations are backed up by 'hard evidence', however, cosmic interpretations of history are likely to remain controversial. Such evidence may be slowly emerging. Tree-ring studies of Irish oaks, made by Mike Baillie of Queen's University, Belfast, reveal that there was an abrupt climatic downturn around 2354 - 2345 BC. Digs carried out by the archaeologists, Courty and Weiss at Tell Leilan in Northern Syria, have revealed that, also around the same time, a catastrophic environmental event took place. Their detailed analysis reveals evidence not only of widespread destruction, but more specifically the disintegration of mud-brick constructions by 'a blast from the sky'. Around this time also, there was a near-simultaneous collapse of Bronze Age civilisations, and evidence from many other sources of widespread environmental disturbance in the late third millennium BC; but the dating of the latter events is poor, and whether we can see in them a cosmic disturbance of the Comet Encke kind is still uncertain.
The concept that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs has seeped into popular culture over the past 15 years or so. Recently, the question: "Could it happen to us?," has also become a matter of increasing public interest. Within the past year, a spate of popular books and movies has drawn attention to the issue: it seems that the perception of 'humanity at risk from the sky' is destined to become a part of current culture. The responsibility of the scientist concerned with the celestial hazards is, of course, to assess them as realistically as possible. In making this assessment, it seems that useful information may be obtainable from a well-informed study of our early history. Bill Napier is an astronomer at the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland.
The concept that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs has seeped into popular culture over the past 15 years or so. Recently, the question: "Could it happen to us?," has also become a matter of increasing public interest. Within the past year, a spate of popular books and movies has drawn attention to the issue: it seems that the perception of 'humanity at risk from the sky' is destined to become a part of current culture. The responsibility of the scientist concerned with the celestial hazards is, of course, to assess them as realistically as possible. In making this assessment, it seems that useful information may be obtainable from a well-informed study of our early history. Bill Napier is an astronomer at the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland.
Massive Impactor
The answers are hidden in the mists of time. It is plausible that Great Flood stories originated not only in the era of glacial melt and flooding of the Black Sea, but in a comet strike in the Indian Ocean 4800 years ago. Shortly thereafter Sumerian civilization arose with its myth of Floods and great watery dragons. The 3-mile wide comet slammed into the ocean, radiating a fireball, shockwaves and mega-tsunamis that scoured the landscape and scorched the air, and released incredible electrical discharges and torrential rains of ejected ocean water. It was an utter Deluge. The 600 foot high waves carried huge deposits of sediment to land. Half the population died.
The dragon's form arose from his particular power of control over the waters of the earth and gave rise to many of the attributes singled out by different peoples as the whole myth developed. They were believed to live at the bottom of the sea, where they guarded vast treasure hoards, very frequently of pearls. Rain clouds and thunder and lightning were believed to be the dragon's breath, hence the fire-breathing monster. The significance of the dragon was its control over the destiny of mankind.
CHAOS WAS AN UNIMAGINABLE FLOOD
Imagine you are an inhabitant of one of the first bustling but overcrowded cities on earth, a bountiful economy of agriculturalists and traders. Your priests bring the attention of all to a new star in the sky that seems to grow brighter and “hairier” in surprisingly short order. This evil eye in the sky is intuitively considered malevolent, upsetting the order of the heavens. It stirs something deep within racial memory which cannot quite be identified but is felt as primal awe and fear.
The comet wags its growing tail as it nears the sun and becomes ever more threatening as it nears earth, ever more foreboding as it increases in size and brightness, perhaps even rivaling sun and moon. Then one day that disturbing presence falls to earth and in an instant everything is profoundly changed – changed back to primeval chaos where survivors can’t tell sky from earth because terra firma has literally disappeared in an inundation of unbelievable scale immensely beyond their human memories of disasters. Did comets give rise to the notion of the fall of Satan from Heaven?
GOD'S EYE & BREATH OF THE DIVINE SERPENT
In Mesopotamian tales, before the Flood actually arrives, a new sun seems to arise from the South Storm. Meteor showers of debris pepper the air even before the enormous fireball flares into instantaneous destruction. That fire is followed by the hot electrical breath of a sonic boom which trails electromagnetic chaos in the wake of the massive impactor. Plasma auroras ripple, writhe and coil like serpents throughout the darkened sky. Megalightning rends the sky and jolts the ground and ignites fires that crackle and roar incessantly. The earth groans, shifts and buckles. The flood wind blows as the "south-storm" strikes the land – and strikes it hard, like a relentless Dragon with wave upon wave of assaults for six days and nights that never seem to end. It sounds like a mighty battle of titanic scope, of the Gods themselves.
This is no cross-cultural myth, but a real, if legendary event that exceeds the most fertile imagination. Ancient superstitions are the result, not the cause of the epics that came down to us as the beginning of history since all else was virtually destroyed. The priesthood consolidated its hold on the people, incessantly gazing at the heavens from their observational towers lest another such cosmic sojourner threaten their existence. The fact is, then, as now – real life disasters were an immanent threat, from earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and climatic havoc.
The valley of Mesopotamia is dominated by two major rivers, the Tigris and the Euphraties, and numerous smaller ones. It was a land in which catastrophic floods were not unusual in ancient times, and it is unsurprising that stories about a major flood arose within the mythology of this area. Such stories might simply reflect an understandable preocupation with flooding in an area where flood disasters were an important reality. But this storm came from the South – from the Indian Ocean -- not upriver to the North.
ABYSSAL IMPACT
The sole survivors of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Biblical versions of the tale report the abject terror that rained down on humanity, virtually obliterating it from the world -- at least their world. The oldest timelines of the event are likely the most accurate. NOTE ~ this is a "South Storm", not the flooding of the northern Black Sea of an earlier era:
'That stated time had arrived:
'He who orders unease at night, showers down a rain of blight.
'I watched the appearance of the weather.
The weather was awesome to behold.I boarded the ship and battened up the entrance.With the first glow of dawn,
A black cloud rose up from the horizon.
Inside it Adad (the storm god) thunders,
While Shullat and Hanish (the heralds) go in front,
Moving as heralds over hill and plain.
Erragal (god of the underworld) tears out the posts (of the world dam);
Forth comes Ninurta and causes the dikes to follow.
The Anunnaki (gods of judgment) lift up the torches,
Setting the land ablaze with their glare.
Consternation over Adad reaches to the heavens,
Who turned to blackness all that had been light.
[That wide] land was shattered like [a pot]!
For one day the south-storm blew, [submerging the mountains],
Overtaking the [people] like a battle.
No one can see his fellow,
Nor can the people be recognized from heaven.
The gods were frightened by the deluge,
And, shrinking back, they ascended to the heaven of Anu (the father of
the other gods, who lived in the highest heaven).
The gods cowered like dogs
Crouched against the outer wall.
Ishtar (goddess of passion) cried out like a woman in travail,
The sweet-voiced mistress of the [gods] moans aloud:
'The olden days are alas turned to clay,
Six days and [six] nights
Blows the flood wind, as the south-storm sweeps the land.
When the seventh day arrived,
The flood(-carrying) south-storm subsided in the battle,
Which it had fought like an army.
The sea grew quiet, the tempest was still, the flood ceased.
I looked at the weather: stillness had set in,
And all of mankind had returned to clay.
The landscape was as level as a flat roof.
Seven days later, the waters began to subside:
I sat and wept,
Tears running down on my face.
I looked about for coast lines in the expanse of the sea:
In each of fourteen (regions)
There emerged a region(-mountain).
The dread exceeded all known disasters.
Instead of thy bringing on the deluge,
Would that a lion had risen up to diminish mankind!
Instead of thy bringing on the deluge,
Would that a wolf had risen up to diminish mankind!
Instead of thy bringing on the deluge,
Would that a famine had risen up to l[ay low] mankind!
Instead of thy bringing on the deluge,
Would that pestilence had risen up to smi[te down] mankind!
BOMBARDMENT
In an article in the NY Times on Nov 14, 2006, scientist Dallas Abbott has identified the site of a large asteroid impact crater (the Burckle Crater) off of the island of Madagascar that struck the earth around 2800 BC. This asteroid landed in the seabed, and sent a 600-900 foot high wall of water - a megatsunami - around the Indian Ocean, impacting land as far away as Australia, and crashing onto the coast of Africa, up the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and quite possibly into the Mediterranean Sea as well.
This asteroidal impact would have sent a huge surge of water into the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, flooding the ancient land of Sumeria, the source of the Biblical flood legend. Indeed, Sir Leonard Wooley, the archaeologist who discovered the city of Ur, found 30 feet of flood-deposited sand that separated the most ancient levels of the city from newer habitation levels on top of the flood debris.
Abbott's findings of deep-sea meteor/asteroid strike craters (which she has developed the technology to discover) indicates that large-scale cosmic strikes hit the earth much more frequently than scientists have previously postulated - perhaps every 1 to 3 thousand years, instead of every hundred thousand or so. Large asteroid strikes also produce weather alterations, and many more global phenomena. Interestingly, the period 2800BC is when the first dynasty of Egypt started.
Massive Impactor The answers to the relationship of Dragon and Deluge are hidden in the mists of time. In the Babylonian Creation myth, Enuma Elish, the dragon Tiamat is primeval chaos prior to the separation of heavens and earth. It is plausible that the Great Flood stories originated in a recently discovered comet strike in the Indian Ocean 4800 years ago. Shortly thereafter Sumerian civilization arose with its myth of Floods and great watery dragons. Dragon's pearls are a worldwide symbol of abyssal impactors, the death rain of cometary debris.The 3-mile wide comet slammed into the ocean, radiating a fireball, shockwaves and mega-Tsunamis that scoured the landscape, scorched the air, and released sonic blasts, incredible electrical discharges and torrential rains of ejected ocean water and solid ejecta. It was an utter Deluge. The 600 foot high waves carried huge deposits of sediment to land. Half the population or more died.The dragon's form arose from his particular power of control over the waters of the earth and gave rise to many of the attributes singled out by different peoples as the whole myth developed. They were believed to live at the bottom of the sea, where they guarded vast treasure hoards, very frequently of pearls. Rain clouds and thunder and lightning were believed to be the dragon's breath, hence the fire-breathing monster. The significance of the dragon was its control over the destiny of mankind. Is it surprising it became confounded with the creation story? Eliade, "Cosmogonic Myth," 174. 97 says The Flood story may be a late addition to Gilgamesh, but the theme of the inaccessibility of immortality is not. "...and the seven judges of hell ... raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. A stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm turned daylight into darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup."-- An account of the Deluge from the Epic of Gilgamesh, circa 2200 B.C.vThe Sumerian Creator is pictured as forming dry land from the primaeval water in much the same way as the early cultivator in the Euphrates Valley procured the rich fields for his crops. The existence of the earth is here not really presupposed. All the world was sea until the god created land out of the waters by the only practical method that was possible in Mesopotamia. Also, the rivers of Mesopotamia could be terrible. The Dragon motif drew its imagery from the mighty Tigris and Euphrates, as much from flood as storm. Markduk, as king identified with Sun-god, conquers the once featureless and chaotic primaeval water, the Dragon of flood and storm.
In the Hebrew versions of Creation, the Deluge narrative emphasizes connections between the Semitic Babylonians and themselves. The Sumerian versions are the originals, derived by the Jews from Semitic channels in Babylon. They increased the rain to forty days and add that "the fountains of the deep" and "the windows of heaven" opened, which sounds like the horrendous effects of a massive impact.
Some contributory cause other than local rain must sought for the magnitude of catastophes beyond those the rivers could cause. Mega-tsunami is orders of magnitude far far beyond local flood. Excavations at Ashur reveal a tablet describing a true dragon with legs, implying it crawls up onto land. A god announces the presence of the dragon, saying "In the sea he lies...." Then he describes its humongous size.
In the sea was the Serpent cre[ated].
Sixty /bêru/ is his length;
Thirty /bêru/ high is his he[ad].
For half (a /bêru/) each stretches the surface of his ey[es];
For twenty /bêru/ go [his feet].
He devours fish, the creatures [of the sea],
He devours birds, the creatures [of the heaven],
He devours wild asses, the creatures [of the field],
He devours men,[5] to the peoples [he . . .].
There are ample grounds, then, for assuming the independent existence of the Babylonian Dragon-myth, and though both the versions recovered have come to us in Semitic form, there is no doubt that the myth itself existed among the Sumerians. The dragon motif is constantly recurring in descriptions of Sumerian temple-decoration, and the twin dragons of Ningishzida on Gudea's libation-vase, carved in green steatite and inlaid with shell, are a notable product of Sumerian art. The very names borne by Tiamat's brood of monsters in the "Seven Tablets" are stamped in most cases with their Sumerian descent, and Kingu, whom she appointed as her champion in place of Apsû, is equally Sumerian. It would be strange indeed if the Sumerians had not evolved a Dragon myth, for the Dragon combat is the most obvious of nature myths and is found in most mythologies of Europe and the Near East. The trailing storm-clouds suggest his serpent form, his fiery tongue is seen in the forked lightning, and, though he may darken the world for a time, the Sun-god will always be victorious. In Egypt the myth of "the Overthrowing of Apep, the enemy of Ra" presents a close parallel to that of Tiamat.
Texts of Sethos II (1215-1210) tells that "Sekhmet was a circling star which spreaed out his fire in flames, a fire-flame in his storm."
And there is also the Egyptian goddess aspect, the return of the goddess Sekhmet, the Eye of Ra. In the oldest of Egyptian catastrophe myths, the lion headed Goddess Sekhmet is dispatched by Ra to destroy mankind because of their insistence on following Set instead of Ra’s governors, Osiris and his son Horus. She was distracted from her duty, and became instead the goddess of love and healing, Hathor. But the secret catastrophic Sekhmet retained a special place in Egyptian theology. It was thought that she would return to finish her task at some future date, and so should be worshipped and propitiated just in case.
The Egyptians left no clue as to when this could be expected, except that the sky would be the opposite from that of the Zep Tepi, or the first time. Given the period of the comet, close to one and one half a precessional cycle, just a little more than one zodiacal age off, the sky on its return, in terms equinox and solstice alignments to the zodiac and galactic center, will always be exactly opposite each time. In other words, 37,000 thousand years ago, when it last appeared out of Pegasus, the fall equinox was at the cusp of Aquarius/Pisces not the spring, which was in Leo/Virgo, hence the Sekhmetian image of half lion, Leo, and half woman, Virgo, and the tilt was toward galactic center. Now it is reversed: spring equinox in Aquarius/Pisces and fall equinox in leo/Virgo, with the tilt away from galactic center. Is the comet, with its nickel/irridum redness and its possible debris storm the destructive “goddess” the Egyptians called Sekhmet? And is she now returning for a second run at cleansing the planet? http://allthingssekhmet.com/?page_id=87
From Ugarit we hear, "The star Anat has fallen from the heavens; he slew the peopleof the Syrian land and confused the two twilights and the seats of the constellations." The Zoroastrians claimed it unleashed first terrible fire and then a flood called Tistrya. Widespread peoples described it burning and flooding. The old Sumerian tale is thus not the only lengend of comet-fall but is perhaps the oldest. Even passing through the debris trail of a comet can wreak destruction and rain hellfire. Halley's comet has an erratic course but appeared in 451AD and 1225 BCE.
The Greek myth of Phaeton described a fiery comet that ended the Golden Age, wreaking climatic havoc in the second half of the Thirteenth Century BCE.
The answers are hidden in the mists of time. It is plausible that Great Flood stories originated not only in the era of glacial melt and flooding of the Black Sea, but in a comet strike in the Indian Ocean 4800 years ago. Shortly thereafter Sumerian civilization arose with its myth of Floods and great watery dragons. The 3-mile wide comet slammed into the ocean, radiating a fireball, shockwaves and mega-tsunamis that scoured the landscape and scorched the air, and released incredible electrical discharges and torrential rains of ejected ocean water. It was an utter Deluge. The 600 foot high waves carried huge deposits of sediment to land. Half the population died.
The dragon's form arose from his particular power of control over the waters of the earth and gave rise to many of the attributes singled out by different peoples as the whole myth developed. They were believed to live at the bottom of the sea, where they guarded vast treasure hoards, very frequently of pearls. Rain clouds and thunder and lightning were believed to be the dragon's breath, hence the fire-breathing monster. The significance of the dragon was its control over the destiny of mankind.
CHAOS WAS AN UNIMAGINABLE FLOOD
Imagine you are an inhabitant of one of the first bustling but overcrowded cities on earth, a bountiful economy of agriculturalists and traders. Your priests bring the attention of all to a new star in the sky that seems to grow brighter and “hairier” in surprisingly short order. This evil eye in the sky is intuitively considered malevolent, upsetting the order of the heavens. It stirs something deep within racial memory which cannot quite be identified but is felt as primal awe and fear.
The comet wags its growing tail as it nears the sun and becomes ever more threatening as it nears earth, ever more foreboding as it increases in size and brightness, perhaps even rivaling sun and moon. Then one day that disturbing presence falls to earth and in an instant everything is profoundly changed – changed back to primeval chaos where survivors can’t tell sky from earth because terra firma has literally disappeared in an inundation of unbelievable scale immensely beyond their human memories of disasters. Did comets give rise to the notion of the fall of Satan from Heaven?
GOD'S EYE & BREATH OF THE DIVINE SERPENT
In Mesopotamian tales, before the Flood actually arrives, a new sun seems to arise from the South Storm. Meteor showers of debris pepper the air even before the enormous fireball flares into instantaneous destruction. That fire is followed by the hot electrical breath of a sonic boom which trails electromagnetic chaos in the wake of the massive impactor. Plasma auroras ripple, writhe and coil like serpents throughout the darkened sky. Megalightning rends the sky and jolts the ground and ignites fires that crackle and roar incessantly. The earth groans, shifts and buckles. The flood wind blows as the "south-storm" strikes the land – and strikes it hard, like a relentless Dragon with wave upon wave of assaults for six days and nights that never seem to end. It sounds like a mighty battle of titanic scope, of the Gods themselves.
This is no cross-cultural myth, but a real, if legendary event that exceeds the most fertile imagination. Ancient superstitions are the result, not the cause of the epics that came down to us as the beginning of history since all else was virtually destroyed. The priesthood consolidated its hold on the people, incessantly gazing at the heavens from their observational towers lest another such cosmic sojourner threaten their existence. The fact is, then, as now – real life disasters were an immanent threat, from earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and climatic havoc.
