The Kojiki of ancient Japan

image: Wikimedia commons (link).
 

The Kojiki (古事記) is the oldest surviving chronicle of ancient Japan. 

It contains three sections or books, the first of which recounts the age of spirit-deities (more properly known by the name, Kami) of ancient Japan, including a creation account and the adventures of the first and succeeding generations of gods and goddesses (such as Izanagi and Izanami, shown in the background of the center panel above, and Amaterasu shown at the top of the right panel above). 

The second volume recounts adventures in a heroic age in which legendary warriors, as well as warrior-kings and warrior-queens, battled one another as well as spirits and deities (beginning with the exploits of the first emperor Jinmu, the son of the goddess Amaterasu, who is depicted on the far right of the right-hand panel above, holding a tall bow with an eagle on top). The third book describes successive rulers, lineages, wars and feuds.

The ancient myths of Japan contained in the Kojiki can be conclusively demonstrated to share the same foundation of celestial metaphor which can also be seen at the foundation of all the world's other ancient myths, scriptures and sacred stories, on every populated continent on our planet (as well as the islands scattered across the vast Pacific). 

For example, there is an episode in which a baby is cast adrift by his parents (who are the creator god and goddess Izanagi and Izanami), a story which most closely parallels the story of baby Maui in the myths and sacred stories of Aotearoa and the other Polynesian cultures across the Pacific islands. This story of the baby being cast adrift also of course parallels the story of baby Moses in the book of Genesis in the ancient Hebrew scriptures, as well as ancient legends surrounding the birth of the ancient king Sargon of Akkad, and the story of the birth of Karna (or Karnataka) in the Sanskrit texts of ancient India. All of these stories can be shown to be related to celestial figures, and set adrift in the band of the Milky Way in the sky.

There is also an episode in the Kojiki in which the Kami known as Great Deity has his hair tied to the rafters while he is asleep, by the Kami known as Great-Name-Possessor (see Kojiki volume one, section 23). When Great Deity's heavenly musical stringed-instrument is being carried away by Great-Name-Possessor, the instrument brushes against a tree and lets out a sound so resonant that the entire earth vibrates, awakening Great Deity, who shakes himself with his great strength and brings down the entire house, rafters and all. 

As the authors of Hamlet's Mill point out, there is a direct parallel here to the Old Testament story of Samson, during the contending with Delilah in chapter 16 of Judges, when she is trying to coax Samson into telling her the secret of his great strength. Samson at first tells Delilah various false methods of robbing him of his power (which she immediately tries upon him: if this were actually a literal and historical story, you would think that after two or three examples of her treachery, Samson would learn not to tell Delilah the real secret to robbing him of his strength). 

One of the false methods Samson tells Delilah involves weaving his hair into the web of her loom, which she promptly proceeds to do as soon as he is asleep -- and when he awakens, the ancient text tells us that Samson "went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web" (Judges 16: 14), in a direct parallel to the ancient myth recorded in the Kojiki from half a world away. The authors of Hamlet's Mill point out these parallels regarding pulling down buildings with one's hair on page 172, in the chapter entitled "Samson Under Many Skies."

All of these parallels are very unlikely to have simply popped-up independently of one another in the myths around the world -- the more so because they can all be shown to be connected to very specific constellations in very specific regions of the sky, constellations with features which manifest themselves in the Star Myths of the world by taking on the same familiar patterns over and over again. 

And yet, these constellational features are by no means obvious -- in many cases they are very obscure -- and therefore it is very difficult to argue that very different cultures around the world all decided to settle on the same way of incorporating these constellational features into their myths. It is far more likely that they all belong to some extremely ancient system which lies back of the different cultures of the world, some ancient system belonging to a culture or civilization in extreme antiquity, predating even the earliest Pyramid Texts of ancient Egypt and the earliest cuneiform tablets of ancient Mesopotamia (which can also be shown to be using the same system right from the outset) -- some forgotten ancient origin situated so far back in time that today we have no record of its existence.

Another ancient myth of Japan which is recorded in the Kojiki is an example of the "failed rescue from the land of the dead," which is also a familiar myth-pattern which shows up in many other cultures in lands very far removed around the globe and separated by vast oceans from the islands of Japan. The great goddess Izanami is burned to death while giving birth to the Swift-Burning-Flame-Child, and Izanagi buries her atop a mountain (he also grasps his awesome sword and cuts off the head of the Burning-Flame-Child). 

Later, Izanagi cannot bear to be without her, so he goes down to the underworld to ask her to come again and help him in the unfinished work of the lands of the world that they were creating together, but she laments and tells him that he is too late -- she has eaten of the food of the underworld and can no longer return (this is a clear parallel to the story of Persephone in the myths of ancient Greece: its celestial import is addressed in Star Myths of the World, Volume Two, which is all about the myths of ancient Greece).  

Then, Izanami tells Izanagi that she still desires to go with him, but that she must go discuss the matter with the deities of the underworld -- and warns him sternly that he must not look back at her if she is allowed to follow him. As in so many other manifestations of this pattern around the world, of course, Izanagi fails to heed her warning, and he breaks off one of the end-teeth of his comb which he carries in in his piled-up topknot of hair and lights this broken-off tooth as a torch. He is horrified to find that Izanagi is rotting and swarming with maggots -- and he flees in fear, as she sends out beings of the underworld to pursue him (the episode is described in the Kojiki, volume 1 and section 9).

This pattern, of the failed underworld rescue, repeats itself around the world, such as in the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in ancient Greece and in the story of Balder in the Norse myths of ancient Scandinavia. There is also a Lakota myth about an encounter with a powerful spirit-being named White Buffalo Woman which contains some parallels to the episode in the Kojiki. 

Just like all these other patterns found in the myths of ancient Japan which appear in the myths of other cultures around the globe, this one too can be shown to be based on the stars. In this particular version of the "failed underworld rescue," Izanagi is almost certainly associated with the figure of Hercules in the heavens. The details of the comb, and the torch which he makes from one of the teeth of his comb, are clues to that (as is the fact that the constellations Hercules and Virgo are sometimes paired in ancient myth, and probably represent Izanagi and Izanami, the first two Kami, while Izanami is still alive and before her descent to the underworld):

Another major clue regarding the celestial identity of Izanagi, of course, is his irresistible "ten-grasp sword," which is a weapon that strongly suggests a correspondence with the constellation Hercules in the sky. We have seen in our examination of numerous other Star Myths that Hercules-figures in the world's myths often carry a powerful club, mace, sword, or even thunderbolt. 

