Archive for ancient astronomy influence

Ancient Source of Savior Birth Myths

Posted in Astronomy, Atheist, belief, Hebrew scripture, prehistory, random, religion, scriptures with tags , , , , on December 10, 2014 by chouck017894

Teachings from prehistory times, as often noted in these postings, once actually taught scientific principles regarding how creative energies involve and amass to manifest as matter and life. These ancient lessons were presented using the panoramic stellar universe itself to illustrate the lessons, and this practice was the origin of identifying select groups of starts (constellations) with names which suggested some imaginary figure which is outlined with those stars. Unlike faith systems teaching methods of today that manner of instruction encouraged an active imagination and a questioning mind.

Even into Roman Empire times there were those among the aristocrats and literati who still had access to fragments of those teachings and which were regarded as ancient even then. Virgil, the Roman poet (70-19 BCE), for example, knew of those ancient teachings, and his mysterious work the Cumaean Prophecy, his pastoral poems completed in 37 BCE. drew upon that knowledge. For example, a line within this literary work has puzzled scholars for generations, and some imaginative Christians have even suggested that it foretold the birth of Jesus. The line from Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue of the Cumaean Prophecy reads: “Now a new race descends from the celestial realm…” More inventive scholars today have even dared to suggest that it indicates that unethical extraterrestrials had imposed physical and mental alteration upon an unwary virgin Jewish female. Virgil’s famous Fourth Eclogue did indeed happen to celebrate the birth of a child who was destined to usher in a new Golden Age. But that portrayal was inspired from the four ancient lessons which were once given with constellation Cancer, and those lessons referred to that energy involvement as Astral Matter.

The ancient lessons drawn upon by Virgil, which utilized constellations as illustrations, had taught a scientific explanation of energy developmental processes which involve/evolve as Creation. Out of these self-generating energies (out of the quantum or virginal void) there is created the energy-identities which progressively assume matter form. Thus Virgil’s refered to line states that such an identity “…descends from the celestial realm” is an acknowledgement to those ancient teachings. It is at this point of energy development which is amassing as a matter form that the responsibility for refinement of those creative energies is taken up by each matter form. The evolutionary potential is thus held within each energy form which involves with self-aware consciousness, and this is the factor that can, and eventually will usher in the “New Golden Age.” All this is mentioned here to show the influence which ancient star lore contributed to the rise of all the “savior” gods of various faith systems such as Mithras (Persian), Tammuz (Babylonian), Attis (Phrygian), Odin (Norse), Krishna (Hindu), Indra (Hindu), Jesus (Christian), and others.

Other story features which always accompany the savior myths of those various faith systems were also presented in Virgil’ Eclogues, for they all portray a “divine” being entering, or passing over into the matter plane from the same primordial conditions which had been taught with the four lessons once given with constellation Cancer. In those prehistory times astrological (celestial) lore was always a passion of shepherds for the simple reason that shepherds spent so many long nights beneath the celestial canopy, and so it is valid that shepherds always served as the heralding elements in the many myths which tell of guiding stars, angels and savior births. The features in all these various savior birth myths were therefore constructed upon pastoral conventions, and because of this the myths focused on shepherds, their good-natured banter, love songs, dirges, and singing matches.

One of the galactic clusters (constellations) within the Cancer grouping of stars which were known to the ancients is today listed in astronomy texts by the name Praesepe, from the Latin pra, meaning “before”, and sepire, meaning “to fence” (fence in), and this came to be misleadingly translated into “manger.” It is because there are so many small clustered stars in this celestial location that this group was known in ancient times as the Manger. From this we have the story feature that Jesus was born in a manger. Two nearby stars are also associated with the Manger, which are often used to mark the eye of the Crab, symbol of Cancer, and these stars are known among astronomy buffs as the donkeys. This comes from the ancient reference to these stars as the Celestial Asses or later known as the Ascelli Asses. In prehistory times the lessons given with the Celestial Asses symbolized the involvement of primal energies upon which self-aware consciousness is carried–or passes over–into this limited energy plane of visible matter life forms.

All the varied faith system myths concerning savior birth are based upon those prehistory cosmological/creation lessons. As an example, the ancient Egyptian myth makers fashioned the red-haired, ass-eared god Set, brother and opponent of Osiris (who symbolized self-renewing energies) upon this star-illustrated lesson. Roman myths tell of Bacchus, god of grape growing, and Vulcan, god of fire, riding upon an ass to their destiny. Orphic myth tells of Dionysus, god of wine and fertility, riding to his matter-fate upon an ass. Indeed, all prehistory Pagan cultures had stories of gods, demigods or saviors in which they were portrayed as riding upon an ass to meet their matter-destiny. Not so coincidently, Jesus is also pictured as riding into Jerusalem upon an ass on his way to his higher transformation.