The valley of Mesopotamia is dominated by two major rivers, the Tigris and the Euphraties, and numerous smaller ones. It was a land in which catastrophic floods were not unusual in ancient times, and it is unsurprising that stories about a major flood arose within the mythology of this area. Such stories might simply reflect an understandable preocupation with flooding in an area where flood disasters were an important reality. But this storm came from the South – from the Indian Ocean -- not upriver to the North.
ABYSSAL IMPACT
The sole survivors of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Biblical versions of the tale report the abject terror that rained down on humanity, virtually obliterating it from the world -- at least their world. The oldest timelines of the event are likely the most accurate. NOTE ~ this is a "South Storm", not the flooding of the northern Black Sea of an earlier era:
'That stated time had arrived:
'He who orders unease at night, showers down a rain of blight.
'I watched the appearance of the weather.
The weather was awesome to behold.I boarded the ship and battened up the entrance.With the first glow of dawn,
A black cloud rose up from the horizon.
Inside it Adad (the storm god) thunders,
While Shullat and Hanish (the heralds) go in front,
Moving as heralds over hill and plain.
Erragal (god of the underworld) tears out the posts (of the world dam);
Forth comes Ninurta and causes the dikes to follow.
The Anunnaki (gods of judgment) lift up the torches,
Setting the land ablaze with their glare.
Consternation over Adad reaches to the heavens,
Who turned to blackness all that had been light.
[That wide] land was shattered like [a pot]!
For one day the south-storm blew, [submerging the mountains],
Overtaking the [people] like a battle.
No one can see his fellow,
Nor can the people be recognized from heaven.
The gods were frightened by the deluge,
And, shrinking back, they ascended to the heaven of Anu (the father of
the other gods, who lived in the highest heaven).
The gods cowered like dogs
Crouched against the outer wall.
Ishtar (goddess of passion) cried out like a woman in travail,
The sweet-voiced mistress of the [gods] moans aloud:
'The olden days are alas turned to clay,
Six days and [six] nights
Blows the flood wind, as the south-storm sweeps the land.
When the seventh day arrived,
The flood(-carrying) south-storm subsided in the battle,
Which it had fought like an army.
The sea grew quiet, the tempest was still, the flood ceased.
I looked at the weather: stillness had set in,
And all of mankind had returned to clay.
The landscape was as level as a flat roof.
Seven days later, the waters began to subside:
I sat and wept,
Tears running down on my face.
I looked about for coast lines in the expanse of the sea:
In each of fourteen (regions)
There emerged a region(-mountain).
The dread exceeded all known disasters.
Instead of thy bringing on the deluge,
Would that a lion had risen up to diminish mankind!
Instead of thy bringing on the deluge,
Would that a wolf had risen up to diminish mankind!
Instead of thy bringing on the deluge,
Would that a famine had risen up to l[ay low] mankind!
Instead of thy bringing on the deluge,
Would that pestilence had risen up to smi[te down] mankind!
BOMBARDMENT
In an article in the NY Times on Nov 14, 2006, scientist Dallas Abbott has identified the site of a large asteroid impact crater (the Burckle Crater) off of the island of Madagascar that struck the earth around 2800 BC. This asteroid landed in the seabed, and sent a 600-900 foot high wall of water - a megatsunami - around the Indian Ocean, impacting land as far away as Australia, and crashing onto the coast of Africa, up the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and quite possibly into the Mediterranean Sea as well.
This asteroidal impact would have sent a huge surge of water into the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, flooding the ancient land of Sumeria, the source of the Biblical flood legend. Indeed, Sir Leonard Wooley, the archaeologist who discovered the city of Ur, found 30 feet of flood-deposited sand that separated the most ancient levels of the city from newer habitation levels on top of the flood debris.
Abbott's findings of deep-sea meteor/asteroid strike craters (which she has developed the technology to discover) indicates that large-scale cosmic strikes hit the earth much more frequently than scientists have previously postulated - perhaps every 1 to 3 thousand years, instead of every hundred thousand or so. Large asteroid strikes also produce weather alterations, and many more global phenomena. Interestingly, the period 2800BC is when the first dynasty of Egypt started.
Massive Impactor The answers to the relationship of Dragon and Deluge are hidden in the mists of time. In the Babylonian Creation myth, Enuma Elish, the dragon Tiamat is primeval chaos prior to the separation of heavens and earth. It is plausible that the Great Flood stories originated in a recently discovered comet strike in the Indian Ocean 4800 years ago. Shortly thereafter Sumerian civilization arose with its myth of Floods and great watery dragons. Dragon's pearls are a worldwide symbol of abyssal impactors, the death rain of cometary debris.The 3-mile wide comet slammed into the ocean, radiating a fireball, shockwaves and mega-Tsunamis that scoured the landscape, scorched the air, and released sonic blasts, incredible electrical discharges and torrential rains of ejected ocean water and solid ejecta. It was an utter Deluge. The 600 foot high waves carried huge deposits of sediment to land. Half the population or more died.The dragon's form arose from his particular power of control over the waters of the earth and gave rise to many of the attributes singled out by different peoples as the whole myth developed. They were believed to live at the bottom of the sea, where they guarded vast treasure hoards, very frequently of pearls. Rain clouds and thunder and lightning were believed to be the dragon's breath, hence the fire-breathing monster. The significance of the dragon was its control over the destiny of mankind. Is it surprising it became confounded with the creation story? Eliade, "Cosmogonic Myth," 174. 97 says The Flood story may be a late addition to Gilgamesh, but the theme of the inaccessibility of immortality is not. "...and the seven judges of hell ... raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. A stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm turned daylight into darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup."-- An account of the Deluge from the Epic of Gilgamesh, circa 2200 B.C.vThe Sumerian Creator is pictured as forming dry land from the primaeval water in much the same way as the early cultivator in the Euphrates Valley procured the rich fields for his crops. The existence of the earth is here not really presupposed. All the world was sea until the god created land out of the waters by the only practical method that was possible in Mesopotamia. Also, the rivers of Mesopotamia could be terrible. The Dragon motif drew its imagery from the mighty Tigris and Euphrates, as much from flood as storm. Markduk, as king identified with Sun-god, conquers the once featureless and chaotic primaeval water, the Dragon of flood and storm.
In the Hebrew versions of Creation, the Deluge narrative emphasizes connections between the Semitic Babylonians and themselves. The Sumerian versions are the originals, derived by the Jews from Semitic channels in Babylon. They increased the rain to forty days and add that "the fountains of the deep" and "the windows of heaven" opened, which sounds like the horrendous effects of a massive impact.
Some contributory cause other than local rain must sought for the magnitude of catastophes beyond those the rivers could cause. Mega-tsunami is orders of magnitude far far beyond local flood. Excavations at Ashur reveal a tablet describing a true dragon with legs, implying it crawls up onto land. A god announces the presence of the dragon, saying "In the sea he lies...." Then he describes its humongous size.
In the sea was the Serpent cre[ated].
Sixty /bêru/ is his length;
Thirty /bêru/ high is his he[ad].
For half (a /bêru/) each stretches the surface of his ey[es];
For twenty /bêru/ go [his feet].
He devours fish, the creatures [of the sea],
He devours birds, the creatures [of the heaven],
He devours wild asses, the creatures [of the field],
He devours men,[5] to the peoples [he . . .].
There are ample grounds, then, for assuming the independent existence of the Babylonian Dragon-myth, and though both the versions recovered have come to us in Semitic form, there is no doubt that the myth itself existed among the Sumerians. The dragon motif is constantly recurring in descriptions of Sumerian temple-decoration, and the twin dragons of Ningishzida on Gudea's libation-vase, carved in green steatite and inlaid with shell, are a notable product of Sumerian art. The very names borne by Tiamat's brood of monsters in the "Seven Tablets" are stamped in most cases with their Sumerian descent, and Kingu, whom she appointed as her champion in place of Apsû, is equally Sumerian. It would be strange indeed if the Sumerians had not evolved a Dragon myth, for the Dragon combat is the most obvious of nature myths and is found in most mythologies of Europe and the Near East. The trailing storm-clouds suggest his serpent form, his fiery tongue is seen in the forked lightning, and, though he may darken the world for a time, the Sun-god will always be victorious. In Egypt the myth of "the Overthrowing of Apep, the enemy of Ra" presents a close parallel to that of Tiamat.
Texts of Sethos II (1215-1210) tells that "Sekhmet was a circling star which spreaed out his fire in flames, a fire-flame in his storm."
And there is also the Egyptian goddess aspect, the return of the goddess Sekhmet, the Eye of Ra. In the oldest of Egyptian catastrophe myths, the lion headed Goddess Sekhmet is dispatched by Ra to destroy mankind because of their insistence on following Set instead of Ra’s governors, Osiris and his son Horus. She was distracted from her duty, and became instead the goddess of love and healing, Hathor. But the secret catastrophic Sekhmet retained a special place in Egyptian theology. It was thought that she would return to finish her task at some future date, and so should be worshipped and propitiated just in case.
The Egyptians left no clue as to when this could be expected, except that the sky would be the opposite from that of the Zep Tepi, or the first time. Given the period of the comet, close to one and one half a precessional cycle, just a little more than one zodiacal age off, the sky on its return, in terms equinox and solstice alignments to the zodiac and galactic center, will always be exactly opposite each time. In other words, 37,000 thousand years ago, when it last appeared out of Pegasus, the fall equinox was at the cusp of Aquarius/Pisces not the spring, which was in Leo/Virgo, hence the Sekhmetian image of half lion, Leo, and half woman, Virgo, and the tilt was toward galactic center. Now it is reversed: spring equinox in Aquarius/Pisces and fall equinox in leo/Virgo, with the tilt away from galactic center. Is the comet, with its nickel/irridum redness and its possible debris storm the destructive “goddess” the Egyptians called Sekhmet? And is she now returning for a second run at cleansing the planet? http://allthingssekhmet.com/?page_id=87
From Ugarit we hear, "The star Anat has fallen from the heavens; he slew the peopleof the Syrian land and confused the two twilights and the seats of the constellations." The Zoroastrians claimed it unleashed first terrible fire and then a flood called Tistrya. Widespread peoples described it burning and flooding. The old Sumerian tale is thus not the only lengend of comet-fall but is perhaps the oldest. Even passing through the debris trail of a comet can wreak destruction and rain hellfire. Halley's comet has an erratic course but appeared in 451AD and 1225 BCE.
The Greek myth of Phaeton described a fiery comet that ended the Golden Age, wreaking climatic havoc in the second half of the Thirteenth Century BCE.
We see it is quite possible that dragons were comets. So what do dragons and comets have in common? Dragons were depicted as serpents with wings and could fly through the sky. They had a head and a long body. Likewise, comets have a head and a long body and appear to fly through the sky. The chief Mayan god was "Kukulkan" which literally meant "feathered serpent". A comet has a long body but the body fans out as if it has feathers. A "feathered serpent" is a perfect description of a comet.
In order for dragon legends to be so widespread, there must have been an event that was common to all areas of the Earth. The only thing that looks like a flying serpent, could be seen by every person in the world, and be able to cause global destructive effects would be an impact on the Earth by a comet. If this did happen at some remote time in history, all of the people on Earth would have seen the comet (dragon) moving through the stars and each night it would have gotten bigger and bigger until it had a tail that stretched all the way across the sky. The sight of this monstrous flying serpent monster must have struck terror in all of the people of Earth.
Relatively few people would have witnessed the impact of the comet but soon afterward, the entire Earth would have been bombarded by burning rocks falling from the sky. The sky would have darkened from the smoke of the impact and all of the fires started around the world. The darkness would have lasted for months and the crops everywhere on Earth would have failed. There would have been widespread starvation and disease. Every culture would have experience the terrible after effects of the comet impact. If there had been an advanced civilization at that time (Atlantis or Doggerland, perhaps), it would have fallen apart as its people were reduced to a hand to mouth existence. Many generations later, the knowledge and culture from the previous civilization would have disappeared but each generation would tell stories about the monstrous flying serpent that caused so much destruction. http://home.swbell.net/a1star1/
The mystery of the origins of the red dragon symbol, now on the flag of Wales, has perplexed many historians, writers and romanticists, and the archæological community generally has refrained from commenting on this most unusual emblem, claiming it does not concern them. In the ancient Welsh language it is known as 'Draig Goch' - 'red dragon', and in "Y Geiriadur Cymraeg Prifysgol Cymru", the "University of Wales Welsh Dictionary", (Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1967, p. 1082) there are translations for the various uses of the Welsh word 'draig'. Amongst them are common uses of the word, which is today taken just to mean a 'dragon', but in times past it has also been used to refer to 'Mellt Distaw' - (sheet lightning), and also 'Mellt Didaranau' - (lightning unaccompanied by thunder).
But the most interesting common usage of the word in earlier times, according to this authoritative dictionary, is 'Maen Mellt' the word used to refer to a 'meteorite'. And this makes sense, as the Welsh word 'maen' translates as 'stone', while the Welsh word 'mellt' translates as 'lightning' - so literally a 'lightning-stone'. That the ancient language of the Welsh druids has words still in use today which have in the past been used to describe both a dragon and also a meteorite, is something that greatly helps us to follow the destructive 'trail of the dragon' as it was described in early Welsh 'riddle-poems'.
This is especially true of the "Hanes Taliesin", a riddle-poem that is so full of astronomical terms it is obvious that they were deliberately used by the composer - but to what end? Could they have been used to encode a druidic astro-mythology that was accessible only to 'initiates'?
In the mid 6th. century A.D. the ancient Cymric empire of the native Britons, that at one time had stretched from Cornwall in the south to Strathclyde in the north, was rapidly diminishing. And it was at this time that the bard who called himself Taliesin (radiant brow) first read his riddle-poem, "Hanes Taliesin"("The History of Taliesin"), to King Maelgwn Gwynedd, who, like the bard, had been a student of St Illtud at the ancient druid college, later called Llanilltud Fawr, in Morganwg. Was King Maelgwn Gwynedd the only one in his 6th century Conwy Eisteddfod who was meant to understand the riddle-poem?. Or was it also a gathering of initiates from all over the island?
Scorched Earth - The Wasteland
Of comparatively recent origin on the Welsh national flag, the association of the dragon with the country of Wales dates much further back - to the start of the European ‘Dark Age’; the times of King Arthur and the enigmatic Merlyn, neither of whom have ever been proven to be definitively mythical nor historical characters.
The exact nature and sequence of events in the mid-6th. century A.D. that gave rise to the period we refer to as the European ‘Dark Age’ is still a matter for speculation amongst historians and archæologists. Over the past 20 years or so, certain paleo-climatologists have begun comparing notes with archæologists and astronomers, and interestingly, in the absence of written records, many have begun to look a little more closely at mythology in their efforts to corroborate the findings of their researches. While much of this recent bout of inter-disciplinary brainstorming has focused on the 6th.C. AD start of the European Dark Age, earlier dates are also of great interest to those embroiled in this veritable ‘paradigm shift’.
Archæologist and Dendrochronologist, Mike Baillie, of Queens University, Belfast, has compiled a '7,500-year tree-ring chronology' of Irish bog oaks, which offers an accurate picture of the weather on a year-by-year basis throughout those millennia. His 1999 book, "Exodus to Arthur: Catastrophic Encounters with Comets", traces the history of cometary dust-trail activity from those epochs by the indicators evident in 'narrowest tree-ring events'. And this has been looked at in much greater detail over the past six years, culminating in his September 2005 book, "The Celtic Gods: Comets in Irish Mythology", co-authored with QUB colleague, Patrick McCafferty.
Each year a tree puts on another ring, and the better the weather preferred by the tree, the wider the ring for that year. One of the most striking features of this most accurate of dating methods is its ability to detect past climatic downturns evident in the narrow tree-rings that bunch together over several consecutive years - indicating poor annual growth and an environmental downturn.
Beginning in the year A.D. 536, and continuing through until A.D. 545, the dendrochronology record reveals a dramatic ‘narrowest-rings event’ that is corroborated by some of the findings of the Greenland Ice Sheet Projects. There, a significant absense of any tell-tale volcanic ‘acid spike’ in the ice-cores record suggests an altogether different cause - dustloading of the stratosphere by minute particles of dust and other cometary debris.
Climatologists and astronomers concur that this event bears all the hallmarks of a 'cosmic winter’ scenario - when dust in the stratosphere blots out the Sun, lowering the global temperature, hindering plant growth and in so doing undermining agricultural societies. It is possible that concurrent volcano and comet ejected led to widespread crop failure and starvation.
This has happened a number of times as a result of volcanic eruptions, but it can also result from ‘dust-loading’ of the stratosphere caused when the Earth’s orbital path encounters the trails of cometary debris that literally boils off the ice-and-rubble comets as they approach the Sun on their journeys through our solar system. Indeed, recently, on September 3rd, 2004, a small asteroid which disintegrated in the stratosphere above Antarctica deposited sufficient micron-sized dust particles to cause ‘local cooling, and much speculation as to the possible effects on the ozone layer.
Much of the make-up of comets is sub-micron dust along with frozen water, methane and other gasses, as well as various organic molecules, pebbles, stones, and boulders of metal and rocks measuring from a few feet wide to bolides many miles in diameter. The dust in small quantities burns up harmlessly as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere giving rise to what we term ‘shooting stars’, with larger grains often providing the most spectacular multiple ‘fireball’ displays. Much denser cometary debris trails can over-load the upper atmosphere with ‘dust veils’, both locally and globally, causing ‘cosmic winters’ similar to those caused by volcanic activity, and nuclear war scenarios.
The larger rocks and boulders can bombard the Earth causing impact craters that throw their ejected debris up into the atmosphere with much the same effect. While air-bursting meteorites can cause huge fireballs and intense blast waves that can devastate thousands of square miles around the area of detonation, as happened in the Tunguska region of Siberia on the 30th of June 1908.
In recent years certain astronomers have increasingly come to appreciate that encoded in the folklore and mythologies of many cultures are the accurate observations of ancient skywatchers. Almost all tell of times when death and mass destruction came from the skies, events that are often portrayed as ‘celestial battles’ between what they variously depicted as ‘the Gods’. And curiously the imagery in these ‘myths’ have many common features, even between the mythologies of cultures widely spaced in time and location.