In this episode from the Kojiki, Izanagi draws his ten-grasp sword to cut off the head of the final child he has with Izanami, Swift-Burning-Flame-Child (who is so fiery that Izanami dies after giving birth to him). In the star-chart above, we see that Bootes is almost certainly the Burning Boy to whom Izanami gives birth, and we see the menacing figure of Hercules just behind Bootes, preparing to cut off his head with his massive sword. This detail from the story pretty much confirms beyond doubt that Izanagi is associated with the powerful constellation Hercules.

After Izanami goes down to the underworld, however, she rots and becomes covered with maggots. There are many Star Myths from around the world in which the multi-headed, serpentine form of the constellation Scorpio is described as a worm or a mass of worms (including in the Popol Vuh of the Maya of Central America, as discussed in Star Myths of the World, Volume One). In this particular version of the "failed rescue from the land of the dead" as it appears in the Kojiki, Scorpio almost certainly plays the form of Izanami, after she has descended to the underworld.

The detail about "not looking back" which is found in virtually all of the "failed rescue from the underworld" myths around the world is also connected to a specific constellation -- the constellation Sagittarius. As can be seen from the outline in the star-chart above (the outline suggested by H. A. Rey in his indispensable system of outlining the constellations), Sagittarius very clearly appears to be "looking back" over its shoulder (towards the right, as we face the diagram above) while walking the other way (towards the left, as we face the diagram above).

This is why, in the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus is said to look back, and Eurydice disappears back into the realm of Hades when Orpheus looks. Note that Orpheus is renowned for his divine skill in playing the lyre and singing -- and the constellation Lyra the Lyre is located just beside the form of Hercules. Orpheus is almost certainly associated with the constellation Hercules (and with the Lyre), except when he descends to the underworld in order to try to rescue his beloved Eurydice, at which point he takes on the role of Sagittarius, looking back when he should not.

It should be abundantly evident that these myths did not pop up independently of one another all over the world -- they are part of a shared ancient system, based on the stars.

One of the most important of the sacred stories in the Kojiki, the account of the sun goddess Amaterasu retreating into a mountain after being offended by her impetuous brother Susanowo (or Susa-no-o), and having to be coaxed back out by the assembled gods and spirits, is also treated at some length in Star Myths of the World, Volume One. 

That story, too, can be shown to be based upon the constellations in the heavens -- and it too has its parallels around the world. Not only does the story of Amaterasu have parallels in the solar figure who withdraws for a time and has to be coaxed back (see Achilles in the Iliad, for example), but also in the "obscene dance that makes a female figure smile," which is again found in the myths of ancient Greece (in one of the stories surrounding the myth of Demeter and Persephone, when Baubo causes Demeter to laugh with an obscene dance) and in the Norse myths (in the story of Skade or Skadi, when Loki causes her to laugh with an obscene performance). Some discussion of the celestial elements of that story can be found in a previous blog post here.

There are actually many other episodes in the Kojiki which can be shown to be based upon the same world-wide system of celestial metaphor -- and to have parallels to other Star Myths around the world (including episodes described in the Bible). 

In fact, I would argue that it would be very difficult to properly interpret the Kojiki at all, without some understanding of its foundation in the system of celestial metaphor. There are episodes and events in the Kojiki which are extremely confusing and even nonsensical without the understanding that they are actually allegorizing specific constellational features. Some of the episodes in the Kojiki are so obscure or unusual that I myself have no idea of their celestial interpretation, even though I have now become very familiar with these patterns and have looked at a great many myths from around the world. 

Nevertheless, there is obviously plenty of evidence that the myths of ancient Japan related in the Kojiki and other sources share the same ancient system of celestial metaphor which underlies the other myths and sacred stories found around the world.

It is very unlikely that the myths related in the Kojiki were influenced by the stories in the Bible, or in the Greek myths, or in the Norse myths. As we have seen, the parallels are not just with one culture but with many cultures, all of them very remote and separated from Japan by great distances (we've just witnessed evidence that some of the Kojiki episodes discussed above include parallels to the Bible, to the myths of ancient Greece, to the myths of ancient India, to the myths found among the Polynesian cultures stretched across the vast Pacific, to specific episodes in the Popol Vuh of the Maya, to events in the Norse myths, and to a sacred story from the Lakota of North America). I believe it is far more likely that the ancient myths of Japan, as with all the other world's ancient myths, have very deep roots, stretching back to some now-forgotten source of incredible antiquity.

As such, they are part of the precious inheritance of ancient wisdom which was given to mankind by some now-unknown benefactor to whom we should be extremely grateful -- and they form another very important body of evidence that should be seen as uniting us all.

Welcome to new visitors from Skeptiko -- and to returning friends!

Thank you to Alex Tsakiris for having me over to Skeptiko: Science at the Tipping Point for a conversation about Star Myths and humanity's ancient past.

Skeptiko takes its name from the ancient Greek philosophical school which held that everything should be questioned and that certainty and dogma often function as a dangerous trap or mental prison (according to some traditions, the school was influenced by contact with the sadhus of ancient India). The Skeptiko website proclaims its ambition to:

Follow the data . . . wherever it leads. Explore the possibility that science-as-we-know-it might be at a tipping point. Engage the top thinkers in pointed discussions about the questions that matter most. Treat all guests with respect.

These are worthwhile goals, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to engage in "pointed discussion about the questions that matter most."

Alex skillfully guided the conversation in a direction that examined some aspects of the Star Myth theory that do not always come up in other interviews on the subject -- I hope you will find it to be thought-provoking and enjoyable, as I did.

Here is a link to listen to the interview in your browser.

Here is a link you can use to download the interview file (you can "right-click" or "control-click" and then select "download linked file as . . . " in order to save the file to a folder and then transfer it to a device such as an iPod or other mp3 player).

In the future, the interview may also appear on YouTube; if so, I will link to that video here as well.

Also, there are a series of images referred to during our conversation, beginning at about 55:00 into the discussion. Those images are shown below (at the bottom of this post).