For example, in Appendix 1 of Basil Clarke’s 1973 translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “Vita Merlini” ("Life of Merlyn"), he comments on the Lailoken tales, and the particular story of the encounter with St Kentigern. It is believed that Lailoken and Merlyn were really the same character - Lailoken in the Scottish tradition, and Merlyn in the Welsh. Having rushed out of the woods a naked and hairy madman, Lailoken/Merlyn is asked by St Kentigern what has driven him to “...wander alone in this lonely place and keep company with the beasts of the woods”[1].
He replies to St. Kentigern that he felt great guilt, because he believed he had been the cause of the many deaths resulting from the battle of Arfderydd, saying:
“In that fight the sky began to split above me, and I heard a tremendous din, a voice from the sky saying to me, ‘Lailochen, Lailochen, because you alone are responsible for the blood of all these dead men, you alone will bear the punishment for the misdeeds of all. For you will be given over to the angels of Satan, and until the day of your death you will have communion with the creatures of the wood.’ But when I directed my gaze towards the voice I heard, I saw a brightness too great for human senses to endure. I saw, too, numberless martial battalions in the heaven like flashing lightning, holding in their hands fiery lances and glittering spears which they shook most fiercely at me.” [2]
In Welsh Merlyn is called Myrddyn, and the Welsh town of Carmarthen is called in Welsh, CaerFyrddyn, meaning 'the fortress of Merlyn'. Some fifteen miles or so northeast of Carmarthen is an oddly-named place called Llwyn Wormwood - odd because in Welsh there is a word for wormwood, 'wermod', and because this is in one of the least anglicised areas of rural Wales.
Another place called Llwyn Wormwood is situated just over 10 miles to the southeast, not far from the Welsh market town of Llandovery. Could these places shed any new light on the Merlyn ‘vision’ referred to in the Basil Clarke 1973 translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “Vita Merlini” ("Life of Merlyn")? And more importantly, was the character known as Merlyn a witness to the mid-6th century event evident in the tree-ring record?
Since the spectacular events of July 16 1994, when the newly discovered comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which had split into more than twenty pieces as it passed Jupiter in 1993, had returned to bombard Jupiter’s surface over the following few days, astronomers have speculated nervously at the probable fate of our own civilisation had those impacts happened with planet Earth instead ...
The number of known impact craters on Earth is growing all the time as satellite imaging technology advances, and the growing list of impact sites dated from the current inter-glacial period in which we live (the Holocene) leaves even the most ardent of catastrophist sceptics in no dount that it has happened many times before - and it most certainly will again ...
Over the past decade or more, astronomers have taken ever more seriously the very real threat from Earth-crossing asteroids and from cometary debris trails. In January 2000 the British government commissioned a report into the threat from Near Earth Objects (NEOs), the report was published in August 2000. The setting up of the commission of enquiry was the result of continuous lobbying by a growing inter-disciplinary body of concerned astronomers, climatologists, archæologists, anthropologists and geologists.
Certain of them have moved towards looking for the recollections of ancient bombardment events in the mythologies and oral traditions of the world’s many past cultures. These endeavours have brought to the surface many similar tales to that of the ‘Vision of Merlyn' described above, and in many geographically widespread cultures of the archaic world.
In particular, the collection of ancient Chinese astronomical observations contained in the wooden chronicle known as the "Bamboo Annals" have been shown to contain many details of comets, fireballs, and especially planetary conjunctions, the accuracy of which can now be verified by the ability to re-create the ancient skies presented by recent advances in computer technology. Some modern astronomers find this ancient archive invaluable, and have been using it to correlate the ‘observations’ made by the skywatchers of contemporary cultures in other parts of the world.
Likewise, the Sumerian cuneiform tablets have been shown to have accurately recorded these most terrifying of ‘temporary celestial events’, while classical writings such as the "Epic of Gilgamesh", and numerous passages from the "Old Testament", continue to be decoded in similar astronomical fashion. In the "Book of Revelations" (Ch8 vs. 10-11), there is mention of star named ‘Wormwood’, which makes the waters bitter, creating a wasteland similar to the ‘wastelands’ of Arthurian legend. Many now believe that this was a reference to a future encounter with a comet, whose past catastrophic encounters, and 'periodic return', may have been well known to John of Patmos, the author of the "Book of Revelations".
The ancient Chinese depicted comets as ‘fiery dragons’ flying across the sky. Increasingly, anthropologists, archæologists and now also astronomers, are speculating that the ‘plumed serpent’ of the Aztecs and the Mayans, and the many tales of ‘winged serpents’ in the traditions of numerous other ancient peoples, may also be referring to comets or large asteroids that in the past had disintegrated in the upper atmosphere producing enormous ‘fireballs’, reminiscent of the spectacularly terrifying and destructive multiple bombardments of past epochs. As the 'smoke trails' left by these fireballs begin to break up, distorted by air currents in the atmosphere, they take on the eerie appearance of a snake - a veritable 'serpent in the sky'.
Victor Clube and Bill Napier, for the frontispiece plate of their ground-breaking book, "The Cosmic Serpent", about the past and present threat to our planet from bombardments of cometary debris, used a nineteenth-century French caricature of a comet tearing the Earth apart. Along with it were the words:
Dis (evil) aster (star)
Despite their being two of the world's leading astro-physicists, in Chapter 8 of the book they laid out the reasons for their comprehensive study of world mythologies, where they found numerous examples of 'cometary imagery' in the ancient myths of many peoples:
"The earliest recorded myths are those of combat, between a god or hero and a dragon. The dragon was a familiar figure in Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Babylon, India, China, North America and elsewhere. Usually, he has the form of a winged serpent. He is a gigantic monster; he spouts fire and smoke; bellows and hisses; he throws rocks, and is the creator or terrible destruction; and his home is in the sky."
The description of the end of Atlantis given by Plato in the "Timaeus" and "Critias" dialogues bears striking resemblance to what many scientists are now agreed would be the inevitable result of an oceanic impact by a disintegrating comet or large asteroid. The resultant 'tsunami', or tidal waves, would easily reach 2000 ft. high as they approached land, wiping out any and all coastal settlements. The deluge traditions, of which there are literally hundreds worldwide, appear in this light to be variations on Plato’s account, and could even be actual observation-based tales, eye-witness accounts of the same, or similar, events.
Another good example of this is the 'myth' about the winged horse, Pegasus, who is said to have been conceived when his mother, the once beautiful Medusa, was overwhelmed in a tidal wave caused by the passion of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea and storms. Exactly which 'celestial event’ this may eventually be shown to refer to is a matter for conjecture, but possibly the most famous legend about Pegasus might give a lead.
Bellerophon was ancient Corinth’s most famous hero, and he was set the task of slaying the Chimera - a monster variously described as having 'the body of a goat, the tail of a dragon, and the head of a lion, which belched out sulphur, smoke and flames' . In order to help Bellerophon to overcome the Chimera, the goddess Athena gave him a golden bridle with which to tame Pegasus, which he then rode across the skies to southern Turkey where the Chimera had her cave, not far from the modern border with northern Syria.
The constellation of Pegasus can be found in the northern sky above Pisces, in the direction of Andromeda, and there is evidence that the bright blue-white star, Markab, which marks the horse’s shoulder, was important to ancient skywatchers, as was the red giant star, Scheat, which marks the horse’s leg. Whether the legend of Pegasus, Bellerophon and the Chimera is simply an invented folk tale as some would believe, or a descriptive observation of cometary activity in that part of the ancient heavens, we will probably not know until astronomers produce a plausible model, retro-calculated for those times.
Another possible example of a temporary celestial event encoded in mythology, and one often quoted in this context, is the story of the constellation Eridanus - known to the Babylonians as the ‘river of the night’. This is one of the longest constellations in the sky, starting at the feet of Orion, which can be seen in both hemispheres, and winding down almost to the celestial South Pole. Only the stars Acamar and Zaurak can easily be seen from northern latitudes, while Achernar, the ninth brightest star in the heavens, can only be seen in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a blue giant star known as ‘the end of the river’, and is invisible even in the Mediterranean area.
It was commonplace in many ancient cultures to regard all celestial phenomena as having their earthly counterparts, and vice versa. So the Babylonians had their terrestrial River Eridanus, and in their mythology, as with others in the Mediterranean area, Phaethon, the foolish son of the Sun god, Helios, pleaded with his father to allow him to drive his blazing chariot across the sky for one day:
“With the inexperienced hands of Phaethon on the reins, the Sun's bright horses bolted through the heavens, scorching the Earth and drying up the rivers. North Africa was turned into the Sahara, and to save the universe, which would have been destroyed by flames, Zeus struck Phaethon with a thunderbolt, and he plunged headlong, like a shooting star, into the waters of the Eridanus far below, his auburn hair aflame.”
There are many similar legends, oral traditions, and later written mythologies describing temporary celestial events in this manner. And, it is simply because these were ‘temporary' celestial events that they were regarded as important enough to be worth recording, and passing on to future generations, orally at first, then later in writing which was inevitably 'encoded' from our modern perspective.
There is ample archæological evidence that ancient peoples worldwide were preoccupied with events in the skies, and almost all the various megalithic structures that have survived the past several millennia, on all continents, show remarkable degrees of astronomical observation to have been considered in their siting and construction. Combined with the ancient traditions of ‘death and destruction coming from the skies', many of which appear contemporaneous with the periods of the building of many of these structures, one possible motivation of the megalith builders could well have been to predict the imminent return of these periodic meteor storms and accompanying fireball events. The most likely of all motives being simply that of 'fear'.
The sheer terror at past bombardments, and the very real fear of future bombardments, would certainly have preoccupied those societies that had experienced the destructiveness of such catastrophic encounters. Given that astronomers and climatologists now concur such meteoritic bombardments and ‘dust veils’ can cause abrupt climate changes, cataclysmic earthquakes and tsunami, bringing famine, pestilence and plague that can destroy whole civilisations, it is little wonder that there are ample indications in the dendrochronology records of numerous past events.
Yet there is sparse archæological evidence available at present. Or more likely the evidence exists but is not recognised as such by archæologists. This is due in no small part to the resistance within the archæological community to attempts at the revision of current models of prehistory that is called for in the light of this new inter-disciplinary approach to understanding the past in the context of a 'catastrophically dynamic solar system history'. Regrettably, there are still many in the archæological community who continue to resist the very idea that ancient peoples were competent skywatchers. Critics often point to obscure computer models purporting to show that, at some date or another, one celestial body or another will be seen to rise or set at 'any' orientation in an easterly or westerly direction.
Sadly this misses the point altogether. Oral traditions, rituals and mythologies of many ancient cultures often focus on 'specific marker stars' and constellations, whose rising heralded the imminent solsticial and equinoctial sunrises. The same is true of other stars and constellations that were of great significance to those particular cultures. But, much more importantly, when the major bombardments had ceased to be a regular occurrence, certain 'marker stars' and star groups, for example The Pleiades, may well have signalled the rising of the ‘radiants’ of the greatly-feared daytime Taurid meteor storms, especially if they were the last feint stars to be seen just before sunrise.
But it is not only in mythology that we find hints of major traumatic periods in the history of human civilisation. The chroniclers of old recorded troubled times at the very same epochs that the tree-rings tell their story of environmental downturns which had dramatic effects on human populations. The dendrochronology records show narrowest-ring events at 3195 BC, 2345 BC, 1628 BC, 1159 BC, 207 BC, and at AD 536-545 - the start of the ‘European Dark Age’. In fact, many researchers in a variety of the historical sciences now believe that the widespread and simulataneous collapse of Bronze Age societies around the world came about as a result of our planet's encounters with cometary debris streams, and the decoding of astronomical observations in the mythologies of classical times is playing a major role.
Gildas, who was writing at approximately 540 AD, says that the island of Britain was on fire from sea to sea " ... until it had burned almost the whole surface of the island and was licking the western ocean with its fierce red tongue.". While in "The Life of St. Teilo" contained in the "Llandaf Charters", of St. Teilo, who had recently been made Bishop of Llandaf Cathedral in Morganwg, South Wales, it says:
" ... however he could not long remain, on account of the pestilence which nearly destroyed the whole nation. It was called the Yellow Pestilence, because it occasioned all persons who were seized by it to be yellow and without blood, and it appeared to men a column of a watery cloud, having one end trailing along the ground, and the other above, proceeding in the air, and passing through the whole country like a shower going through the bottom of valleys. Whatever living creatures it touched with its pestiferous blast, either immediately died, or sickened for death ... and so greatly did the aforesaid destruction rage throughout the nation, that it caused the country to be nearly deserted".
St. Teilo is recorded as having left South Wales for Brittany to escape the Yellow Pestilence, and that it lasted for some 11 years. It was at this time that the Saxons returned, reportedly unopposed, into the eastern areas of the 'Arthurian wastelands’, begging the question, could the ‘vision’ of Myrddin (Merlyn) have been of a fiery comet - later depicted as a red dragon? Owen Morien Morgan’s “History of Wales” gives the dates for the birth of St. Kentigern as AD 514, with his death at AD 601. So it is quite plausible that 'Merlyn’s vision’ could well refer to a ‘temporary celestial event’ that was the cause of the climatic downturn evident in the ‘narrowest tree-ring' chronologies for AD 536 to 545.
In order for dragon legends to be so widespread, there must have been an event that was common to all areas of the Earth. The only thing that looks like a flying serpent, could be seen by every person in the world, and be able to cause global destructive effects would be an impact on the Earth by a comet. If this did happen at some remote time in history, all of the people on Earth would have seen the comet (dragon) moving through the stars and each night it would have gotten bigger and bigger until it had a tail that stretched all the way across the sky. The sight of this monstrous flying serpent monster must have struck terror in all of the people of Earth.
Relatively few people would have witnessed the impact of the comet but soon afterward, the entire Earth would have been bombarded by burning rocks falling from the sky. The sky would have darkened from the smoke of the impact and all of the fires started around the world. The darkness would have lasted for months and the crops everywhere on Earth would have failed. There would have been widespread starvation and disease. Every culture would have experience the terrible after effects of the comet impact. If there had been an advanced civilization at that time (Atlantis or Doggerland, perhaps), it would have fallen apart as its people were reduced to a hand to mouth existence. Many generations later, the knowledge and culture from the previous civilization would have disappeared but each generation would tell stories about the monstrous flying serpent that caused so much destruction. http://home.swbell.net/a1star1/
The mystery of the origins of the red dragon symbol, now on the flag of Wales, has perplexed many historians, writers and romanticists, and the archæological community generally has refrained from commenting on this most unusual emblem, claiming it does not concern them. In the ancient Welsh language it is known as 'Draig Goch' - 'red dragon', and in "Y Geiriadur Cymraeg Prifysgol Cymru", the "University of Wales Welsh Dictionary", (Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1967, p. 1082) there are translations for the various uses of the Welsh word 'draig'. Amongst them are common uses of the word, which is today taken just to mean a 'dragon', but in times past it has also been used to refer to 'Mellt Distaw' - (sheet lightning), and also 'Mellt Didaranau' - (lightning unaccompanied by thunder).
But the most interesting common usage of the word in earlier times, according to this authoritative dictionary, is 'Maen Mellt' the word used to refer to a 'meteorite'. And this makes sense, as the Welsh word 'maen' translates as 'stone', while the Welsh word 'mellt' translates as 'lightning' - so literally a 'lightning-stone'. That the ancient language of the Welsh druids has words still in use today which have in the past been used to describe both a dragon and also a meteorite, is something that greatly helps us to follow the destructive 'trail of the dragon' as it was described in early Welsh 'riddle-poems'.
This is especially true of the "Hanes Taliesin", a riddle-poem that is so full of astronomical terms it is obvious that they were deliberately used by the composer - but to what end? Could they have been used to encode a druidic astro-mythology that was accessible only to 'initiates'?
In the mid 6th. century A.D. the ancient Cymric empire of the native Britons, that at one time had stretched from Cornwall in the south to Strathclyde in the north, was rapidly diminishing. And it was at this time that the bard who called himself Taliesin (radiant brow) first read his riddle-poem, "Hanes Taliesin"("The History of Taliesin"), to King Maelgwn Gwynedd, who, like the bard, had been a student of St Illtud at the ancient druid college, later called Llanilltud Fawr, in Morganwg. Was King Maelgwn Gwynedd the only one in his 6th century Conwy Eisteddfod who was meant to understand the riddle-poem?. Or was it also a gathering of initiates from all over the island?
Scorched Earth - The Wasteland
Of comparatively recent origin on the Welsh national flag, the association of the dragon with the country of Wales dates much further back - to the start of the European ‘Dark Age’; the times of King Arthur and the enigmatic Merlyn, neither of whom have ever been proven to be definitively mythical nor historical characters.
The exact nature and sequence of events in the mid-6th. century A.D. that gave rise to the period we refer to as the European ‘Dark Age’ is still a matter for speculation amongst historians and archæologists. Over the past 20 years or so, certain paleo-climatologists have begun comparing notes with archæologists and astronomers, and interestingly, in the absence of written records, many have begun to look a little more closely at mythology in their efforts to corroborate the findings of their researches. While much of this recent bout of inter-disciplinary brainstorming has focused on the 6th.C. AD start of the European Dark Age, earlier dates are also of great interest to those embroiled in this veritable ‘paradigm shift’.
Archæologist and Dendrochronologist, Mike Baillie, of Queens University, Belfast, has compiled a '7,500-year tree-ring chronology' of Irish bog oaks, which offers an accurate picture of the weather on a year-by-year basis throughout those millennia. His 1999 book, "Exodus to Arthur: Catastrophic Encounters with Comets", traces the history of cometary dust-trail activity from those epochs by the indicators evident in 'narrowest tree-ring events'. And this has been looked at in much greater detail over the past six years, culminating in his September 2005 book, "The Celtic Gods: Comets in Irish Mythology", co-authored with QUB colleague, Patrick McCafferty.
Each year a tree puts on another ring, and the better the weather preferred by the tree, the wider the ring for that year. One of the most striking features of this most accurate of dating methods is its ability to detect past climatic downturns evident in the narrow tree-rings that bunch together over several consecutive years - indicating poor annual growth and an environmental downturn.
Beginning in the year A.D. 536, and continuing through until A.D. 545, the dendrochronology record reveals a dramatic ‘narrowest-rings event’ that is corroborated by some of the findings of the Greenland Ice Sheet Projects. There, a significant absense of any tell-tale volcanic ‘acid spike’ in the ice-cores record suggests an altogether different cause - dustloading of the stratosphere by minute particles of dust and other cometary debris.
Climatologists and astronomers concur that this event bears all the hallmarks of a 'cosmic winter’ scenario - when dust in the stratosphere blots out the Sun, lowering the global temperature, hindering plant growth and in so doing undermining agricultural societies. It is possible that concurrent volcano and comet ejected led to widespread crop failure and starvation.
This has happened a number of times as a result of volcanic eruptions, but it can also result from ‘dust-loading’ of the stratosphere caused when the Earth’s orbital path encounters the trails of cometary debris that literally boils off the ice-and-rubble comets as they approach the Sun on their journeys through our solar system. Indeed, recently, on September 3rd, 2004, a small asteroid which disintegrated in the stratosphere above Antarctica deposited sufficient micron-sized dust particles to cause ‘local cooling, and much speculation as to the possible effects on the ozone layer.
Much of the make-up of comets is sub-micron dust along with frozen water, methane and other gasses, as well as various organic molecules, pebbles, stones, and boulders of metal and rocks measuring from a few feet wide to bolides many miles in diameter. The dust in small quantities burns up harmlessly as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere giving rise to what we term ‘shooting stars’, with larger grains often providing the most spectacular multiple ‘fireball’ displays. Much denser cometary debris trails can over-load the upper atmosphere with ‘dust veils’, both locally and globally, causing ‘cosmic winters’ similar to those caused by volcanic activity, and nuclear war scenarios.
The larger rocks and boulders can bombard the Earth causing impact craters that throw their ejected debris up into the atmosphere with much the same effect. While air-bursting meteorites can cause huge fireballs and intense blast waves that can devastate thousands of square miles around the area of detonation, as happened in the Tunguska region of Siberia on the 30th of June 1908.
In recent years certain astronomers have increasingly come to appreciate that encoded in the folklore and mythologies of many cultures are the accurate observations of ancient skywatchers. Almost all tell of times when death and mass destruction came from the skies, events that are often portrayed as ‘celestial battles’ between what they variously depicted as ‘the Gods’. And curiously the imagery in these ‘myths’ have many common features, even between the mythologies of cultures widely spaced in time and location.
For example, in Appendix 1 of Basil Clarke’s 1973 translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “Vita Merlini” ("Life of Merlyn"), he comments on the Lailoken tales, and the particular story of the encounter with St Kentigern. It is believed that Lailoken and Merlyn were really the same character - Lailoken in the Scottish tradition, and Merlyn in the Welsh. Having rushed out of the woods a naked and hairy madman, Lailoken/Merlyn is asked by St Kentigern what has driven him to “...wander alone in this lonely place and keep company with the beasts of the woods”[1].
He replies to St. Kentigern that he felt great guilt, because he believed he had been the cause of the many deaths resulting from the battle of Arfderydd, saying:
“In that fight the sky began to split above me, and I heard a tremendous din, a voice from the sky saying to me, ‘Lailochen, Lailochen, because you alone are responsible for the blood of all these dead men, you alone will bear the punishment for the misdeeds of all. For you will be given over to the angels of Satan, and until the day of your death you will have communion with the creatures of the wood.’ But when I directed my gaze towards the voice I heard, I saw a brightness too great for human senses to endure. I saw, too, numberless martial battalions in the heaven like flashing lightning, holding in their hands fiery lances and glittering spears which they shook most fiercely at me.” [2]
In Welsh Merlyn is called Myrddyn, and the Welsh town of Carmarthen is called in Welsh, CaerFyrddyn, meaning 'the fortress of Merlyn'. Some fifteen miles or so northeast of Carmarthen is an oddly-named place called Llwyn Wormwood - odd because in Welsh there is a word for wormwood, 'wermod', and because this is in one of the least anglicised areas of rural Wales.
Another place called Llwyn Wormwood is situated just over 10 miles to the southeast, not far from the Welsh market town of Llandovery. Could these places shed any new light on the Merlyn ‘vision’ referred to in the Basil Clarke 1973 translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “Vita Merlini” ("Life of Merlyn")? And more importantly, was the character known as Merlyn a witness to the mid-6th century event evident in the tree-ring record?
Since the spectacular events of July 16 1994, when the newly discovered comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which had split into more than twenty pieces as it passed Jupiter in 1993, had returned to bombard Jupiter’s surface over the following few days, astronomers have speculated nervously at the probable fate of our own civilisation had those impacts happened with planet Earth instead ...
The number of known impact craters on Earth is growing all the time as satellite imaging technology advances, and the growing list of impact sites dated from the current inter-glacial period in which we live (the Holocene) leaves even the most ardent of catastrophist sceptics in no dount that it has happened many times before - and it most certainly will again ...
Over the past decade or more, astronomers have taken ever more seriously the very real threat from Earth-crossing asteroids and from cometary debris trails. In January 2000 the British government commissioned a report into the threat from Near Earth Objects (NEOs), the report was published in August 2000. The setting up of the commission of enquiry was the result of continuous lobbying by a growing inter-disciplinary body of concerned astronomers, climatologists, archæologists, anthropologists and geologists.
Certain of them have moved towards looking for the recollections of ancient bombardment events in the mythologies and oral traditions of the world’s many past cultures. These endeavours have brought to the surface many similar tales to that of the ‘Vision of Merlyn' described above, and in many geographically widespread cultures of the archaic world.
In particular, the collection of ancient Chinese astronomical observations contained in the wooden chronicle known as the "Bamboo Annals" have been shown to contain many details of comets, fireballs, and especially planetary conjunctions, the accuracy of which can now be verified by the ability to re-create the ancient skies presented by recent advances in computer technology. Some modern astronomers find this ancient archive invaluable, and have been using it to correlate the ‘observations’ made by the skywatchers of contemporary cultures in other parts of the world.
Likewise, the Sumerian cuneiform tablets have been shown to have accurately recorded these most terrifying of ‘temporary celestial events’, while classical writings such as the "Epic of Gilgamesh", and numerous passages from the "Old Testament", continue to be decoded in similar astronomical fashion. In the "Book of Revelations" (Ch8 vs. 10-11), there is mention of star named ‘Wormwood’, which makes the waters bitter, creating a wasteland similar to the ‘wastelands’ of Arthurian legend. Many now believe that this was a reference to a future encounter with a comet, whose past catastrophic encounters, and 'periodic return', may have been well known to John of Patmos, the author of the "Book of Revelations".
The ancient Chinese depicted comets as ‘fiery dragons’ flying across the sky. Increasingly, anthropologists, archæologists and now also astronomers, are speculating that the ‘plumed serpent’ of the Aztecs and the Mayans, and the many tales of ‘winged serpents’ in the traditions of numerous other ancient peoples, may also be referring to comets or large asteroids that in the past had disintegrated in the upper atmosphere producing enormous ‘fireballs’, reminiscent of the spectacularly terrifying and destructive multiple bombardments of past epochs. As the 'smoke trails' left by these fireballs begin to break up, distorted by air currents in the atmosphere, they take on the eerie appearance of a snake - a veritable 'serpent in the sky'.
Victor Clube and Bill Napier, for the frontispiece plate of their ground-breaking book, "The Cosmic Serpent", about the past and present threat to our planet from bombardments of cometary debris, used a nineteenth-century French caricature of a comet tearing the Earth apart. Along with it were the words:
Dis (evil) aster (star)
Despite their being two of the world's leading astro-physicists, in Chapter 8 of the book they laid out the reasons for their comprehensive study of world mythologies, where they found numerous examples of 'cometary imagery' in the ancient myths of many peoples:
"The earliest recorded myths are those of combat, between a god or hero and a dragon. The dragon was a familiar figure in Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Babylon, India, China, North America and elsewhere. Usually, he has the form of a winged serpent. He is a gigantic monster; he spouts fire and smoke; bellows and hisses; he throws rocks, and is the creator or terrible destruction; and his home is in the sky."
The description of the end of Atlantis given by Plato in the "Timaeus" and "Critias" dialogues bears striking resemblance to what many scientists are now agreed would be the inevitable result of an oceanic impact by a disintegrating comet or large asteroid. The resultant 'tsunami', or tidal waves, would easily reach 2000 ft. high as they approached land, wiping out any and all coastal settlements. The deluge traditions, of which there are literally hundreds worldwide, appear in this light to be variations on Plato’s account, and could even be actual observation-based tales, eye-witness accounts of the same, or similar, events.
Another good example of this is the 'myth' about the winged horse, Pegasus, who is said to have been conceived when his mother, the once beautiful Medusa, was overwhelmed in a tidal wave caused by the passion of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea and storms. Exactly which 'celestial event’ this may eventually be shown to refer to is a matter for conjecture, but possibly the most famous legend about Pegasus might give a lead.
Bellerophon was ancient Corinth’s most famous hero, and he was set the task of slaying the Chimera - a monster variously described as having 'the body of a goat, the tail of a dragon, and the head of a lion, which belched out sulphur, smoke and flames' . In order to help Bellerophon to overcome the Chimera, the goddess Athena gave him a golden bridle with which to tame Pegasus, which he then rode across the skies to southern Turkey where the Chimera had her cave, not far from the modern border with northern Syria.
The constellation of Pegasus can be found in the northern sky above Pisces, in the direction of Andromeda, and there is evidence that the bright blue-white star, Markab, which marks the horse’s shoulder, was important to ancient skywatchers, as was the red giant star, Scheat, which marks the horse’s leg. Whether the legend of Pegasus, Bellerophon and the Chimera is simply an invented folk tale as some would believe, or a descriptive observation of cometary activity in that part of the ancient heavens, we will probably not know until astronomers produce a plausible model, retro-calculated for those times.
Another possible example of a temporary celestial event encoded in mythology, and one often quoted in this context, is the story of the constellation Eridanus - known to the Babylonians as the ‘river of the night’. This is one of the longest constellations in the sky, starting at the feet of Orion, which can be seen in both hemispheres, and winding down almost to the celestial South Pole. Only the stars Acamar and Zaurak can easily be seen from northern latitudes, while Achernar, the ninth brightest star in the heavens, can only be seen in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a blue giant star known as ‘the end of the river’, and is invisible even in the Mediterranean area.
It was commonplace in many ancient cultures to regard all celestial phenomena as having their earthly counterparts, and vice versa. So the Babylonians had their terrestrial River Eridanus, and in their mythology, as with others in the Mediterranean area, Phaethon, the foolish son of the Sun god, Helios, pleaded with his father to allow him to drive his blazing chariot across the sky for one day:
“With the inexperienced hands of Phaethon on the reins, the Sun's bright horses bolted through the heavens, scorching the Earth and drying up the rivers. North Africa was turned into the Sahara, and to save the universe, which would have been destroyed by flames, Zeus struck Phaethon with a thunderbolt, and he plunged headlong, like a shooting star, into the waters of the Eridanus far below, his auburn hair aflame.”
There are many similar legends, oral traditions, and later written mythologies describing temporary celestial events in this manner. And, it is simply because these were ‘temporary' celestial events that they were regarded as important enough to be worth recording, and passing on to future generations, orally at first, then later in writing which was inevitably 'encoded' from our modern perspective.
There is ample archæological evidence that ancient peoples worldwide were preoccupied with events in the skies, and almost all the various megalithic structures that have survived the past several millennia, on all continents, show remarkable degrees of astronomical observation to have been considered in their siting and construction. Combined with the ancient traditions of ‘death and destruction coming from the skies', many of which appear contemporaneous with the periods of the building of many of these structures, one possible motivation of the megalith builders could well have been to predict the imminent return of these periodic meteor storms and accompanying fireball events. The most likely of all motives being simply that of 'fear'.
The sheer terror at past bombardments, and the very real fear of future bombardments, would certainly have preoccupied those societies that had experienced the destructiveness of such catastrophic encounters. Given that astronomers and climatologists now concur such meteoritic bombardments and ‘dust veils’ can cause abrupt climate changes, cataclysmic earthquakes and tsunami, bringing famine, pestilence and plague that can destroy whole civilisations, it is little wonder that there are ample indications in the dendrochronology records of numerous past events.
Yet there is sparse archæological evidence available at present. Or more likely the evidence exists but is not recognised as such by archæologists. This is due in no small part to the resistance within the archæological community to attempts at the revision of current models of prehistory that is called for in the light of this new inter-disciplinary approach to understanding the past in the context of a 'catastrophically dynamic solar system history'. Regrettably, there are still many in the archæological community who continue to resist the very idea that ancient peoples were competent skywatchers. Critics often point to obscure computer models purporting to show that, at some date or another, one celestial body or another will be seen to rise or set at 'any' orientation in an easterly or westerly direction.
Sadly this misses the point altogether. Oral traditions, rituals and mythologies of many ancient cultures often focus on 'specific marker stars' and constellations, whose rising heralded the imminent solsticial and equinoctial sunrises. The same is true of other stars and constellations that were of great significance to those particular cultures. But, much more importantly, when the major bombardments had ceased to be a regular occurrence, certain 'marker stars' and star groups, for example The Pleiades, may well have signalled the rising of the ‘radiants’ of the greatly-feared daytime Taurid meteor storms, especially if they were the last feint stars to be seen just before sunrise.
But it is not only in mythology that we find hints of major traumatic periods in the history of human civilisation. The chroniclers of old recorded troubled times at the very same epochs that the tree-rings tell their story of environmental downturns which had dramatic effects on human populations. The dendrochronology records show narrowest-ring events at 3195 BC, 2345 BC, 1628 BC, 1159 BC, 207 BC, and at AD 536-545 - the start of the ‘European Dark Age’. In fact, many researchers in a variety of the historical sciences now believe that the widespread and simulataneous collapse of Bronze Age societies around the world came about as a result of our planet's encounters with cometary debris streams, and the decoding of astronomical observations in the mythologies of classical times is playing a major role.
Gildas, who was writing at approximately 540 AD, says that the island of Britain was on fire from sea to sea " ... until it had burned almost the whole surface of the island and was licking the western ocean with its fierce red tongue.". While in "The Life of St. Teilo" contained in the "Llandaf Charters", of St. Teilo, who had recently been made Bishop of Llandaf Cathedral in Morganwg, South Wales, it says:
" ... however he could not long remain, on account of the pestilence which nearly destroyed the whole nation. It was called the Yellow Pestilence, because it occasioned all persons who were seized by it to be yellow and without blood, and it appeared to men a column of a watery cloud, having one end trailing along the ground, and the other above, proceeding in the air, and passing through the whole country like a shower going through the bottom of valleys. Whatever living creatures it touched with its pestiferous blast, either immediately died, or sickened for death ... and so greatly did the aforesaid destruction rage throughout the nation, that it caused the country to be nearly deserted".
St. Teilo is recorded as having left South Wales for Brittany to escape the Yellow Pestilence, and that it lasted for some 11 years. It was at this time that the Saxons returned, reportedly unopposed, into the eastern areas of the 'Arthurian wastelands’, begging the question, could the ‘vision’ of Myrddin (Merlyn) have been of a fiery comet - later depicted as a red dragon? Owen Morien Morgan’s “History of Wales” gives the dates for the birth of St. Kentigern as AD 514, with his death at AD 601. So it is quite plausible that 'Merlyn’s vision’ could well refer to a ‘temporary celestial event’ that was the cause of the climatic downturn evident in the ‘narrowest tree-ring' chronologies for AD 536 to 545.
Is this petroglyph a depiction of the Doggerland Comet?
British astronomers Victor Clube and Bill Napier, [12] built a strong argument, according to which the progenitor of comet Encke quite likely caused humanity a great deal of grief in the past. They list only one object, Hephaistos, as having once been part of the still active comet Encke. Hephaistos was discovered in 27 September 1978 (I.A.U.Circ. 3279) and is one of the largest Earth-orbit-crossing objects found so far. Its 9.5 km diameter (about the same as the hypothetical dinosaur slayer) is actually larger than comet Encke's estimated girth. This object has in an orbit very like that of the Taurids, but rotated through about 90_. Probably some thousands of years ago, it split from the giant comet whose debris now circulate along the Taurid track. [14] Hephaistos is a potential collision hazard, although not immediately so. It would strike the Earth at just over 30 kilometres / second, with an impact energy of about 100 million megatons! The giant comet breakup hypothesis is consistent with the available archaeostronomical, palaeoclimatic and geochemical evidence. The last Ice Age could have been caused by the progenitor of comet Encke , part of which was the Tunguska meteorite, an interstellar object. It is estimated that further debris from the zodiacal cloud will intersect earth during the period A.D. 2000-2400.
Troy was also the witness of multi-regional catastrophes and collapse dated to ca. 2.200 B.C. (Egyptian Old Kingdom, Harappan Culture, Canaanite settlements, Malta & Akkad), and to cultural revivals, migrations and social reorganizations during the period 2.000 - 1.800 B.C. The climatic upsets of the period 2.200 - 1.800 B.C. are interpreted within interdisciplinary studies (i.e. www.iap.ac.cn/html/qikan/aas/aas2004/ 200402/040216.pdf ; http://www.space-frontier.org/Projects/TheWatch/Archives/20011104middleeast.html; http://www.unu.edu/env/govern/elnino/countryreports/inside/china/REFERENCES/REFERENCES_txt.html ). Around 2.200 B.C., in S. Asia, the Indian monsoons that provide 80% of the Nile flow was deflected. At the same time, the famous historic flood of China was followed by aridification in 2.000 B.C. and the West China's cold event (2.000 - 1.500 B.C.). Similar phenomena of extended drought are registered near the sources of Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, Indus and Yellow rivers. The impact craters in Al Amarah marshes of Iraq are also dated to 2.000 B.C. [36] Finally, during the years 1.900 - 1.800 B.C. the Harappan culture in the Indus valley collapsed (http://www.grahamhancock.com/forum/BlackardA1.php)
The impact signal of the 4kyr B.P. event throughout land and seas [25] shows some characteristics: a) the co-occurrence in distant regions of flow-glass debris with similar petrographical and geochemical characteristics, and b) the distinctive heated soil surface, both identified the distal dispersion of an impact ejecta. The facies, petrography and geochemistry of the distinguishing features are compared from sedimentary records in soils, ancient habitations, lakes and deep-sea cores in various regions of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The best-preserved record of the ejecta dispersion (nearly intact signals) is observed in continental deposits at specific locations where the impact-related surface were rapidly buried.