The following are some links to further reading about some of the subjects discussed in this interview, for those interested:

• The paradigm-shifting constellation-outlining system of H. A. Rey.

• The "dining-room table" mental model for understanding the rotation of the constellations throughout the year.

• The fundamentals of the language of the worldwide system of celestial metaphor which can be shown to form the basis of virtually all of the world's ancient myths, scriptures and sacred stories.

• The celestial foundation of the Samson myth (and see also the video here).

• The crucial concept of your Higher Self, found in many myths around the world, and its relation to practices such as meditation (and to the message of the Bhagavad Gita).

• Some of the important ramifications of the discovery of Gobekli Tepe.

• Evidence that the constellation system used by the world's myths is extremely ancient, contrary to the assertions of some naysayers and "debunkers."

• Extensive evidence that the current conventional paradigm of humanity's ancient history is gravely flawed.

• Evidence in the world's myths for a lost ancient civilization.

• The evidence that an ancient cataclysm or catastrophe may have played an important role in the destruction of much or all of that lost ancient civilization (or civilizations). 

• Some of my thoughts on the "ancient aliens" hypothesis (and also see here).

• Evidence of an ancient conspiracy in the works of Josephus.

• Sample content from the books published so far in the Star Myths of the Worldseries, as well as my other publications.

• Exploration of selected Star Myths from around the world.

This interview was recorded on December 08, 2016.

Images used in the interview for reference (this part of the discussion begins at about 55:00 into the conversation):

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image 6:

"A blueprint that sits behind creation"

Above is a remarkable and very helpful presentation from a master teacher of Daoist arts and inner alchemy, Damo Mitchell (see websites here and here and bios here and here).

A number of extremely notable points jump out from this discussion, worthy of careful consideration.

Some which strike me as especially noteworthy include the explanation of the nature of jing (Cantonese pronunciation zing, "essence") beginning at 04:45 in the clip, in which Damo Mitchell explains that jing not only functions as the base and foundation for the "Three Treasures" of jing, qi      (氣 Cantonese pronunciation hei, "breath," "vital energy") and shen (神 Cantonese pronunciation san, "spirit"), but that jing itself originates in another realm of existence which is not physical, material or tangible (contrary to common misunderstanding). 

He explains:

Your jing is a frequency, a substance, an information that sits behind the realm of existence. It is not physical; it is not tangible.

He further tells us (beginning around 19:15 in the clip) that:

Jing, your essence, is a blueprint that sits behind creation -- ok, so it is not physical, it is not a thing I can grab, it's not a substance: it's an intangible information source that sits behind manifestation of physical matter. So, just like shen (your spirit) is not something you can grab, qi (your energy) is not something you can grab (it's an information source in the body), your jing is also not something that is tangible.

And further, following directly from the above, Damo Mitchell explains that jing is traditionally understood as the "fuel" which sees you through your path in life, or ming(命 Cantonese pronunciation meng). 

With this understanding of the vital importance of jing, we can better appreciate the emphasis -- present in the virtually all of the manifestations of ancient wisdom preserved in the myths, scriptures and sacred stories of humanity -- on the cultivation of practices which enhance jing, and the avoidance of habits and activities which deplete it.

As Damo Mitchell also explains in the remarkable video above (beginning around 27:00 in the clip), practices which are understood to enhance the quality of our jing are grouped under the label of Yang Sheng Fa (養生法 literally "nourish-life-law" or "nourishing-life-principles;" Cantonese pronunciation joeng saang faat). 

These, he explains, can simply be translated as "healthy living" and include getting enough sleep (but not too much), not smoking or eating unhealthy foods, maintaining balance in terms of food, rest, and intake of alcohol -- all things that people commonly resolve to do at exactly this time of year, when we observe another circle around the sun and the beginning of a new calendar.

In addition, Damo Mitchell explains beginning around 29:30, is maintaining balance in the mind -- for which he recommends twenty minutes a day of calm, relaxed seated observation of the breath. This may be a practice you want to consider incorporating into your own daily life in 2017!

Another important aspect of the above video is Damo Mitchell's discussion of the esoteric Daoist chart known as the Neijing Tu or 內經圖 -- literally the "internal warp diagram" (Cantonese pronunciation noi ging tou). This discussion begins at around 23:30 in the clip -- and continues throughout the remaining discussion.

This chart, which is discussed in greater depth in his books on Daoist internal alchemy or Nei Dan, specifically depicts the inner energetic landscape of a man or woman in terms of the external landscape of the mountains, streams, and fields -- not only providing us with a conceptual metaphor to aid our understanding, but also implicitly teaching us that our individual situation is intimately connected to the wider cycles of our planet and of nature, and even to the larger cycles of the heavens.

As Damo Mitchell writes in Heavenly Streams (2013):

It is an interesting characteristic of existence that life repeats itself on every level. That which takes place within the wider macrocosm of the universe is directly reflected within the microcosm of the human body. The same force which dictates and directs the movements of the stars and planets also shifts various energies within the human mind and body. This force is known as Qi and without it life in all its various forms would cease to exist. The ancient cultures of the world understood this intrinsic link between human beings and the wider environment. The Daoists were no exception and all of their many arts, practices and philosophies are based upon this rule of micro and macro systems. The ancient Daoists studied the shifting energies of the skies above them and grew to understand how all life upon Earth not only relies upon the movements of heaven but also how it matches it on every level. 22.

These are powerful concepts and, as the author points out in the above-cited passage, clearly present in virtually all of the world's ancient wisdom traditions -- which I believe to share a common, now-unknown, source. 

The fact that the world's ancient myths, scriptures and sacred traditions are closely related is strongly argued by the evidence that virtually all of them can be shown to share a common esoteric system of allegory to convey their profound knowledge, a system based upon the awe-inspiring motions of the sun, moon, visible planets, and stars and heavenly cycles (heavenly motions which are reflected in the cycles on our earth and within our own self as well).

Even the ancient traditions of Daoism or Taoism can be shown to share important aspects of this world-wide system of celestial metaphor, even though the way these metaphors manifest themselves in Daoist texts and tradition have a very different feel from some of the more elaborate myth-systems with extended pantheons of gods and goddesses, and elaborate and adventure-filled myth-traditions such as those we find in the Mahabharata of ancient India or the Iliad of ancient Greece or the stories of the Norse gods and jotuns or the adventures of the hero-twins in the Popol Vuh.

As I discuss in Star Myths of the World, Volume One (for example), the character of Laozi (sometimes rendered as Lao Tzu or Lao-tse in the Latin alphabet) is almost certainly related to the same system of celestial metaphor found in the world's other myths and sacred traditions. For instance, he is said to have dictated the Tao Te Ching as he departed into the west, through a gate, while riding upon a water buffalo or an ox -- all of which can be seen as celestial in nature (below is a famous painting of Laozi riding on his ox):

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

The Tao Te Ching itself explores deeply the endless cycles and unfoldings and passings and unfoldings of the "myriad things," which are allegorized in all of the world's esoteric myth traditions using related metaphors involving the heavenly cycles -- including the cycle of the year with its endless interplay of light and dark.

In many of these ancient myth-systems, for instance, there is a great battle between opposing forces representing the upper and lower halves of the great wheel, such as in the conflict at Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata (and the Bhagavad Gita), or the conflict between the Achaeans and the Trojans before the walls of Troy. Many of these involve precessional imagery as well (as the Odyssey of ancient Greece clearly does, and as the descriptions surrounding the day of Ragnarrok of the Norse myths does as well).

Laozi riding off into the west on the back of an ox clearly invokes the same metaphor, with the departure of an ox or water buffalo invoking the end of the precessional Age of Taurus.

But note also that the very name of the Old Master to whom the authorship of the Tao Te Ching is traditionally ascribed should also alert us to the fact that this ancient tradition employs the same esoteric system found in the other ancient myths in which the cycles of the cosmos in which we find ourselves embody and depict the interplay between the invisible, energetic, divine Other Realm and the physical, material, Visible Realm which unfolds out of that Other Realm and remains intimately connected to it at all times.

Lao Tzu or Laozi's name is composed of two Chinese characters, 老子, the first of which means "old" or "old man" (pronounced lou in Cantonese and actually used as an informal title of respect or affection when placed in front of the family-name, as in "Old Man Jones"), and the second of which means "child" or "son" or "scion" (pronounced jai in Cantonese, such as in the famous 1981 Hong Kong kung fu movie 敗家仔 which is usually rendered, somewhat loosely, as Prodigal Son in English).

The fact that this name is almost certainly related to the heavenly cycles is immediately apparent from the illustration below, in which I have placed the two characters which make up Laozi's name upon a New Year's postcard from 1910 showing the common tradition of depicting a youthful "Baby New Year" replacing the Old Year, who is depicted as an old man:

image: Wikimedia commons (link); Chinese characters for "Old Man" 老 and "child"子 added.

The symbolism, of course, comes from the fact that on a great circle or cycle, and endpoint of one cycle is also simultaneously the beginning of another one. We can see this truth being explored in the Tao Te Ching, and its discussion of the endless unfolding and folding-in-again of the "myriad things." In the scriptures of the Bible (both Old and New Testaments), we see a similar concept in the discussions of  the last who becomes the first, and in "the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

I have also published some discussions in the past of the fact that the legends surrounding the figure of Bodhidharma (whose name becomes Da Mo 達摩 in China and Daruma in Japan) can be shown to be based upon the same system of celestial metaphor which underlies virtually all of the other ancient myths and scriptures preserved by humanity around the globe.

Note that both Laozi and Da Mo are depicted near the top of the Neijing Tu diagram (the version in the White Cloud Temple in Beijing to which Damo Mitchell makes reference can be seen here -- many other later paintings and charts based upon that one can be found on the web).

Thus, such symbology would seem well-suited to the task of conveying the understanding of the principle by which that which "sits behind creation" or "behind the realm of existence" comes to manifest in the realm of physical matter, as Damo Mitchell describes it in the above video and in his writings and teachings. Note the important part of Damo Mitchell's video in which he explains that the traditional or classical terms and concepts seem to be far more helpful for conveying this information to our understanding, and for developing higher levels of mastery in our practice, than attempts to "intellectualize" or "westernize" the descriptions of the transformations taking place in the Daoist arts.

This discussion also seems to be appropriate for this particular time in the year, when we observe the end of one year and the beginning of another -- often accompanied by resolutions concerning habits and practices we want to incorporate during the upcoming year, in hopes of manifesting something in our lives.

I would humbly submit that some of the practices which Damo Mitchell writes about and teaches about, and discusses in the video above, might be good candidates for "resolutions," if you're so inclined! We should be grateful for teachers and sages who are willing to share their knowledge with us about such things.

I would like to again extend my wishes for a Happy New Year to everyone and blessings in 2017!

Thank you and Happy New Year 2017

image: CPAK 2016, Rancho Mirage, California.

A big thank-you to everyone who joined me in any way in 2016, whether by reading this blog or by listening to an interview on a podcast or even by attending the Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge in southern California from September 30th through October 2nd. Thank you for choosing to take some of your time to engage with some of the areas that I've been exploring -- I'm grateful for your "voyaging along" with me on this journey we are all taking as we cross the stormy sea of this life!

Thank you also to everyone who has bought books, or requested that their local library or school library put one or more of them on the shelves -- I hope that they have been worth while and made a positive contribution in some way to your thinking or your life. This year saw the publication of Star Myths  of the World and how to interpret them, Volumes Two(Greek Myths) and Three (Star Myths of the Bible).

And of course a special thank-you must go out to everyone who has sent along encouragement, support, comments and suggestions, whether in person at the conference or through the electromagnetic spectrum, through various web forums and platforms. I very much appreciate your feedback and look forward to continuing to engage in conversations about the important subjects of ancient wisdom, and our modern situation! 

Big appreciation as well to Graham Hancock and team for inviting me back to the "Author of the Month" forum for the month of March, 2016, and to Walter Cruttenden and the organizers of the Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge for having me attend as a speaker at this year's CPAK, which was a truly unique and mind-expanding weekend in the desert and a real highlight of the year (here's a brief write-up that I published afterwards). I made some wonderful new friends each time.