On the other hand , Sanskrit literature of ancient and medieval India is rich in information about environmental sciences . Fiery celestial body fallen on Earth, earthquakes, rise of sea-level, draught of rivers, lakes and wells, destruction from heaven, severe famine are some of the implications related to the Pleiades . These disasters should have taken place in the north-western part of India (23.5_ N, 71.5_ E), where river Sarasvati joined the sea. The whole plain, now an arid area known as the Thar Desert, was once a very fertile plain traversed by this great river. In those days of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, the area was one of the richest places in the world.. Renowned scholars, planetarium softwares and astronomical calculations date the impact crater and the falling meteors around 1800 - 2200 B.C.. [29 & 64]
Troy was also the witness of multi-regional catastrophes and collapse dated to ca. 2.200 B.C. (Egyptian Old Kingdom, Harappan Culture, Canaanite settlements, Malta & Akkad), and to cultural revivals, migrations and social reorganizations during the period 2.000 - 1.800 B.C. The climatic upsets of the period 2.200 - 1.800 B.C. are interpreted within interdisciplinary studies (i.e. www.iap.ac.cn/html/qikan/aas/aas2004/ 200402/040216.pdf ; http://www.space-frontier.org/Projects/TheWatch/Archives/20011104middleeast.html; http://www.unu.edu/env/govern/elnino/countryreports/inside/china/REFERENCES/REFERENCES_txt.html ). Around 2.200 B.C., in S. Asia, the Indian monsoons that provide 80% of the Nile flow was deflected. At the same time, the famous historic flood of China was followed by aridification in 2.000 B.C. and the West China's cold event (2.000 - 1.500 B.C.). Similar phenomena of extended drought are registered near the sources of Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, Indus and Yellow rivers. The impact craters in Al Amarah marshes of Iraq are also dated to 2.000 B.C. [36] Finally, during the years 1.900 - 1.800 B.C. the Harappan culture in the Indus valley collapsed (http://www.grahamhancock.com/forum/BlackardA1.php)
The impact signal of the 4kyr B.P. event throughout land and seas [25] shows some characteristics: a) the co-occurrence in distant regions of flow-glass debris with similar petrographical and geochemical characteristics, and b) the distinctive heated soil surface, both identified the distal dispersion of an impact ejecta. The facies, petrography and geochemistry of the distinguishing features are compared from sedimentary records in soils, ancient habitations, lakes and deep-sea cores in various regions of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The best-preserved record of the ejecta dispersion (nearly intact signals) is observed in continental deposits at specific locations where the impact-related surface were rapidly buried.
On the other hand , Sanskrit literature of ancient and medieval India is rich in information about environmental sciences . Fiery celestial body fallen on Earth, earthquakes, rise of sea-level, draught of rivers, lakes and wells, destruction from heaven, severe famine are some of the implications related to the Pleiades . These disasters should have taken place in the north-western part of India (23.5_ N, 71.5_ E), where river Sarasvati joined the sea. The whole plain, now an arid area known as the Thar Desert, was once a very fertile plain traversed by this great river. In those days of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, the area was one of the richest places in the world.. Renowned scholars, planetarium softwares and astronomical calculations date the impact crater and the falling meteors around 1800 - 2200 B.C.. [29 & 64]
Eliade, The Forge & the Crucible
4. Did Comets Inspire the Labyrinth?
See Chapter 6, DRAGON LEGACY, "Dragon's Deep", pg. 123
for other aspects of the Labyrinth in Dragon Lore
The Labyrinth is both Cosmic and "genital." See THE DRAGON LEGACY for the later attributions. The cosmic aspect is linked to comets and catastrophes. The spiral vortex of the MIlky Way is the cosmic labrinth of the "cosmic" dragon, Orouboros. The labyrinth is a symbolic spiral or whorl, the spiralling of the galaxy, mirrored by comets approaching the sun, outgassing and spiraling. Such an event might make an escape tunnel very practical. The ancestors probably engaged in rituals to placate the gods while underground as they did in their raths. Fertility rites were undoubtedly necessary to re-populate the earth after each "Dis-aster". Dis Pater, or Dispater was a chthonic Roman god of the underworld, later subsumed by infernal Pluto or Hades.
According to one theory, around 6100 BC a swarm of 'bolids' impacted on earth (Tollmann). More recent and circular labyrinths may be depictions of this same event. The 'entrance' of the labyrinth was equal to the tail of the comet that destroyed the land, 6100 BC. Labyrinths all over the earth have to do with 'death at the center'. Death, another life, and the afterlife were recurrent themes. The center of the spiralling comet was of course the comet itself, the rock that eventually impacted into the North Sea (6100 BC, the Storegga Slide), and caused the death of many thousands of people and probably sank the remainder of Doggerland.
According to one theory, around 6100 BC a swarm of 'bolids' impacted on earth (Tollmann). More recent and circular labyrinths may be depictions of this same event. The 'entrance' of the labyrinth was equal to the tail of the comet that destroyed the land, 6100 BC. Labyrinths all over the earth have to do with 'death at the center'. Death, another life, and the afterlife were recurrent themes. The center of the spiralling comet was of course the comet itself, the rock that eventually impacted into the North Sea (6100 BC, the Storegga Slide), and caused the death of many thousands of people and probably sank the remainder of Doggerland.
Russia, http://www.myazcomputerguy.com/everbrite/Page6g.html
Remains of Labyrinth, Faiyum, Egypt - http://egyptology.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html
Labyrinth dedicated to Dragon Queen Sobek
Labyrinth dedicated to Dragon Queen Sobek
Minoan Crete / Lemnos
The Lemnian labyrinth was famous in antiquity. Apart from being viewed as a symbol of our planetary system or as an astronomical map, the labyrinth is also mystically connected to the protection of tsunami, a serious side-effect of impact episodes. b) Ancient writers said that Lemnian earth was characterized by some special features which are present in impact cases and extraterrestrial - induced destruction levels all over the world.
Homer (Odyssey, xix 172-178) calls Crete a land of many peoples (Achaeans, great-hearted native Cretans, Kydonians, Dorians and goodly Pelasgians). The most intriguing connection between Crete and other areas of Mediterranean (Egypt, Lemnos, Etruria) is the famous labyrinth (elaborate complex system of path and tunnels). Apart from a great number of scientific works worldwide trying to deciphering this symbol, one aspect seems fascinating. By the fifth century B.C., the city of Knossos began to mint coins , and the earliest shows the Minotaur on the obverse and a labyrinthine swastika with a star or sun motif in the center on the reverse. Over time, the swastika gave way to the maze pattern and a human or bovine head replaced the central star (http://www.athenapub.com/11labyr.htm). [35]
Pliny the Elder in his Natural History (XXXVI. 13) speaks of a remarkable labyrinth in Lemnos, which has not been identified in modern times. Though called the Lemnian Labyrinth in this section, Pliny previously refers to this Labyrinth as the temple built by Theodorus at Samos (34.83, 35.19, 82 & 36.90). This misinterpretation, though, derives from the fact that Samos was the old name of Samothrace, as the Homeric tradition passed into the verses of Apollonius' Argonautics (1.923) and beyond (Diodorus, 3.55.8 ) Diodorus' narration (5.47.1 ff.) on the flood that affected the n.E. Aegean, Asia Minor and Black Sea. [47 & 48] The scientists date a major episode in 5.600 B.C. when the salt waters of Aegean poured into the brackish watres of Black Sea, It correlates with the island of Samothrace, the flood episode, the very ancient nuclei of Eastern Mediterranean cultural substratum and the fishermen's altars near the shores in an excellent and highly valuable framework of environmental information. In the ancient text, the flood is expressed by the term 'labros', a Homeric word that means the impetuous waters of the sea or the rivers.
Serpentine Coils
Recent archeological, theological, and natural research, has, brought forward new hypotheses about the origins of the labyrinth, and that the forces of an ancient tsunami (seaquakes) may play a special part in labyrinth history. There are remarkable examples of the labyrinth shape from a whole range of ancient and disparate cultures (http://www.labyrinthos.net/centre.html).
"In its earliest use the labyrinth seems always to have been associated with death". [9, p. 10] Since ancient times, people have used labyrinths to invoke the mercy of the Gods in their dealings with the sea. At the shores of Iceland and the Baltic Sea, there are still many old labyrinths that were once used by fishing communities as indicators of the directions of the winds and as shrines to the old sea Goddesses which would protect the fishers in a safe return home. [51 & 52] Legends tell how labyrinths near lakes and sea sides have also been used as a place to guide the souls of the deceased to the hereafter. Moreover, the name of troy-town has been discovered for several locations in N. Europe. [21 & 56]
Labyrinths also appear in various countries throughout the world ( India, England, Scotland, and the Hebrides), as a form of spiritual protection against the 'evil eye'. This protective aspect was also reflected upon the planning of prehistoric cities, in order to offer tactical protection from military invasion, as in the case of Troy, which was constructed in a maze-like configuration. [9 & 26, p. 413] http://www.drgeorgepc.com/DisasterArchHephaeLaoupi.html
The Lemnian labyrinth was famous in antiquity. Apart from being viewed as a symbol of our planetary system or as an astronomical map, the labyrinth is also mystically connected to the protection of tsunami, a serious side-effect of impact episodes. b) Ancient writers said that Lemnian earth was characterized by some special features which are present in impact cases and extraterrestrial - induced destruction levels all over the world.
Homer (Odyssey, xix 172-178) calls Crete a land of many peoples (Achaeans, great-hearted native Cretans, Kydonians, Dorians and goodly Pelasgians). The most intriguing connection between Crete and other areas of Mediterranean (Egypt, Lemnos, Etruria) is the famous labyrinth (elaborate complex system of path and tunnels). Apart from a great number of scientific works worldwide trying to deciphering this symbol, one aspect seems fascinating. By the fifth century B.C., the city of Knossos began to mint coins , and the earliest shows the Minotaur on the obverse and a labyrinthine swastika with a star or sun motif in the center on the reverse. Over time, the swastika gave way to the maze pattern and a human or bovine head replaced the central star (http://www.athenapub.com/11labyr.htm). [35]
Pliny the Elder in his Natural History (XXXVI. 13) speaks of a remarkable labyrinth in Lemnos, which has not been identified in modern times. Though called the Lemnian Labyrinth in this section, Pliny previously refers to this Labyrinth as the temple built by Theodorus at Samos (34.83, 35.19, 82 & 36.90). This misinterpretation, though, derives from the fact that Samos was the old name of Samothrace, as the Homeric tradition passed into the verses of Apollonius' Argonautics (1.923) and beyond (Diodorus, 3.55.8 ) Diodorus' narration (5.47.1 ff.) on the flood that affected the n.E. Aegean, Asia Minor and Black Sea. [47 & 48] The scientists date a major episode in 5.600 B.C. when the salt waters of Aegean poured into the brackish watres of Black Sea, It correlates with the island of Samothrace, the flood episode, the very ancient nuclei of Eastern Mediterranean cultural substratum and the fishermen's altars near the shores in an excellent and highly valuable framework of environmental information. In the ancient text, the flood is expressed by the term 'labros', a Homeric word that means the impetuous waters of the sea or the rivers.
Serpentine Coils
Recent archeological, theological, and natural research, has, brought forward new hypotheses about the origins of the labyrinth, and that the forces of an ancient tsunami (seaquakes) may play a special part in labyrinth history. There are remarkable examples of the labyrinth shape from a whole range of ancient and disparate cultures (http://www.labyrinthos.net/centre.html).
"In its earliest use the labyrinth seems always to have been associated with death". [9, p. 10] Since ancient times, people have used labyrinths to invoke the mercy of the Gods in their dealings with the sea. At the shores of Iceland and the Baltic Sea, there are still many old labyrinths that were once used by fishing communities as indicators of the directions of the winds and as shrines to the old sea Goddesses which would protect the fishers in a safe return home. [51 & 52] Legends tell how labyrinths near lakes and sea sides have also been used as a place to guide the souls of the deceased to the hereafter. Moreover, the name of troy-town has been discovered for several locations in N. Europe. [21 & 56]
Labyrinths also appear in various countries throughout the world ( India, England, Scotland, and the Hebrides), as a form of spiritual protection against the 'evil eye'. This protective aspect was also reflected upon the planning of prehistoric cities, in order to offer tactical protection from military invasion, as in the case of Troy, which was constructed in a maze-like configuration. [9 & 26, p. 413] http://www.drgeorgepc.com/DisasterArchHephaeLaoupi.html
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[43] Photos - Jones, Effie, Cottier, A., Hall, A.J. & Mendoni Lina (1997). Keian miltos: the well-known iron oxides of Antiquity. ABSA vol. 92, pp. 359 - 371.
[44] Photos - Jones, Effie, Hall, A.J. & Perdikatsis V. (2006). The risks posed by the application of Chemistry on myths. The case of the Lemnian earth, its nature and medicinal properties. In review
[45] Rapp, G.Jr. & Gifford J.A. (1982). Troy - The Archaeological Geology. Supplementary Monograph 4 . U.S.A.: Princeton University Press.
[46] Rix, Z. (1977). Note on the Androgyne Comet. I S.I.S.R. vol. 5, pp. 17 - 19.
[47] Ryan, W.& Pittman W. (2000). Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed History. New York: Simon & Schuster.
[48] Ryan, W., Major, C., Lericolas, G. & Goldstein S. (2003) Catastrophic Flooding of the Black Sea. Annual Review of Earth Planetary Science vol. 31, pp. 525 - 554.
[49] Sagan, C. & Druyan Ann (1985). Comet. New York: Random House /London: Joseph.
[50] Sallares, R. (1991). The Ecology of the Ancient Greek World. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
[51] Saward, J. & Deb (1998). The Labyrinth in Iceland. Caerdroia vol. 29, pp.58-60.
[52] Saward, J. (2003). Labyrinths and Mazes. London: Gaia Books / New York: Lark Books.
[53] Schaeffer, Cl. F.A. (1948). Stratigraphie comparée et chronologic de l'Asie Occidentale . London: Oxford University Press.
[54] Schliemann, H. (1875). Troy and its remains, London: Murray.
[55] Schliemann, H. (1881). Ilios. New York, Franklin Square: Harper & Brothers .
[56] Spanuth, J. (1975). Atlantis of the North. London: Sidgwick & Jackson.
[57] Steel, D. (1995). Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets. New York: Wiley.
[58] Steel, D.I, Asher, D.J. & Clube S.V.M. (1991). The structure and evolution of the Taurid complex. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society / MNRAS, vol. 251, pp. 632 - 648.
[59] Steel, D.I & Asher D.J. (1996). On the origin of Comet Encke. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society / MNRAS, vol. 281(3), pp. 937 - 944.
[60] Stohl, J. (1987). Meteor contribution by short-period comets. Astronomy and Astrophysics vol. 187 (1-2), p. 933.
[61]Talbott, D. (1994). The Great Comet Venus. AEON vol. III (5), pp. 5 - 51.
[62] Thomas, P., Chyba, C. & McKay C. (eds) (1997). Comets and the Origin and Evolution of Life. New York: Springer-Verlag.
[63] Thompson, W. I. (1981). The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light. New York: St. Martins Press,.
[64] Valdiya, K.S. (2002). Saraswati, the River that Disappeared. Hyderabad: University Press.
[65] Velikovsky, I. (1950). Worlds in Collision. New York: Mac Millan (April) and Doubleday Books (June).
[66] Velikovsky, I. (1955). Earth in Upheaval. New York: Doubleday Books.
[67] Velikovsky, I. (1977). Peoples of the Sea. New York: Doubleday Books.
[68] Wainwright, G.A. (1959). The Teresh, the Etruscans and Asia Minor. Anatolian Studies vol. 9, pp. 197.
[69] Ward, W.A. & Joukovsky, Martha, S. (eds) (1992). The Crisis Years: The 12th cent. B.C. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company.
[70] Wallis, M.K. (1972). Comet-like interaction of Venus with the solar wind. Cosmic Electrodynamics vol. 3 (April), pp. 45 - 59.
[71] Whipple, Fr. L. (1985). The Mystery of Comets. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute Press.
[72] Wood, Florence and K. (1991). Homer's Secret Iliad. USA: The Star McCune Trust.
[1] Abbott, D.H., Masse, Br.W. & Bregerr D. (2005). Burcle Abyssal Impact Crater: Did this impact produce a global deluge? International Conference on 'THE ATLANTIS HYPOTHESIS: SEARCHING FOR A LOST LAND', 11 - 13 July 2005, Island of Melos, Greece. In press.
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[37] Nikolsky, G. A., Tsinbal, M.N., Shnitke, V.E. & Shultz E.O.: 'Tunguska vacuum bomb of cosmic origin', http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/abstr3html
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[41] Peiser, B.J., Palmer, Tr. & Baily M.E. (eds) (1998.) Natural Catastrophes During Bronze Age Civilizations. Archaeological, geological, astronomical and cultural perspectives. BAR International Series 728. England: Oxford.
[42] Peratt, A.L. (1992). Physics of the Plasma Universe. New York: Springer-Verlag.
[43] Photos - Jones, Effie, Cottier, A., Hall, A.J. & Mendoni Lina (1997). Keian miltos: the well-known iron oxides of Antiquity. ABSA vol. 92, pp. 359 - 371.
[44] Photos - Jones, Effie, Hall, A.J. & Perdikatsis V. (2006). The risks posed by the application of Chemistry on myths. The case of the Lemnian earth, its nature and medicinal properties. In review
[45] Rapp, G.Jr. & Gifford J.A. (1982). Troy - The Archaeological Geology. Supplementary Monograph 4 . U.S.A.: Princeton University Press.
[46] Rix, Z. (1977). Note on the Androgyne Comet. I S.I.S.R. vol. 5, pp. 17 - 19.
[47] Ryan, W.& Pittman W. (2000). Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed History. New York: Simon & Schuster.
[48] Ryan, W., Major, C., Lericolas, G. & Goldstein S. (2003) Catastrophic Flooding of the Black Sea. Annual Review of Earth Planetary Science vol. 31, pp. 525 - 554.
[49] Sagan, C. & Druyan Ann (1985). Comet. New York: Random House /London: Joseph.
[50] Sallares, R. (1991). The Ecology of the Ancient Greek World. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
[51] Saward, J. & Deb (1998). The Labyrinth in Iceland. Caerdroia vol. 29, pp.58-60.
[52] Saward, J. (2003). Labyrinths and Mazes. London: Gaia Books / New York: Lark Books.
[53] Schaeffer, Cl. F.A. (1948). Stratigraphie comparée et chronologic de l'Asie Occidentale . London: Oxford University Press.
[54] Schliemann, H. (1875). Troy and its remains, London: Murray.
[55] Schliemann, H. (1881). Ilios. New York, Franklin Square: Harper & Brothers .
[56] Spanuth, J. (1975). Atlantis of the North. London: Sidgwick & Jackson.
[57] Steel, D. (1995). Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets. New York: Wiley.
[58] Steel, D.I, Asher, D.J. & Clube S.V.M. (1991). The structure and evolution of the Taurid complex. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society / MNRAS, vol. 251, pp. 632 - 648.
[59] Steel, D.I & Asher D.J. (1996). On the origin of Comet Encke. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society / MNRAS, vol. 281(3), pp. 937 - 944.
[60] Stohl, J. (1987). Meteor contribution by short-period comets. Astronomy and Astrophysics vol. 187 (1-2), p. 933.
[61]Talbott, D. (1994). The Great Comet Venus. AEON vol. III (5), pp. 5 - 51.
[62] Thomas, P., Chyba, C. & McKay C. (eds) (1997). Comets and the Origin and Evolution of Life. New York: Springer-Verlag.
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[64] Valdiya, K.S. (2002). Saraswati, the River that Disappeared. Hyderabad: University Press.
[65] Velikovsky, I. (1950). Worlds in Collision. New York: Mac Millan (April) and Doubleday Books (June).
[66] Velikovsky, I. (1955). Earth in Upheaval. New York: Doubleday Books.
[67] Velikovsky, I. (1977). Peoples of the Sea. New York: Doubleday Books.
[68] Wainwright, G.A. (1959). The Teresh, the Etruscans and Asia Minor. Anatolian Studies vol. 9, pp. 197.
[69] Ward, W.A. & Joukovsky, Martha, S. (eds) (1992). The Crisis Years: The 12th cent. B.C. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company.
[70] Wallis, M.K. (1972). Comet-like interaction of Venus with the solar wind. Cosmic Electrodynamics vol. 3 (April), pp. 45 - 59.
[71] Whipple, Fr. L. (1985). The Mystery of Comets. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute Press.
[72] Wood, Florence and K. (1991). Homer's Secret Iliad. USA: The Star McCune Trust.
BOOKS
Current & Controversial
From Scythia to Camelot: A Radical Reassessment of the Legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the Holy Grail (Arthurian Characters and Themes) [Paperback] C. Scott Littleton (Author), Linda A. Malcor (Author)
King Arthur was a North Iranian named Batraz?!, Review - To laypersons with a passing interest in history and archaeology this book will seem both puzzling and difficult to swallow. The authors Littleton and Malcor don't claim to have all of the answers, but put forward an interesting and plausible theory regarding the origins of Arthurian legends. I heard about their work from an issue of Archaeology magazine and managed to purchase their book at one-third the price from a friend at a bookstore. The Roman occupation of Britain is a well known bit of history because without the Roman conquests there the world as we know it would have been a radically different place. What is not well known is that the Romans used Scythian horsemen as their primary occupation force (while stationing British conscripts in other lands). From the Scythians and their stories of Batraz (a hero king of the Caucasian people whose primary descendents today are the Ossetians) Arthurian legends came to be. Also worthy of mention is the daring theory about Lancelot being of Alannic extraction. What is presented is the impact of Iranian-speaking peoples (whose better known cousins established themselves in the Near East from Kurdistan to western Pakistan) upon European culture as part of Roman armies and "barbarian" hordes. These people are a fascinating and little known Indo-European peoples who were assimilated into the general populations of Europe, but live again thanks to the work of scholars like Littleton and Malcor. An interesting work that deserves far more recognition from people interested in Arthurian legends, the various peoples of the Eurasian steppes, or radical theories made plausible.
http://books.google.com/books?id=x9v0FaIgEFEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=from+scythia+to+camelot&hl=en&src=bmrr&ei=xu_mTa-UIpDXiALIoqGVDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&resnum=1&ved=0CEAQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
King Arthur was a North Iranian named Batraz?!, Review - To laypersons with a passing interest in history and archaeology this book will seem both puzzling and difficult to swallow. The authors Littleton and Malcor don't claim to have all of the answers, but put forward an interesting and plausible theory regarding the origins of Arthurian legends. I heard about their work from an issue of Archaeology magazine and managed to purchase their book at one-third the price from a friend at a bookstore. The Roman occupation of Britain is a well known bit of history because without the Roman conquests there the world as we know it would have been a radically different place. What is not well known is that the Romans used Scythian horsemen as their primary occupation force (while stationing British conscripts in other lands). From the Scythians and their stories of Batraz (a hero king of the Caucasian people whose primary descendents today are the Ossetians) Arthurian legends came to be. Also worthy of mention is the daring theory about Lancelot being of Alannic extraction. What is presented is the impact of Iranian-speaking peoples (whose better known cousins established themselves in the Near East from Kurdistan to western Pakistan) upon European culture as part of Roman armies and "barbarian" hordes. These people are a fascinating and little known Indo-European peoples who were assimilated into the general populations of Europe, but live again thanks to the work of scholars like Littleton and Malcor. An interesting work that deserves far more recognition from people interested in Arthurian legends, the various peoples of the Eurasian steppes, or radical theories made plausible.
http://books.google.com/books?id=x9v0FaIgEFEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=from+scythia+to+camelot&hl=en&src=bmrr&ei=xu_mTa-UIpDXiALIoqGVDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&resnum=1&ved=0CEAQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
Embodying Osiris - Review by Iona Miller for Alchemy Journal, 2011
EMBODYING OSIRIS: The Secrets of Alchemical Transformation
by Thom F. Cavalli
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onlinewithandrea/2011/03/25/embodying-osiris
"The road to the unconscious is not a one way street; rather, it is a living part of the psyche that responds in its own mysterious way to all that happens in our conscious lives. Building an image of a lost god revives ancient memories, and in this way Osiris is psychologically recalled and brought back to life."
Life, Death & Immortality
Egypt remains a realm of mystery as does the psyche. The ancient land of Egypt is not the same as the eternal sunshine of the Egypt of our modern minds. We can never "embody Osiris" with conceptual processes, but only through fully entering the inherent mystery of alchemical processes that define the rhythms of life we exist in.
In this insightful Jungian volume, Dr. Thom Cavalli is likely correct in insisting that "empathic engagement of the god on an imaginal and physical level" is required. In this way only perhaps a more meaningful life springs from death, through a "body" of integrative experience. The Egyptians presumed "death" was not the only option.
Universal Solvent
There is a generic process in nature and consciousness which dissolves and regenerates all forms. The essence of this transformative, morphological process is chaotic--purposeful yet inherently unpredictable holistic repatterning. The Great Work of the art of alchemy is the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, a symbol of wholeness and integration. The liquid form of the Stone, called the Universal Solvent, dissolves all old forms like a rushing stream, and is the self-organizing matrix for the rebirth of new forms. It is thus a metaphor or model for the dynamic process of transformation, ego death and re-creation.
The dissolution (solve) of death can be followed by a sublimation (coagula) that releases the Ultima Materia of the Soul. Process therapies recapitulate this process in life working through a stage of ego death characterized by fear and pain that precedes the healing renewal of spiritual rebirth through an inner journey and/or redemptive metaphor. It harnesses the "universal solvent" in the service of the psyche. Coagulation transcends heaven and earth and produces a transcorporeal incarnation that can survive both. Through this healing Elixir (Medicine Light), this Body of Light, this Philosopher's Stone, they could exist at all levels of reality. Individual and universal fields fuse.
The alchemical operation solutio, called "the root of alchemy," corresponds with the element water. It implies a flowing state of consciousness, "liquification" of consciousness, a return to the womb for rebirth, a baptism or healing immersion in the vast ocean of deep consciousness. It facilitates feedback via creative regression: de-structuring, or destratification by immersion in the flow of psychic imagery through identification with more and more primal forms or patterns.
In Anatomy of the Psyche, Edward Edinger describes seven major aspects of solutio symbolism, which are pertinent to the cycle of Osiris: (1) return to the womb or primal state; (2) dissolution, dispersal, dismemberment; (3) containment of a lesser thing by a greater; (4) rebirth, rejuvenation, immersion in the creative energy flow; (5) purification ordeal; (6) solution of problems; and (7) melting or softening process. These different aspects overlap. Several or all of them may make up different facets of a single experience. Basically it is the ego's confrontation with the unconscious that brings about solutio.
The ultimate undesirable outcome of any Egyptian life, and its royalty in particular, was to become nonexistent. As Dragons, by recalling, re-membering and living from the depth of our essential nature, we resurrect that portion of the Osirian spirit that we carry in our genes as descendants of the ancient Egyptian dynastic lines. We can begin by resurrecting the magical name used for him by the Egyptians, 'Wenennefer" or "Wennofry", "joy of existence" or "beautiful being". But ultimately this god cannot be known in isolation. He descends from the primeval Ogdoad, the sacred Eight, core cluster of archetypes. The "one drama" that recreates the primordial state plays out through myriad sacred forms. It is a realization -- a Way of being, not simply a philosophical worldview.
Epic Ordeals
The general consensus of all authors on the subject of Osiris may be "dead" wrong. "Expert" views may be substantially different from the living ancestral memory of the Dragon Clan. Alchemy is known as the Royal Art or the Royal Path. Long lines of priests, priestesses, and royal dynasties were the custodians of this knowledge. As Cavalli points out, there is scant evidence of abstracted philosophical thought among the ancient Egyptians, even less so outside of the royal court. We don't know if the Egyptians, still close to their shamanic roots, were having mystical experiences or not, but we know they consumed alcohol and drugs that altered their perceptions.
The problem with any modern or postmodern view is that it necessarily brings a skewed cultural slant to the modeling and interpretation of ancient life. We will never know what the lived sense, the felt-sense of Osiris would have been in the Old Kingdom. Theirs was a concrete imagination, as Cavalli aptly points out. Writing, art and myth were subsumed to its service. There was no structural separation between thinking and doing. Cavalli calls the alchemy of ancient Egypt "unconscious alchemy". But was it really? Being closer to nature perhaps they grasped it wih more immediacy, without cognitive dissonance or emotional disconnects (dissociation).
To share this ancient wisdom, we must dive into our experiential depths. Does this subjective Jungian narrative of theories, dreams and myth illumine or inform our alchemical practice in a necessary way, or does benchwork provide our projections with a certain objectivity that inherently promotes insight into universal processes? Which appeals to us most -- the so-called "spiritual" or "practical" approach depends on our essence.
As unconscious, Osiris is the paradoxical life/death ground from which integrative impulses arise. His epic ordeals mirror our own. Perhaps the Jungians need alchemy for their articulation of psychic processes more than alchemy needs Jungian models. After all, benchwork went on for millennia without Jung's hermeneutics, but alchemy had its own ways of describing proto-scientific interpretations of phenomena. Still, Jung and Cavalli's categories, homologues, metaphorms and mytho-poetic language broaden our descriptive vocabulary, perhaps helping us articulate the deep meaning of what we see in the vessel.
The underlying mythical thought behind the alchemical motifs may emerge. A mytheme exists on a higher level than simple narrative. There is a relationship between mythemes, bundles of relations which produce meaning. By analogy mythemes emerge from an analysis of the structural oppositions. These dynamics are inherent in the alchemical process. The psychological approach is valuable and can add an analogous dimension to practice if not taken too literally or used to anticipate or pre-empt what needs to emerge organically and experientially.
In the Mystery schools, applicants for the priesthood of Osiris entered the tomb alive to await his light. They spent the night in the coffin, entering through the door of fear to achieve mastery.The initiate in the open sarcophagus was left alone in the darkness of the crypt., feeling the cold of the grave close in. In such a sensory deprivation chamber, perhaps the initiate experienced a life review or began to see colors and lights appear. This illumination was recognized as the light of Osiris, bringing visions. Some aspirants might claim to have conversations with Isis or Osiris. Others might visualize themselves in the land of the dead, walking and talking with departed spirits and receiving special teachings from Osiris before a resurrection much like those still conducted in Masonic orders today.
by Thom F. Cavalli
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onlinewithandrea/2011/03/25/embodying-osiris
"The road to the unconscious is not a one way street; rather, it is a living part of the psyche that responds in its own mysterious way to all that happens in our conscious lives. Building an image of a lost god revives ancient memories, and in this way Osiris is psychologically recalled and brought back to life."
Life, Death & Immortality
Egypt remains a realm of mystery as does the psyche. The ancient land of Egypt is not the same as the eternal sunshine of the Egypt of our modern minds. We can never "embody Osiris" with conceptual processes, but only through fully entering the inherent mystery of alchemical processes that define the rhythms of life we exist in.
In this insightful Jungian volume, Dr. Thom Cavalli is likely correct in insisting that "empathic engagement of the god on an imaginal and physical level" is required. In this way only perhaps a more meaningful life springs from death, through a "body" of integrative experience. The Egyptians presumed "death" was not the only option.
Universal Solvent
There is a generic process in nature and consciousness which dissolves and regenerates all forms. The essence of this transformative, morphological process is chaotic--purposeful yet inherently unpredictable holistic repatterning. The Great Work of the art of alchemy is the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, a symbol of wholeness and integration. The liquid form of the Stone, called the Universal Solvent, dissolves all old forms like a rushing stream, and is the self-organizing matrix for the rebirth of new forms. It is thus a metaphor or model for the dynamic process of transformation, ego death and re-creation.
The dissolution (solve) of death can be followed by a sublimation (coagula) that releases the Ultima Materia of the Soul. Process therapies recapitulate this process in life working through a stage of ego death characterized by fear and pain that precedes the healing renewal of spiritual rebirth through an inner journey and/or redemptive metaphor. It harnesses the "universal solvent" in the service of the psyche. Coagulation transcends heaven and earth and produces a transcorporeal incarnation that can survive both. Through this healing Elixir (Medicine Light), this Body of Light, this Philosopher's Stone, they could exist at all levels of reality. Individual and universal fields fuse.
The alchemical operation solutio, called "the root of alchemy," corresponds with the element water. It implies a flowing state of consciousness, "liquification" of consciousness, a return to the womb for rebirth, a baptism or healing immersion in the vast ocean of deep consciousness. It facilitates feedback via creative regression: de-structuring, or destratification by immersion in the flow of psychic imagery through identification with more and more primal forms or patterns.
In Anatomy of the Psyche, Edward Edinger describes seven major aspects of solutio symbolism, which are pertinent to the cycle of Osiris: (1) return to the womb or primal state; (2) dissolution, dispersal, dismemberment; (3) containment of a lesser thing by a greater; (4) rebirth, rejuvenation, immersion in the creative energy flow; (5) purification ordeal; (6) solution of problems; and (7) melting or softening process. These different aspects overlap. Several or all of them may make up different facets of a single experience. Basically it is the ego's confrontation with the unconscious that brings about solutio.
The ultimate undesirable outcome of any Egyptian life, and its royalty in particular, was to become nonexistent. As Dragons, by recalling, re-membering and living from the depth of our essential nature, we resurrect that portion of the Osirian spirit that we carry in our genes as descendants of the ancient Egyptian dynastic lines. We can begin by resurrecting the magical name used for him by the Egyptians, 'Wenennefer" or "Wennofry", "joy of existence" or "beautiful being". But ultimately this god cannot be known in isolation. He descends from the primeval Ogdoad, the sacred Eight, core cluster of archetypes. The "one drama" that recreates the primordial state plays out through myriad sacred forms. It is a realization -- a Way of being, not simply a philosophical worldview.
Epic Ordeals
The general consensus of all authors on the subject of Osiris may be "dead" wrong. "Expert" views may be substantially different from the living ancestral memory of the Dragon Clan. Alchemy is known as the Royal Art or the Royal Path. Long lines of priests, priestesses, and royal dynasties were the custodians of this knowledge. As Cavalli points out, there is scant evidence of abstracted philosophical thought among the ancient Egyptians, even less so outside of the royal court. We don't know if the Egyptians, still close to their shamanic roots, were having mystical experiences or not, but we know they consumed alcohol and drugs that altered their perceptions.
The problem with any modern or postmodern view is that it necessarily brings a skewed cultural slant to the modeling and interpretation of ancient life. We will never know what the lived sense, the felt-sense of Osiris would have been in the Old Kingdom. Theirs was a concrete imagination, as Cavalli aptly points out. Writing, art and myth were subsumed to its service. There was no structural separation between thinking and doing. Cavalli calls the alchemy of ancient Egypt "unconscious alchemy". But was it really? Being closer to nature perhaps they grasped it wih more immediacy, without cognitive dissonance or emotional disconnects (dissociation).
To share this ancient wisdom, we must dive into our experiential depths. Does this subjective Jungian narrative of theories, dreams and myth illumine or inform our alchemical practice in a necessary way, or does benchwork provide our projections with a certain objectivity that inherently promotes insight into universal processes? Which appeals to us most -- the so-called "spiritual" or "practical" approach depends on our essence.
As unconscious, Osiris is the paradoxical life/death ground from which integrative impulses arise. His epic ordeals mirror our own. Perhaps the Jungians need alchemy for their articulation of psychic processes more than alchemy needs Jungian models. After all, benchwork went on for millennia without Jung's hermeneutics, but alchemy had its own ways of describing proto-scientific interpretations of phenomena. Still, Jung and Cavalli's categories, homologues, metaphorms and mytho-poetic language broaden our descriptive vocabulary, perhaps helping us articulate the deep meaning of what we see in the vessel.
The underlying mythical thought behind the alchemical motifs may emerge. A mytheme exists on a higher level than simple narrative. There is a relationship between mythemes, bundles of relations which produce meaning. By analogy mythemes emerge from an analysis of the structural oppositions. These dynamics are inherent in the alchemical process. The psychological approach is valuable and can add an analogous dimension to practice if not taken too literally or used to anticipate or pre-empt what needs to emerge organically and experientially.