Welcome to the New Year and to everyone visiting for the first time in 2017, as well as to returning friends! I'm grateful to be on this journey with you and look forward to exploring more of the mysteries of the stars and the ancient wisdom left to humanity this year with you, and am happy that we're "crossing paths" on the way!

On a small planet, orbiting a special star, in one of the arms of this majestic galaxy, the inhabitants are observing the completion of another circle. Image: Wikimedia commons (link).

                                          Happy New Year!

Below are some links to podcasts from 2016:
 

Lost Origins -- recorded April 23, 2016.

Where Did the Road Go? -- recorded July 16, 2016.

Earth Ancients -- recorded August 13, 2016.

The Higherside Chats -- recorded October 18, 2016.

The Deekast -- recorded October 29, 2016.

Where Did the Road Go? (second time) -- recorded November 19, 2016.

Alchemy -- recorded November 22, 2016.

Stay tuned for more conversations in 2017!  World Peace _/\_

Souls do not die

image: Wikimedia commons (link). 

One of the most important insights which runs through the analysis of Alvin Boyd Kuhn is his understanding, based upon his reading of the Egyptian Book of the Dead and of ancient philosophers such as Plato, Euripides, and Plotinus (among others), that the condition described in the ancient texts and myths as death actually refers to the soul's condition when plunged into the realm of matter during this incarnate life -- a point missed by almost all modern scholars and researchers of ancient myth, who have perhaps been misled by nearly two centuries of literalistic interpretation of ancient wisdom: literalistic interpretation which has missed the metaphor entirely.

In Lost Light (1940), Alvin Boyd Kuhn writes:

We have the whole idea most tersely expressed in the Gorgias of Plato:
"But indeed, as you say also, life is a grievous thing. For I should not wonder if Euripides spoke the truth when he says: 'Who knows whether to live is not to die, and to die is not to live?' And we perhaps are in reality dead. For I have heard from one of the wise that we are now dead; and that the body is our sepulcher, but that the part of the soul in which the desires are contained is of such a nature that it can be persuaded and hurled upward and downwards."
[. . .]
The great Plotinus (Enneads I, lviii) gives us a clear presentment of the Greek conception:
"When the soul had descended into generation (from this first divine condition) she partakes of evil and is carried a great way into a state the opposite of her first purity and integrity, to be entirely merged in it . . . and death to her is, while baptized or immersed in the present body, to descend into matter and be wholly subjected to it . . . This is what is meant by the falling asleep in Hades, of those who have come there." (Lost Light, 160 - 161).

The entire symbology of the great wheel of the heavenly cycles, such as the annual cycle of the year, whose renewing we celebrate at this time following the December solstice, allegorizes the endless interplay between light and darkness. We might initially think that the plunge down into the "lower half" of the year, when hours of darkness dominate over hours of daylight, would represent "death and the underworld" -- and they do! But in the ancient system, as explained by Alvin Boyd Kuhn, the concepts of "death" and the "underworld" are representative of this very life in the lower realm of matter and incarnation:

As Kuhn explains elsewhere: "Here is philosophical testimony that negates the existence of any hell or underworld below life in the body. Any observer of human life knows that it is possible for the soul to fall to the most abject baseness while in the body. We are in the lowest of the hells -- Amenta" (204).

Based upon this interpretation, Kuhn believes that the descriptions of "judgment" which ancient scriptures such as the sacred texts of ancient Egypt and of the Bible depict as taking place after death are actual describing a process which takes place during this incarnate life-- during which we are supposed to be working on our "spiritual body" or our "robe of light and glory" (576 - 577). This is a process which, according to the ancient wisdom imparted in the myths, is not accomplished in a single lifetime, but rather in a long cycle of incarnations (see 199 - 200).

According to Kuhn's analysis of the ancient myths, "Incarnation was regarded as a continuing experience, the periodical rhythm of release from the body no more breaking the sequence of lives than does our nightly sleep break the continuity of the experience of the days" (161). 

The indestructibility of the soul through the cycles of incarnation is attested to by many ancient texts. As Alvin Boyd Kuhn describes the imperishable soul in one memorable paragraph in Lost Light: 

It was on earth to trace its line of progress through the ranges of the elements and the kingdoms, harvesting its varied experiences at the end of each cycle. It was described by greek philosophy as "more ancient than the body," because it had run the cycle of incarnations in many bodies, donning and doffing them as garments of contact with lower worlds, so that it might treasure up the powers of all life garnered in experience in every form of it. The mutual relation of soul to body in each of its incarnate periods is the nub of the ancient philosophy, and the core of all Biblical meaning. As the Egyptian Book of the Dead most majestically phrases it, the soul, projecting itself into one physical embodiment after another, "steppeth onward through eternity." No more solid foundation for salutary philosophy can be laid than this rock of knowledge, and civilization will flounder in perilous misadventure until this datum of intellectual certitude is restored to common thought. 41.

Alvin Boyd Kuhn believes that the symbology of the ship of Ra in ancient Egypt corresponded to the eventual transcendence of this cycle of incarnation -- and that it is constructed in the "inner sanctuary" of each man or woman during those cycles.  Kuhn writes:

It is evident that the tabernacle which the Eternal ordered Moses to build, in which he might dwell with his children, the Israelites, and eventually be raised up, is but another form of typism for the inner shrine of the sanctuary, the holy of holies in the ark of the covenant. And this in turn is depicted under the water emblemism as the ship of the sun, or the boat of Ra. The exchange of passengers from the boat of Horus to the ship of Ra betokened the successful completion of the incarnation cycles. It was the index of their new birth, which was not now that of water. [. . .] The material of the ship of Ra is imperishable stuff, formed out of the indestructible essence of solar light. Imprisoned for many incarnations in the tabernacle of the flesh, we finally are released from it, to pass over into another temple of shining glory, our true spirit body. One of the great purposes of our coming into the world is to build this fabric. When it is finished we exchange our house of darkness for this vessel of light. This is most plainly indicated in a sentence on a Chaldean tablet: "O man of Surippak, son of Ubarratutu, destroy the house and build a ship." A house is stationary, bound to a given locale. A ship is mobile. In the glorious vesture of the sun-body the soul of man can traverse all realms and worlds with electric alacrity. When the Osiris obtains command over the upper sea he exclaims: "Collector of souls is the name of my bark. The picture of it is the representation of my glorious journey upon the canal." 411.