In the Mystery schools, applicants for the priesthood of Osiris entered the tomb alive to await his light. They spent the night in the coffin, entering through the door of fear to achieve mastery.The initiate in the open sarcophagus was left alone in the darkness of the crypt., feeling the cold of the grave close in. In such a sensory deprivation chamber, perhaps the initiate experienced a life review or began to see colors and lights appear. This illumination was recognized as the light of Osiris, bringing visions. Some aspirants might claim to have conversations with Isis or Osiris. Others might visualize themselves in the land of the dead, walking and talking with departed spirits and receiving special teachings from Osiris before a resurrection much like those still conducted in Masonic orders today.
Zero Point, & Dark Light
What is presented in Embodying Osiris is a belief system about a belief system of a belief system. It may speak to the psyches of today's audience and appeal to their spiritual desires, but it remains an interpretation that only hints at mystery but fails to carry us into either the Old Kingdom or alchemical being as many practitioners might define it. Still, Cavalli's luminous treatise helps our journey be Light and our lead turn to gold. Jung's brilliant interpretation and codification of alchemy remains just that. However, he renewed the relevance of alchemy in our modern lives.
Jung suggested we find language that unifies psyche and physics. Using a sub-quantum physics view, the downloaded "universal information field of Osiris" is ubiquitously available through the interpenetrating dark light of virtual photon flux, matter/antimatter annihilation, and/or the coherent biophotons of our living system. Now we call it zero-point energy. The Egyptians had their Zep Tepi, home of all creational forces. From this "First Time" the gods move through the void continuously creating reality.
Zep Tepi is also embodied as an alchemist which makes him a Magician, Magi, Master, he who can bend the light to create illusion in the electromagnetic program or our reality. He is known to the Egyptians as Thoth, (thought) the "Lord of Magic and Time" - to the Greeks as Hermes, 'Messenger of the Gods" - and to the Celtics as the enigmatic wizard Merlin, who disappears up an apple tree to mythic Avalon, seeking the secret of immortality and vowing to return.
Zep Tepi claims he will return at the end of this Cycle of Time through the alchemy of DNA and consciousness. He brings with him the secret keys to the gates of a sacred land or golden age, meaning a spiraling (spinning vortex) of consciousness as it returns to higher frequencies of light and understanding. DNA, the Tree Of Life is a live vibrating structure, a shimmering, waveform configuration, able to be modified by light, radiation, magnetic fields or sonic pulses.
For thousands of years, the Egyptians conducted genetic experiments in the quest for immortality. Only the pharaoh intermingled with the god as the conduit for all the people in ancient dynasties. That is a very different model than presuming such experiences are universally available to those who engage in the therapeutic process as outlined by Jung and his alchemical metaphors and psychological practices. Who actually comes closer to embodying Osiris -- one who looks from the outside in, or one who by descent looks inside out, literally resurrecting that Osirian essence in their very being by keeping the ancestors alive in this world?
The Opening of the Way
"Osiris" is a Greek name. The ancient Egyptians knew Osiris by the sacred name 'Wasir". Much of what we know about Egyptian religion is the Greek view of their existence. They called Osiris Typhon, "the passionate, titanic, reasonless aspect of the Soul." His adversary Set or Seth was/is the universal principle of destruction and dissolution. We cannot speak of Osiris apart from the rejuvinating processes of Isis (Aset), who complements and completes him.
Only those who live close to nature can unlock her secrets. The Egyptians themselves loved their world so much they considered their whole country a universal temple they wished to perpetuate in the afterlife. Is the perpetuation of an ideal life after death the ultimate? Fraser had a formulaic interpretation of Osiris as a tree spirit and fertility god, a symbol of "dying and resurrecting" plant life of an agricultural society. Mastering nature's secrets meant becoming like a god. But clearly this view, while not inaccurate, is reductionistic.
Color-coded Transformation Cycle
The entire interpretation of dynastic Egypt and the Osiris cult is riddled with Western religious and psychological bias. .Reading a hundred, even a thousand books about it, cannot impart its true essence. E. A. Wallis Budge wrote two exhaustive volumes on Osiris but the fact remains there is virtually nothing in the extant Egyptian records to confirm these scholarly deductions or illuminate their experiential levels. No one can claim to read hieroglyphics forward, backward and inside out for all the sacred symbolism they encapsulated for our ancestors. Looking at a society retrospectively is far from living within it. R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz came far closer to comprehending and describing the esoterics of the Egyptians in all its nuance. His writing "makes sense" of it, not just as a story of long ago and far away. Cavalli's volume makes it pertinent in every nanosecond of our existence.
This "esoterics" has silently morphed over the centuries until it is perhaps unrecognizable as such. Jungian psychology doesn't consider itself esoteric at all, but it is "informed" by hermetics and metaphysics and uses its symbols and metaphors as milestones and benchmarks of the transformative process/goal. But it is precisely active immersion in the "anima-ted" alchemical worldview which binds us to the process. Its wisdom is encoded in the fundamental perceptions of black, red, white, green and gold. The direct perceptual experience of the essential nature of colors can never be transmitted solely by means of definition or narration. Alchemy is a science/art wed to observation.
Alchemy: the Spiritual and the Practical
Alchemy opens the imaginal, the psychic dimension of reality, the realm of depth. The inherent life of all things cannot be distinguished as an "organic" vs. "inorganic" dichotomy. Alchemy practice is now divided roughly into "spiritual alchemy" and "practical alchemy," but the Egyptians had no such artificial divisions. This split was institutionalized by the Jungians to bolster their own interpretation of psychic phenomenology, using alchemical homologues. At best, it is one level of lab work.
Cavalli rightly notes the Egyptians were "concrete" in their thinking, approach, and execution of their rituals. Rituals were recipes, and the Egyptians were "hands on" artificers. Their alchemy was a collective social process, requiring a whole society for its execution. The proto-science of medieval alchemy turned the tables making alchemy an extremely private, even secretive encoded practice in which one experimented upon oneself, physically and spiritually. Its execution was idiosyncratic to some extent. Artists in action seamlessly weld thinking, doing and being, stimulating the creative flow of innovation.
The Egyptians were "artificers," noting the formerly hidden processes of nature, such as dessication and preservation of the body, and emulating nature to speed up the process. They solved their problems with their hands. Their hands were not separate from their hearts and spirit; soul was not separate from body. Their experience of time was cyclic, not linear. Metallurgy, tanning, baking bread, and brewing still had their magic.
They kept their recipes secret, but it was no secret that their Pharaohs were being prepared for immortality, which consisted of preserving the corpse, the soul, and perpetuating their Name by rememberance, throughout eternity. In other words, the bulk of this Great work went on after the ruler left the realm of the living and was conducted by an elaborate support system. At death the pharaoh surrendered to the passive portion of the process, trusting his intention had been set in motion and the universe would conspire to make it so -- forever.
Radical Resurrection in the Womb of Space
The fact that many ancient royals have been retrieved by archeologists and their corpses are still cared for while their names and deeds are noted and sung may be a testament to the continuing power of their heka or magic. In loving their stories, we love them with re-memberance. We perform the sacred act of Isis. Modern conservation constitutes a sort of "second coming" for each mummy, though the cult of academia is quite different from their original priesthood. Their evolving society first merged the individual with the collective, then launched one representative into eternity as an eternal symbol of the merging of individual with universal. Society served the redemptive function of the person who was the social glue of the kingdom. Later, mummification of wealthy but common people emulated this act on a broader scale. The priests developed a cottage-industry, duplicating their Book of the Dead instructions for all who could afford it.
Re-Membering Osiris
What remains the same is that human beings weave imaginal tales about the nature of nature and their experience and dreams. We still stave off our fears of death with hopes of eternal life when the existential fact remains that it is impossible for us to leave the sacred source field that undergirds both our corporeal existence and our hoped for immortalization in the virtual field that is the groundstate of a continuous creation. Physicist
We will never know if their ardent efforts confer some sort of primordial awareness on the Pharaohs or not. We just change form -- and that may be the essence of alchemy. Our alchemy is kept alive by practice and open-ended questions and spiritual questing which keeps the transformative process flowing. The method works if we do. What we derive from it has everything to do with what we put into it.
A Jungian approach is not a requirement for alchemical practice, "spiritual" or otherwise. But is a valid approach with its own coherence. A book of this sort can probably help us articulate some of our experiences. It can also highlight where we might strongly disagree about where to place emphasis and style of practice. Both this resonance and cognitive dissonance add to our self-awareness.
Theory and Practice
None of this reduces the inherent value of Cavalli's book to contemporary souls. He admits he does not take on the burden of unifying Egyptian life conceptually as it is beyond the scope of his practice. The scholarship and points he makes can help us in our daily lives as well as our transformative journey. Analytical psychology is a coherent system that produces objective healing and integrative effects. He suggests Osiris represents the "unconscious." But the process of "individuation" was probably incomprehensible to these ancients, who Cavalli admits had recently been cannibals. In fact, he points out that only an injunction of Osiris prevented that animalistic practice.
The first rule of process therapy is not to "import" foreign notions and symbols into the system, but to facilitate the emergence of inherent metaphors that alone create healing deeper than a "one size fits all" formulaic approach. We deepen the processs through the childhood, ancestral, cultural and cosmological layers of the psyche, kindling the redemptive metaphor, the inner healer.
Remaining true to his profession as an analyst, Cavalli interprets one cult, (Osiris), in light of another, (Jungianism) to illuminate a third -- Alchemy. But whose "alchemy" is it? His "unpacking" of ideas interprets one belief system, with another belief system, calling it a third belief system that has evolved over the centuries to suit its own social, political and scientific environment.
Ultimately, "Jung" can be just another limiting model that conveniently codifies the one process into neat categorical boxes which must be explored via "active imagination". If today's alchemy mirrors this process it is not the fault of our art, but of ourselves -- a failure to launch our unfettered imagination in truly novel ways. Perhaps this is why we can only illuminate our search further by asking more open-ended questions that keep the Mystery if not our individual "Self" alive. Mystery can only be known by gnosis, revelation and grace. Alchemy helps us stand in this Mystery, like an embodied Osiris.
Sacred Knowledge
This Jungian interpretation is a narrative, which is more than fantasy. It is legitimately imaginal, yet its validity may not extended beyond its own cultural context. While Jung's ideas are widely accepted in Western culture, there is no consensus within psychology that his is the correct or only view, anymore than there is consensus in models of physics. The Standard Model is accepted despite its flaws because it "allows us to do work." Jungg's theory has a similar relationship to the science/art of alchemy.
The One World of alchemy remains elusive in both psychology and physics, so we have no unified field theory. What we have are the models that guide our practice. The alchemy of Jung is not necessarily the alchemy of Osiris or Old Egypt; it may not even be representative of contemporary alchemical practice by anyone but Jungians. Further, contemporary lab work may have little in common with the immersive alchemical experience and processes of ancient Egypt that were necessarily tied to their lifestyle.
In Jung's allegedly phenomenological model we are tied to a repertoire of constructs or categories that may or may not relate -- archetypes, individuation, the "Self", psychological transformation. There is dissention among professional therapists about the relevancy or accuracy of such notions, though they have proven themselves invaluable for grasping and experiencing aspects of the unconscious (aka "Osiris"). Certainly "reading the recipe" is not the same as "tasting the dish." But this may not be the alchemy of Egypt despite the nomenclature.
Is Alchemy Psychological?
Cavalli's last work was Alchemical Psychology and now he has written about a "psychological alchemy". What about labwork? Can we really substitute the therapeutic hour for the laboratory? Alchemy isn't only conceptual. Many practioners of the royal art insist that the experimental side of the art must be practiced in order to bring about its transformations by remaining true to the hands-on alchemical spirit. Is it unavoidable that we impose multiple layers of interpretations from alien societies, muddled by foreign worldviews onto the Egyptian foundation?
None of this is a criticism of Cavalli's scholarship, hermeneutics, nor healing methodology. Just as archeologists can only tell so much from digging up artifacts and interpreting archival material, psychologists can do no more. Sometimes it takes a fresh approach, such as DNA genetic genealogy to unravel the secrets of the past. What they discover and reveal may be different, but all interpretations remain subject to revision. Such works may point us in the right direction, but the path itself is necessarily experiential. We cannot fully "embody Osiris" without the realization that he always undergirds our being, just as death informs life in the most fundamental way, giving life its edge and immediacy.
What is presented in Embodying Osiris is a belief system about a belief system of a belief system. It may speak to the psyches of today's audience and appeal to their spiritual desires, but it remains an interpretation that only hints at mystery but fails to carry us into either the Old Kingdom or alchemical being as many practitioners might define it. Still, Cavalli's luminous treatise helps our journey be Light and our lead turn to gold. Jung's brilliant interpretation and codification of alchemy remains just that. However, he renewed the relevance of alchemy in our modern lives.
Jung suggested we find language that unifies psyche and physics. Using a sub-quantum physics view, the downloaded "universal information field of Osiris" is ubiquitously available through the interpenetrating dark light of virtual photon flux, matter/antimatter annihilation, and/or the coherent biophotons of our living system. Now we call it zero-point energy. The Egyptians had their Zep Tepi, home of all creational forces. From this "First Time" the gods move through the void continuously creating reality.
Zep Tepi is also embodied as an alchemist which makes him a Magician, Magi, Master, he who can bend the light to create illusion in the electromagnetic program or our reality. He is known to the Egyptians as Thoth, (thought) the "Lord of Magic and Time" - to the Greeks as Hermes, 'Messenger of the Gods" - and to the Celtics as the enigmatic wizard Merlin, who disappears up an apple tree to mythic Avalon, seeking the secret of immortality and vowing to return.
Zep Tepi claims he will return at the end of this Cycle of Time through the alchemy of DNA and consciousness. He brings with him the secret keys to the gates of a sacred land or golden age, meaning a spiraling (spinning vortex) of consciousness as it returns to higher frequencies of light and understanding. DNA, the Tree Of Life is a live vibrating structure, a shimmering, waveform configuration, able to be modified by light, radiation, magnetic fields or sonic pulses.
For thousands of years, the Egyptians conducted genetic experiments in the quest for immortality. Only the pharaoh intermingled with the god as the conduit for all the people in ancient dynasties. That is a very different model than presuming such experiences are universally available to those who engage in the therapeutic process as outlined by Jung and his alchemical metaphors and psychological practices. Who actually comes closer to embodying Osiris -- one who looks from the outside in, or one who by descent looks inside out, literally resurrecting that Osirian essence in their very being by keeping the ancestors alive in this world?
The Opening of the Way
"Osiris" is a Greek name. The ancient Egyptians knew Osiris by the sacred name 'Wasir". Much of what we know about Egyptian religion is the Greek view of their existence. They called Osiris Typhon, "the passionate, titanic, reasonless aspect of the Soul." His adversary Set or Seth was/is the universal principle of destruction and dissolution. We cannot speak of Osiris apart from the rejuvinating processes of Isis (Aset), who complements and completes him.
Only those who live close to nature can unlock her secrets. The Egyptians themselves loved their world so much they considered their whole country a universal temple they wished to perpetuate in the afterlife. Is the perpetuation of an ideal life after death the ultimate? Fraser had a formulaic interpretation of Osiris as a tree spirit and fertility god, a symbol of "dying and resurrecting" plant life of an agricultural society. Mastering nature's secrets meant becoming like a god. But clearly this view, while not inaccurate, is reductionistic.
Color-coded Transformation Cycle
The entire interpretation of dynastic Egypt and the Osiris cult is riddled with Western religious and psychological bias. .Reading a hundred, even a thousand books about it, cannot impart its true essence. E. A. Wallis Budge wrote two exhaustive volumes on Osiris but the fact remains there is virtually nothing in the extant Egyptian records to confirm these scholarly deductions or illuminate their experiential levels. No one can claim to read hieroglyphics forward, backward and inside out for all the sacred symbolism they encapsulated for our ancestors. Looking at a society retrospectively is far from living within it. R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz came far closer to comprehending and describing the esoterics of the Egyptians in all its nuance. His writing "makes sense" of it, not just as a story of long ago and far away. Cavalli's volume makes it pertinent in every nanosecond of our existence.
This "esoterics" has silently morphed over the centuries until it is perhaps unrecognizable as such. Jungian psychology doesn't consider itself esoteric at all, but it is "informed" by hermetics and metaphysics and uses its symbols and metaphors as milestones and benchmarks of the transformative process/goal. But it is precisely active immersion in the "anima-ted" alchemical worldview which binds us to the process. Its wisdom is encoded in the fundamental perceptions of black, red, white, green and gold. The direct perceptual experience of the essential nature of colors can never be transmitted solely by means of definition or narration. Alchemy is a science/art wed to observation.
Alchemy: the Spiritual and the Practical
Alchemy opens the imaginal, the psychic dimension of reality, the realm of depth. The inherent life of all things cannot be distinguished as an "organic" vs. "inorganic" dichotomy. Alchemy practice is now divided roughly into "spiritual alchemy" and "practical alchemy," but the Egyptians had no such artificial divisions. This split was institutionalized by the Jungians to bolster their own interpretation of psychic phenomenology, using alchemical homologues. At best, it is one level of lab work.
Cavalli rightly notes the Egyptians were "concrete" in their thinking, approach, and execution of their rituals. Rituals were recipes, and the Egyptians were "hands on" artificers. Their alchemy was a collective social process, requiring a whole society for its execution. The proto-science of medieval alchemy turned the tables making alchemy an extremely private, even secretive encoded practice in which one experimented upon oneself, physically and spiritually. Its execution was idiosyncratic to some extent. Artists in action seamlessly weld thinking, doing and being, stimulating the creative flow of innovation.
The Egyptians were "artificers," noting the formerly hidden processes of nature, such as dessication and preservation of the body, and emulating nature to speed up the process. They solved their problems with their hands. Their hands were not separate from their hearts and spirit; soul was not separate from body. Their experience of time was cyclic, not linear. Metallurgy, tanning, baking bread, and brewing still had their magic.