Through these incredible symbolic allegories, the ancient myths given to humanity (at some point in extreme antiquity, predating the earliest texts of Egypt and Mesopotamia) endeavor to convey to our understanding the nature of our sojourn here in this incarnate life -- and to assure us that the soul does not die: its "periodic release from the body no more breaking the sequence of lives than does our nightly sleep break the continuity of the experience of the days," as the soul "steppeth onward through eternity."

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

The Three-Day Pause

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

The earth has now passed the point of December solstice, which is the winter solstice for the northern hemisphere, and the hours of daylight will begin to grow longer each day as the sun's path across the sky begins to arc higher and higher above the southern horizon (for viewers in the northern hemisphere).

However, as discussed in the preceding post, there is a kind of "hang time" at each of the solstices, as the sun is "reversing its course" from proceeding "downwards" (lower in the sky, and further and further south in its rising and setting points) to proceeding "upwards" (higher in the sky, and further and further north in its rising and setting points).

It is a kind of "pregnant pause" -- full of anticipation -- when the sun's azimuthal rising direction barely changes at all (as opposed to the equinoxes, when the direction to the sun's rising point on the horizon is changing by a full degree every couple of days; see the discussion in this previous post).

As discussed in my 2014 book The Undying Stars on page 75, the significant pause before the sun's rising point can be seen to start moving back towards the north is almost certainly the reason for the celebration of the Nativity at the point of midnight three days after the date of the winter solstice -- midnight on the 24th of December, at the very beginning of the 25th of December (following the arguments of Robert Taylor in his lectures on the Star of Bethlehem, published in The Devil's Pulpit in 1857). 

The point of midnight for an observer standing on the side of the globe turned away from the sun (the night-side of the globe) marks the sun's "lowest point" on its journey each day, and thus the point of its "rebirth" when it turns back towards its highest point (which it will reach at noon each day). Thus, midnight at the very lowest part of the year (winter solstice) would mark the very nadir of the annual cycle -- the point where the sun will finally begin to move back the other direction, and thus the point of renewal and new birth, once each year. 

Hence, the point of midnight on the 24th marks the end of that three-day waiting period after winter solstice. 

But right now, we are in that "three-day pause," when all the world is metaphorically still -- in breathless anticipation.

Alvin Boyd Kuhn, some of whose insightful discussion of the esoteric significance of winter solstice was cited in the preceding post, has much to say about this "period of waiting" in which we presently find ourselves. If, as we argued in that preceding post, the great stations of the heavenly cycles were seen as having deep spiritual significance, representing the interplay of matter and spirit which is present at all times and in all points in the simultaneously spiritual-and-physical universe around us, and within us as well, then this point of waiting represents a kind of "place of equilibrium" between the opposite tensions of matter and spirit. 

Alvin Boyd Kuhn explains:

But the December solstice yields a harvest as bountiful as that of the equinox and the horizon. It shows soul at the nadir of its dip into matter, and all its implications bear immediately and weightily upon the human situation. [. . .] At equinoxes light and dark are equal in quantity and sovereignty. But at the solstice the two powers are stabilized for the period, albeit in unequal relation. [. . .] Heraclitus adds a most pertinent observation: "The harmonious structure of the world depends upon opposite tension, like that of the bow and the lyre." Stability is gained only by the mutual annulment of two opposite forces. The planets swing in fixed orbits because of the exact counterbalance of centrifugal and centripetal energies. 

The significance of the solstice (the word meaning "sun standing still") lies in the fact that for the time both light and darkness stand still in relation to each other. The basic feature is motionlessness. Neither is losing or gaining. They are stabilized. [. . .] So the Christ was born in a stable. 475 - 477.

In a sense, as Alvin Boyd Kuhn implies throughout this discussion, this significant three-day pause is representative of our condition during our entire incarnate life. We stand, he says, at the point where "soul has made its deepest descent into matter, having taken actual residence in a body of animal flesh" (476). That solstice, Kuhn declares, "covers the period of human evolution" (476; it is my understanding that Kuhn usually employs this term to mean "spiritual evolution" through the cycles of reincarnation).

Later, he catalogues a host of other passages in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, as well as in the Egyptian Book of the Dead (often called "The Ritual" by authors from earlier centuries) which incorporate a similar reference to a three-day pause:

Many of the myths contain a hiding or seeking of refuge for three days or three months. In Joshua Rahab the harlot, who sheltered the two Israelite spies, hurried them off with instructions to get away to the hills and "hide themselves there for three days till the pursuers return." A clear intimation of the resurrection on the third day is seen in an Egyptian text which runs: "I will arrange for you to go to the river when you die, and to come to life again on the third day." Here again water types the incarnation and it is also figured as a death [in other words, the text is not talking about physical death of the body but rather about incarnation in a body, which is metaphorically "figured" as a kind of "death"]. In speaking of the re-arising of the dead Pepi, the Ritual says: "Pepi is brought forth there where the gods are born. The star cometh on the morrow and on the third day. Mary searches for Jesus for three days as Isis sought the hidden Horus. In Matthew 15: 29 -32, Jesus takes compassion on the multitude that followed him into the desert "because they continue with me three days and have nothing to eat, and I would not send them away fasting." The three days' fast is emblematic of the three "days" in the bleak underworld without the sustenance of the solar light, the divine bread of life. In the story of the dismembered concubine in Judges 19, previously noted, the girl's father detained the husband three days. With the reference to Herod, Jesus enjoined his followers to "Go tell that fox, Behold I cast out devils and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." Then there is his memorable declaration: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. But he spake of the temple of his body" (John 2: 9) -- and obviously of his spiritual body. The thunder and lightning that emanated from the summit of Mount Sinai at the Eternal's appearing to Moses came "on the third day in the morning." The manifestation of the Lord's glory on the mountain was anticipated by Moses, who had been instructed to go to the people and tell them to "consecrate themselves to-day and to-morrow; let them wash their clothes and be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Eternal will descend upon the Mountain of Sinai in the sight of all the people." Joshua told the people to prepare food, for within three days they would cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land. And they remained three days on the banks before crossing the river. 404 - 405.

Thus, this darkest time of the year, when we wait as if in a state of suspended animation for the motion that had been plunging inexorably downward to reverse its course (and we can almost hear the deep rumble of mighty gears grinding at this great pivot), in fact becomes a metaphor for our entire life here in the body -- when we feel ourselves plunged down into matter, and yet we are aware of the equal tension pulling us toward our Higher nature at the same time.

As Alvin Boyd Kuhn says elsewhere: "The candle flame, drawing up and transmuting into its own glorious essence of fire the lowly elements of the animal body of the candle (animal tallow), is the grand symbol of this transfiguration of essence which soul works upon lower body" (Who is this King of Glory? page 466).

These are beautiful images, provided in the various stories from around the world which contain the ancient wisdom given to all humanity in extreme antiquity -- images which we can take time to meditate on during this symbolic and deeply significant point in the year, when all the universe seems to pause at this lowest point of the great cycle.

Winter Solstice, 2016

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

We are rapidly approaching the exact point in earth's orbit around the sun when the north pole is pointed most directly away from the sun of any point on the circuit.

This point, one of the two solstices in which the earth's axis of rotation is pointed either most directly towards or most directly away from the sun, marks a great "turning point" in which the progress of the sun's rising and setting along the eastern and western horizons ceases to march further and further southward or northward and begins to move back in the other direction. 

For those in the northern hemisphere, where angle of the obliquity of earth's axial tilt has been causing the sun to rise further and further south along the horizon, and to arc lower and lower across the sky above the southern horizon (and to stay above that horizon for a shorter and shorter duration as the arc gets lower and lower), the December solstice marks the point where the sun's progress will turn back around and begin rising further and further towards the north, and arc through the sky along a higher and higher path again (making days begin to grow longer as the arc-line rises higher and higher above the southern horizon, keeping the sun above the horizon for a progressively longer amount of time on the way back to summer solstice).

The process of halting and turning around seems slower than the amount of change in position along the horizon that is detectable at the time of the equinoxes. The sun's progress at its rising and setting points along the eastern and western horizon seems to linger or pause at the solstices, before turning back around -- hence the etymology of the word solstice itself, which indicates "sun" and "station," a place where the sun pauses and its progress along the horizon seems to be "stationary."

The reason that the sun's rising point moves very slowly at the solstices (when it is turning around) and in fact seems to pause during the turnaround itself -- as opposed to the equinox points, when the sun's motion is basically whizzing along the horizon and moving a full degree every couple of days -- is easily understood by envisioning the earth as an old-time sailing ship, with the bowsprit representing the north pole and the lantern at the stern representing the south pole, as discussed in this previous post from back in 2011 (the diagrams are pretty "low-tech" but should help to illustrate the concept).

The importance of the solstice points -- and the point of December solstice in particular -- is evidenced by the numerous ancient sites around the globe which contain solstice alignments in their construction, and which continue to this day to mark out the endless cycle of the sun's movement "down" towards the point of winter solstice and its pause and turnaround at the point of lowest descent at the bottom of the year itself.

The importance of the solstice turnaround is also preserved in the world's myth, which incorporate clear celestial allegory to such an extent that they can accurately be described as being completely built upon the cycles of the sun, moon, and stars -- which is why I refer to them collectively as "Star Myths."

However, while the importance of the points of solstice and equinox is well known and widely acknowledged (and is indeed undeniable, given the numerous sites with celestial alignments, going back to some of the most ancient sites we know of today), the reason why the solstices and equinoxes were considered so important is not necessarily well understood.

The most common explanation you will hear or read will be some variation on the idea that "less-technologically advanced early humans" were overawed by the mighty forces of the physical universe and sought to appease them through various rituals, and that later as agricultural technologies developed, people needed to be able to track the seasons for the purpose of planting and harvesting, and continued to imbue the motions of the sun and the other heavenly cycles with deep reverence and religious feeling, because they knew that the crops and thus all life are completely and utterly dependent on the sun for sustenance. If the sun didn't "turn around" at the winter solstice, but instead kept moving lower and lower towards the horizon, daylight would eventually be swallowed up by night-time and all life as we know it would cease to exist.

While all of the above assertions about the awe-inspiring majesty of the natural world and the celestial realms are in fact true, and while the importance of the sun to all life on earth, and the absolute dependence of all life on the sun's cycles (and the importance of that "turnaround") are equally true, I am convinced that it would be wrong to assume that the prominence of the solstices and equinoxes in the world's ancient sacred sites, and the world's ancient sacred myth, can be completely or even correctly understood using the conventional explanations, most of which are variations of the description in the previous paragraph.

I agree with Alvin Boyd Kuhn (1880 - 1963), one of the most perceptive and insightful observers of the allegorical system employed in the world's ancient wisdom as conveyed in myth, that these great cycles were employed esoterically in order to represent spiritual realities -- realities having to do with things unseen, but vital to our understanding of our own simultaneously material-and-spiritual nature, and to our understanding of the simultaneously material-and-spiritual cosmos in which we find ourselves.

In an essay entitled Easter: The Birthday of the Gods, discussed in this previous post, Kuhn presents arguments and supporting evidence that the ancient esoteric system allegorized the interplay of light and dark displayed in the cycles of the earth's daily rotation and in its annual orbit around the sun (as well as in the circuits of the moon and other heavenly bodies) as representative of the interaction of matter and spirit, and interplay between the visible and invisible realms at every level in the universe and within each man and woman as well.

Of the descent towards the winter solstice, and the great turning-point at which the plunge finally reverses after pausing at the point of lowest descent, he writes:

Using solar symbolism and analogues in depicting the divine soul's peregrinations round the cycles of existence, the little sun of radiant spirit in man being the perfect parallel of the sun in the heavens, and exactly copying its movements, the ancient Sages marked the four cardinal "turns" of its progress round the zodiacal year as epochal stages in soul evolution. As all life starts with conception in mind, later to be extruded into physical manifestation, so the soul that is to be the god of a human being is conceived in the divine mind at the station in the zodiac marking the date of June 21. This is at the "top" of the celestial arc, where mind is most completely detached from matter, meditating in all its "purity." 