They kept their recipes secret, but it was no secret that their Pharaohs were being prepared for immortality, which consisted of preserving the corpse, the soul, and perpetuating their Name by rememberance, throughout eternity. In other words, the bulk of this Great work went on after the ruler left the realm of the living and was conducted by an elaborate support system. At death the pharaoh surrendered to the passive portion of the process, trusting his intention had been set in motion and the universe would conspire to make it so -- forever.
Radical Resurrection in the Womb of Space
The fact that many ancient royals have been retrieved by archeologists and their corpses are still cared for while their names and deeds are noted and sung may be a testament to the continuing power of their heka or magic. In loving their stories, we love them with re-memberance. We perform the sacred act of Isis. Modern conservation constitutes a sort of "second coming" for each mummy, though the cult of academia is quite different from their original priesthood. Their evolving society first merged the individual with the collective, then launched one representative into eternity as an eternal symbol of the merging of individual with universal. Society served the redemptive function of the person who was the social glue of the kingdom. Later, mummification of wealthy but common people emulated this act on a broader scale. The priests developed a cottage-industry, duplicating their Book of the Dead instructions for all who could afford it.
Re-Membering Osiris
What remains the same is that human beings weave imaginal tales about the nature of nature and their experience and dreams. We still stave off our fears of death with hopes of eternal life when the existential fact remains that it is impossible for us to leave the sacred source field that undergirds both our corporeal existence and our hoped for immortalization in the virtual field that is the groundstate of a continuous creation. Physicist
We will never know if their ardent efforts confer some sort of primordial awareness on the Pharaohs or not. We just change form -- and that may be the essence of alchemy. Our alchemy is kept alive by practice and open-ended questions and spiritual questing which keeps the transformative process flowing. The method works if we do. What we derive from it has everything to do with what we put into it.
A Jungian approach is not a requirement for alchemical practice, "spiritual" or otherwise. But is a valid approach with its own coherence. A book of this sort can probably help us articulate some of our experiences. It can also highlight where we might strongly disagree about where to place emphasis and style of practice. Both this resonance and cognitive dissonance add to our self-awareness.
Theory and Practice
None of this reduces the inherent value of Cavalli's book to contemporary souls. He admits he does not take on the burden of unifying Egyptian life conceptually as it is beyond the scope of his practice. The scholarship and points he makes can help us in our daily lives as well as our transformative journey. Analytical psychology is a coherent system that produces objective healing and integrative effects. He suggests Osiris represents the "unconscious." But the process of "individuation" was probably incomprehensible to these ancients, who Cavalli admits had recently been cannibals. In fact, he points out that only an injunction of Osiris prevented that animalistic practice.
The first rule of process therapy is not to "import" foreign notions and symbols into the system, but to facilitate the emergence of inherent metaphors that alone create healing deeper than a "one size fits all" formulaic approach. We deepen the processs through the childhood, ancestral, cultural and cosmological layers of the psyche, kindling the redemptive metaphor, the inner healer.
Remaining true to his profession as an analyst, Cavalli interprets one cult, (Osiris), in light of another, (Jungianism) to illuminate a third -- Alchemy. But whose "alchemy" is it? His "unpacking" of ideas interprets one belief system, with another belief system, calling it a third belief system that has evolved over the centuries to suit its own social, political and scientific environment.
Ultimately, "Jung" can be just another limiting model that conveniently codifies the one process into neat categorical boxes which must be explored via "active imagination". If today's alchemy mirrors this process it is not the fault of our art, but of ourselves -- a failure to launch our unfettered imagination in truly novel ways. Perhaps this is why we can only illuminate our search further by asking more open-ended questions that keep the Mystery if not our individual "Self" alive. Mystery can only be known by gnosis, revelation and grace. Alchemy helps us stand in this Mystery, like an embodied Osiris.
Sacred Knowledge
This Jungian interpretation is a narrative, which is more than fantasy. It is legitimately imaginal, yet its validity may not extended beyond its own cultural context. While Jung's ideas are widely accepted in Western culture, there is no consensus within psychology that his is the correct or only view, anymore than there is consensus in models of physics. The Standard Model is accepted despite its flaws because it "allows us to do work." Jungg's theory has a similar relationship to the science/art of alchemy.
The One World of alchemy remains elusive in both psychology and physics, so we have no unified field theory. What we have are the models that guide our practice. The alchemy of Jung is not necessarily the alchemy of Osiris or Old Egypt; it may not even be representative of contemporary alchemical practice by anyone but Jungians. Further, contemporary lab work may have little in common with the immersive alchemical experience and processes of ancient Egypt that were necessarily tied to their lifestyle.
In Jung's allegedly phenomenological model we are tied to a repertoire of constructs or categories that may or may not relate -- archetypes, individuation, the "Self", psychological transformation. There is dissention among professional therapists about the relevancy or accuracy of such notions, though they have proven themselves invaluable for grasping and experiencing aspects of the unconscious (aka "Osiris"). Certainly "reading the recipe" is not the same as "tasting the dish." But this may not be the alchemy of Egypt despite the nomenclature.
Is Alchemy Psychological?
Cavalli's last work was Alchemical Psychology and now he has written about a "psychological alchemy". What about labwork? Can we really substitute the therapeutic hour for the laboratory? Alchemy isn't only conceptual. Many practioners of the royal art insist that the experimental side of the art must be practiced in order to bring about its transformations by remaining true to the hands-on alchemical spirit. Is it unavoidable that we impose multiple layers of interpretations from alien societies, muddled by foreign worldviews onto the Egyptian foundation?
None of this is a criticism of Cavalli's scholarship, hermeneutics, nor healing methodology. Just as archeologists can only tell so much from digging up artifacts and interpreting archival material, psychologists can do no more. Sometimes it takes a fresh approach, such as DNA genetic genealogy to unravel the secrets of the past. What they discover and reveal may be different, but all interpretations remain subject to revision. Such works may point us in the right direction, but the path itself is necessarily experiential. We cannot fully "embody Osiris" without the realization that he always undergirds our being, just as death informs life in the most fundamental way, giving life its edge and immediacy.
Publisher Press on Embodying Osiris
Embodying Osiris is a Jungian explanation of the great myth of Osiris, ancient Egypt’s venerated Lord of the Underworld and devoted husband of Isis, the mother goddess of wisdom and magic. This book examines the contemporary re-surfacing of Osiris as a psycho-spiritual model for the individual psyche. Cavalli interprets the life of Osiris as being a representation of the three major alchemical stages: the nigredo (black), the albedo (white), and the rubedo (red). In fact, an alternate title for the book could have been the title of his second chapter: “Alchemy, Magic, and Osiris.”
For Dr. Thom Cavalli, the gods did not in fact disappear but instead have been gradually re-emerging as psychological archetypes. Cavalli, a practicing Jungian psychologist, includes actual dream materials and clinical vignettes from his patients to amplify the myth’s content, revealing a means for real-life spiritual transformation. In the myth Osiris is murdered and dismembered by his brother Set, who then scatters the pieces across the earth. But through the incantation of his beloved wife Isis, he is magically resurrected. Osiris brought back from the dead, the pinnacle of this sophisticated allegory, contains purposefully hidden keys.
Seekers who de-code these keys gain access to real-life alchemical transformation. Embodying Osiris unlocks these deep Egyptian secrets, which Cavalli calls "recipes", offering a radical shift in consciousness for readers. In analyzing the myth, we discover a fresh, postmodern interpretation. So instead of asking questions like, "How do we physically prepare our bodies for the afterlife?” today, we ask, “How can we embody Osiris in the modern world?" Cavalli shows us the way through insights gathered from sacred rituals and festivals, such as the Opening of the Mouth ritual, Judgment in the Great Hall of Osiris, the Heb Sed festival, and other facets of ancient Egyptian culture.
The goal ultimately for Cavalli is individual and collective individuation, what Jung calls the conscious realization of one’s full potential. Adopt the wisdom of the Egyptians to journey upwards through the underworld, transcending death as the god who crafts victory from the ground up—Osiris. Cavalli draws on Osiris’s death and resurrection as a guide to spiritual transformation.
The myth represents the joining of the conscious and the unconscious, the light and the dark, life and death, and shows how to live our temporal existence in service to and anticipation of eternal life. Cavalli sees the ancient art of alchemy — which attempted to turn lead into gold — as the key. The alchemical recipe "solve et coagula" (solution and coagulation) encoded in the myth describes the integration of all parts of a person and the method for achieving an experience of immortality in life and eternal life after death.
The Osiris myth thus provides a model for the contemporary quest for individuation, the Jungian term for integrating ego and self, body and soul, in the process of becoming whole. Alchemists see and experience the world as intertwined forces or centers of energy that operate on three levels: the spiritual, the psychological and the physical. Their interaction is the engine of continuous creation that is alchemical transformation. This transformation occurs when we allow ourselves to be open to all three forces simultaneously.
The secrets revealed are actually lost knowledge, an awareness of the process of continuous creation and the critical steps required to apply this knowledge to ourselves. Cavalli equates the Egyptian underworld, a revealing part of this myth, to the unconscious. By doing so, he is able to cast a light on key elements of this lost knowledge and make a significant contribution to the work of Mircea Eliade and others who have explored the creation and transformation process embedded in the myths of Egypt and other ancient cultures.
The heart of alchemical processes is encoded in the phrase: Solve & Coagula. Alchemists are willing to dissolve and recombine, to loosen structures, take things apart and reassemble them in ways that drive growth and transformation. This applies to themselves and they quickly learn that to be reborn parts of themselves must die. The contribution of this book is seeing this truth embedded in the story of Osiris and peeling away the mystery of the myth to leave us with a guidebook for our own growth and transformation.
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6. The Dragons of Serbia
Sacred Mount Rtanj, Home of Serbian Dragons
FAERIES, DRAGONS & WITCH'S BLOOD
In the folk beliefs of the Serbian people are some very interesting myths which tell how some people gained their unusual powers, intelligence, strength etc. Actually, it is believed by the Serbian people that almost every Serbian hero throughout history was a dragon man. That is how people have explained their heroic acts, wisdom and powers. One problem with this identification is that according to witches' myths, witches also explain the origin of their powers and blood lines in the same manner. All people know this, but no one wants to say it out loud as a truth because that wouid be heresy. Witches should not be in the same lineage as cult heroes. This problem becomes even bigger because in Serbia the common name for a male witch, aka a warlock , is a dragon man.
In Serbian mythology we can clearly see that there are at least three different kinds of Dragons. The first kind would be dragons identified with meteors in the night sky; they are considered to be personifications of fire. The second kind are reptile dragons or serpent dragons who are very similar to those we can find in Western Europe legend. People believe they can be very dangerous. In most cases they are winged serpents, but they also have intelligence and they behave similar to dragon-people. Actually they share the same capabilities. The third kind of Dragons are dragon people. It is this kind that we are concerned with here.
One old epic song tells us the following about Heroes and Dragons:
All the Serbian heroes that exist,
All have been brought up by faeries,
And many have dragons for fathers...
According to the myths some of those heroes are known as Mislos Obilic, Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk, Relja Bosnjanin, Banovic Sekula, Banovic Strahinja, Ljutica Bogdan, Kraljevic Marko...
The question is how did those people become dragon people? It could have happened in three ways. The first would be that their mother slept with a dragon. Secondly, their father could have slept with a fairy, or third, a fairy could have nursed (given her breast milk) to the hero when he was a baby.
If someone becomes a dragon-man because his mother was a fairy, or because a fairy has nursed him, then we can clearly see that faeries are female dragons! Actually, in Serbian traditions there are several kinds of faeries. We have, lets say the "little ones" - fairies from nature, protectors of some springs, lakes, trees - as well as "Great Ones, about whom we are talking about here.
According to the old myths the Great Ones are daughters of Adam and Eve whom God cursed and then they became something like semi women very similar to fallen angels in the Book of Enoch. According to some legends they even have animal legs which they keep hidden by their dresses. They have a Queen, whose name is Jerisavlja. Very often people consider that the queen of the faeries is the Forest Mother, and so they nickname her Forest Witch or Great Witch. We can find this association in many old incantations used by people who have tried to contact her. We must emphasize that those faeries (the Great Ones) are not gentle creatures like the ones in pagan fairy tales, but they are very dangerous and have extreme power, magical knowledge, bad temper etc. In many stories we can see them punish a person just because he has a better voice than them or he has simply seen them. Besides this they are sexually lustful and they have a tendency to sleep with young boys, shepherds or warriors. However, they do not like to be married and they do not like family life. Actually, according to myth the only Serbian King who was in a marriage with a fairy was Vukasin, and all of his children were dragon people.
Dragons are sexually lustful too. Even today in eastern Serbia people believe that dragons have a tendency to visit beautiful girls at night. Very often, people believe, such girls gave birth and their baby becomes a dragon man. What nobody talks about is that if a baby is a boy, people will call him dragon man, and if baby is a girl, everybody will call her a witch. What those girls and boys have in common is that both will have magic powers and knowledge, and most importantly they have capability to induce trance in others. Why? Because they are dragons' and faeries' children, so they are just half human. Maybe they look like humans, but their souls and true natures are totally different. Usually people say that only persons with some special capabilities
can see what they really look like when they are in their human bodies, but everyone can see their true form when they leave their human bodies. In most cases their souls were described as being animal in shape or have a mythic animal shape. For instance in one old song it is said that Serbian duke Banovic Sekula resided in a dragon body and had six wings.
From historic data we can clearly see that dragons do not chose girls perchance. Those girls are witches, or they are from witch families. For instance, professor Stevan Dordjevic found in the city archive of Zajecar that people accused one young girl of sleeping with a dragon in the village of Osljan in 1935. She was a witch and famous for fortune telling. Later in year 1946 there was another accusation when people accused the young daughter of the famous male witch Krsta of sleeping with a dragon. In truth, people usually have nothing against dragons and their children, but they believe that it is very dangerous if a dragon stays too long in their neighborhood because he could provoke a drought. The only reason why dragons would stay in one region very long are because of the girls living there.
FAERIES, DRAGONS & WITCH'S BLOOD
In the folk beliefs of the Serbian people are some very interesting myths which tell how some people gained their unusual powers, intelligence, strength etc. Actually, it is believed by the Serbian people that almost every Serbian hero throughout history was a dragon man. That is how people have explained their heroic acts, wisdom and powers. One problem with this identification is that according to witches' myths, witches also explain the origin of their powers and blood lines in the same manner. All people know this, but no one wants to say it out loud as a truth because that wouid be heresy. Witches should not be in the same lineage as cult heroes. This problem becomes even bigger because in Serbia the common name for a male witch, aka a warlock , is a dragon man.
In Serbian mythology we can clearly see that there are at least three different kinds of Dragons. The first kind would be dragons identified with meteors in the night sky; they are considered to be personifications of fire. The second kind are reptile dragons or serpent dragons who are very similar to those we can find in Western Europe legend. People believe they can be very dangerous. In most cases they are winged serpents, but they also have intelligence and they behave similar to dragon-people. Actually they share the same capabilities. The third kind of Dragons are dragon people. It is this kind that we are concerned with here.
One old epic song tells us the following about Heroes and Dragons:
All the Serbian heroes that exist,
All have been brought up by faeries,
And many have dragons for fathers...
According to the myths some of those heroes are known as Mislos Obilic, Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk, Relja Bosnjanin, Banovic Sekula, Banovic Strahinja, Ljutica Bogdan, Kraljevic Marko...
The question is how did those people become dragon people? It could have happened in three ways. The first would be that their mother slept with a dragon. Secondly, their father could have slept with a fairy, or third, a fairy could have nursed (given her breast milk) to the hero when he was a baby.
If someone becomes a dragon-man because his mother was a fairy, or because a fairy has nursed him, then we can clearly see that faeries are female dragons! Actually, in Serbian traditions there are several kinds of faeries. We have, lets say the "little ones" - fairies from nature, protectors of some springs, lakes, trees - as well as "Great Ones, about whom we are talking about here.
According to the old myths the Great Ones are daughters of Adam and Eve whom God cursed and then they became something like semi women very similar to fallen angels in the Book of Enoch. According to some legends they even have animal legs which they keep hidden by their dresses. They have a Queen, whose name is Jerisavlja. Very often people consider that the queen of the faeries is the Forest Mother, and so they nickname her Forest Witch or Great Witch. We can find this association in many old incantations used by people who have tried to contact her. We must emphasize that those faeries (the Great Ones) are not gentle creatures like the ones in pagan fairy tales, but they are very dangerous and have extreme power, magical knowledge, bad temper etc. In many stories we can see them punish a person just because he has a better voice than them or he has simply seen them. Besides this they are sexually lustful and they have a tendency to sleep with young boys, shepherds or warriors. However, they do not like to be married and they do not like family life. Actually, according to myth the only Serbian King who was in a marriage with a fairy was Vukasin, and all of his children were dragon people.
Dragons are sexually lustful too. Even today in eastern Serbia people believe that dragons have a tendency to visit beautiful girls at night. Very often, people believe, such girls gave birth and their baby becomes a dragon man. What nobody talks about is that if a baby is a boy, people will call him dragon man, and if baby is a girl, everybody will call her a witch. What those girls and boys have in common is that both will have magic powers and knowledge, and most importantly they have capability to induce trance in others. Why? Because they are dragons' and faeries' children, so they are just half human. Maybe they look like humans, but their souls and true natures are totally different. Usually people say that only persons with some special capabilities
can see what they really look like when they are in their human bodies, but everyone can see their true form when they leave their human bodies. In most cases their souls were described as being animal in shape or have a mythic animal shape. For instance in one old song it is said that Serbian duke Banovic Sekula resided in a dragon body and had six wings.
From historic data we can clearly see that dragons do not chose girls perchance. Those girls are witches, or they are from witch families. For instance, professor Stevan Dordjevic found in the city archive of Zajecar that people accused one young girl of sleeping with a dragon in the village of Osljan in 1935. She was a witch and famous for fortune telling. Later in year 1946 there was another accusation when people accused the young daughter of the famous male witch Krsta of sleeping with a dragon. In truth, people usually have nothing against dragons and their children, but they believe that it is very dangerous if a dragon stays too long in their neighborhood because he could provoke a drought. The only reason why dragons would stay in one region very long are because of the girls living there.
Pt. 2
Sumerian Tree of Life
(c) 2011, Imperial & Royal Dragon Court; All Rights Reserved
Iona Miller, Editor
Iona Miller, Editor