Then the swing of the movement begins to draw it "downward" to give it the satisfaction of its inherent yearning for the Maya of experience which alone can bring its latent capabilities for the evolution of consciousness to manifestation. Descending from June it reaches September 21, the point where its direction becomes straight downward and it here crosses the line of separation between spirit and matter, the great Egyptian symbolic line of the "horizon," and becomes incarnated in material body. Conceived in the aura of Infinite Mind in June, it enters the realm of mortal flesh in September. [. . .]

Then on past September, like any seed sown in the soil, the soul entity sinks its roots deeper and deeper into matter, for at its later stages of growth it must be able to utilize the energy of matter's atomic force to effectuate its ends for its own spiritual aggrandizement. It is itself to be lifted up to heights of cosmic consciousness, but no more than an oak can exalt its majestic form to highest reaches without the dynamic energization received from the earth at its feet can soul rise up above body without drawing forth the strength of the body's dynamo of power. Down, down it descends then through the October, November, and December path of the sun, until it stands at the nadir of its descent on December 21.

Here it has reached the turning-point, at which the energies that were stored potentially in its seed form will feel the first touch of quickening power and will begin to stir into activity. At the winter solstice of the cycle the process of involution of spirit into matter comes to a stand-still -- just what the solstice means in relation to the sun -- and while apparently stationary in its deep lodgment in matter, like moving water locked up in winter's ice, it is slowly making the turn as on a pivot from outward and downward to movement at first tangential, then more directly upward to its high point in spirit home. So the winter solstice signalizes the end of "death" and the rebirth of life in a new generation. 4- 5.

Elsewhere, Kuhn explains that the above allegory also relates to the concept of "second birth" -- the spiritual birth, which follows at some turning-point which is necessarily reached many years after the physical birth into our material body. This explains, according to Kuhn's insight, why so many myths seem to involve the concept of two mothers -- one associated with our birth into the physical body, and the other associated with the "rebirth of life" at the point of our "turning upwards," which begins at the point which is esoterically connected with winter solstice.

For an example of the two-mother motif, see the famous Judgment of Solomon from the ancient Old Testament book of First Kings, discussed in this previous post and in a video which I posted on the web here. This episode, and its clear celestial correlations and spiritual import, is discussed at greater length in my most-recent book, Star Myths of the World, Volume Three (Star Myths of the Bible).

Another example of the two mothers can be found in the account of the birth of Samuel, related at the beginning of the Old Testament book of First Samuel, where we meet the two wives of Elkanah, whose names are Peninnah and Hannah. At first, Peninnah is able to bear children, but Hannah is not (I Samuel 1: 2). It is only much later, and by the granting of her petition by the Almighty, that Hannah conceives a child, as described in I Samuel 1: 17 - 20.

In fact, verse 20 of that ancient text actually says "Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD" (and the margin note explains that the derivation of the name Samuel is "Asked of God").

Mentioning this episode briefly in his essential 1940 text Lost Light, Alvin Boyd Kuhn argues that the second clause in the above verse (translated here in the 1611 King James Version as "when the time was come about") can be understood as meaning "At the turn of the year she bore a son" (Lost Light, 479). And, indeed, a margin note in the King James translation admits that the Hebrew text at this point actually translates more literally as saying "in revolution of days."

Alvin Boyd Kuhn's assertion that this revolution point (literally "turning-again" point) refers to the great turning-point of the year is reinforced by the very name of the second mother herself, in this story. Alvin Boyd Kuhn points out that the name Hannah is cognate with Anna-- and that this name itself makes reference to the great circle of the year, and has come down to us in modern languages in all the words relating to a year, such as annual.

Kuhn writes:

And another clear intimation of solstice purport hides in the story of Hannah and the relief of her barren condition through the birth of God's prophet Samuel: "At the turn of the year she bore a son." 479.

Note that this story clearly works as an illustration of the concept of a spiritual birth which only takes place some time well after the physical birth. In the story, Peninnah is described as bearing children long before Hannah does, and Hannah only conceives when God grants her the petition she has asked (I Samuel 1: 17), and after the text specifically states: "and the LORD remembered her" (I Samuel 1: 19). Peninnah is clearly associated with the physical or natural birth and Hannah with the spiritual and miraculous birth, which is only possible through the divine power from the divine realm.

From this example we can see quite clearly that the great turning-point of the year was associated with a deep spiritual analogy, having to do with spiritual matters and not merely with the turning-around of the sun to bring back life and crops on earth in a physical sense.

Nor is it correct to argue, as conventional scholars often do, that the more basic and fundamental conceptions came first (arguing that early humans may have started off with "more primitive" rituals to help the sun turn back around, for example) and then  developed in later centuries into more and more subtle and spiritual understandings (about the awakening of our own spiritual nature, for instance). As  the incredibly perceptive Alvin Boyd Kuhn argues in yet a different place, the understanding of the higher world must have been understood in great depth and thoroughness before such an incredible system of esoteric metaphor could have been designed in order to convey it!

He says:

Reflection of the realities of a higher world in the phenomena of a lower world could not be detected when only the one world, the lower, was known. You cannot see that nature reflects spiritual truth unless you know the form of spiritual truth. And such knowledge would be an a priori requirement to making the comparison at all! Lost Light, 72.

To argue the other way around, as conventional advocates of the "primitive humans becoming more sophisticated over millennia" try to do, would be akin to arguing that the amazing Montessori teaching devices known as the binomial cube and the trinomial cube were conceived and designed by someone who knew nothing of the function of binomials and trinomials, and then it was later discovered that the wooden cubes that they had built just happened to function perfectly as allegorical representations of higher algebraic concepts!

Thus, as we approach this winter solstice (which takes place at 5:44am Eastern time in North America on the morning of the 21st), you may wish to take the time to consider the profound spiritual message which we grasp in relation to this great revolution-point or turning-again point of the year, symbolic of the awakening of our awareness of our spiritual nature and our connection to the Infinite and Invisible World, which is actually all around us at all times and deep inside of us as well.

And, as we seek to integrate this reality into our lives, there are practices which we can consider incorporating into our own daily motions, if at all possible, including disciplines such as Yoga, meditation, Chi Gung, or many others which have been preserved since ancient times in cultures where the connection to this original knowledge was not lost or stamped out.

As Hannah shows us in the events of I Samuel 1, this second birth comes through earnestly desiring and seeking, and by gracious blessing from the divine realm.