Other star groups which were interconnected in these ancient lessons given with constellation Cancer concerned energy involving as matter are known to us today as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, commonly referred to as the Great and Small Dippers. In those prehistory lessons these two constellations were known as the Greater Sheepfold and the Lesser Sheepfold–a fold referred to a pen or enclosure in which young sheep were confined to await their release into the pastures of life.

So the Pagans were not exactly the dunces as organized faith systems have chosen to systematically malign them. No, those Pagans who are routinely looked down upon were not Jews or Christians or Muslims. But they were exceptionally spiritual and recognized that the spirit of Creation was active not only within themselves but within every defined thing within the visible universe. They, not us, had the benefit of the unknown sages who had taught our ancestors with the use of star patterns the scientific principles which encode the Life Principle and which is within all life forms. And drawing upon the twelve major constellations and their three neighboring constellations as illustrations (forty-eight in all) the entire spectrum of Creation and humankind’s higher potential had been more inspirational and scientifically explained to them. How unlike today’s cult-like by-the-book faith systems which choose to obsess over petty differences.

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Ancient Moon/Brain Analogy

Posted in Atheist, belief, freethought, history, nature, Pantheism, prehistory, random, religion, thoughts with tags , , , , on November 9, 2011 by chouck017894

Often noted in these web postings is the fact that the science of astronomy in the ancient past played a central role in presenting spiritual teachings.  For example, in prehistory cultures the Moon, or Luna, served as a fitting symbol for the enlightened mind.  Their reasoning was astonishingly insightful and testified to a committed study of Earth’s celestial companion as well as a keen observation of the workings of the human brain.  The Moon was understood by our “primitive” ancestors as symbolically embodying the negative principle by which man receives mental discernment, for neither the Moon nor man’s brain shed their own light, but only reflect what they borrow from a higher source.

The Moon was regarded as the material symbol of the receptive principle which is at work throughout Creation, and which enfold the attributes of mental discernment.  In conjunction with this, the Earth itself was, for obvious reasons, the common symbol for the human species.  The Moon/Earth relationship presented an active illustration of how man absorbs the light of wisdom.  In that distant timeframe it was known and taught that the Earth revolved about the Sun, and from this scientific knowledge of the electric relationship of these two spheres the electromagnetic activity centered in the brain could be demonstrated.

The prehistory sages observed in the phases of the Moon a repeating review of the creative powers that are eternally at work.  The cyclic enactment of the “dark of the moon,” or when the Moon passes into the shadow of the Earth, for example, was seen to symbolize life issuing out of the void.  The new moon phase, of course, is not new; it is simply an illusion caused by a dense matter object (Earth) moving in its cyclic pattern and temporarily blocking the light that the Moon reflects from the source.

Earth in its rotation about the Sun will periodically turn from that source of light, and consequently bring upon portions of itself periods of non-illumination.  This seemed to the prehistory sages to act as an illustration of humankind’s repeated lapses of attention in regard to respecting the sustaining power of Cosmic Intelligence.  In ignoring our relationship with the rest of Creation, humankind obliges itself to depend upon the reflected light which intellect offers, just as the Moon reflects the light offered by the Sun.  This analogy is itself remarkable wisdom when we consider that without the light of the Sun to give purpose to the Moon’s presence (visibility), the Moon would be virtually invisible to our sight.

Like the Earth in its turning, half of a person’s human nature receives illumination while the other half rests in apparent darkness (non-awareness of self).  Even so, the resting mind continues to retain and maintain its identity within the cosmic panorama, and the enlightened mind perceives itself as rising again—like the new Moon—above the horizon of self-awareness to dispel the dark.

To those prehistory sages every phenomenon of the Moon’s appearance, just as every feature of Nature, held symbolic expression.  The first quarter of the Moon was seen by them as having issued from its conjunction with the fecundating principle of life.  Luna was therefore seen as typifying the gestation attributes of Nature, the first quarter of the Moon’s increasing light representing to them first growth—and the issuance of higher wisdom.

It is for this reason that the crescent new Moon was often used on the robes of Pagan-age wizards, priests and priestesses.  This is the reason also why it is regarded as the symbol of the goddess honored by Witch-Nature covens.  And this accounts, too, why the crescent new Moon came to be held as the attribute of Christianity’s Virgin Mary.  Certainly the New Testament texts offer no reason to associate Mary with the Moon.  That association was brought into Roman Catholic thought during the Middle Ages.  The waxing Moon had stood as a symbol of the young maiden from the most ancient times from a belief that the waxing phase of the Moon was connected to a maiden’s menstruation period.  In Pagan interpretation the three phases of the Moon—waxing, full, and waning—served as the receiving representative of intellect, thus it was regarded as a feminine aspect.  These three phases were consequently presented as maiden, mother, and crone.  Christian myth makers chose to ignore the “crone” part, of course.

The Moon, as a passive receiver, was adopted in ancient times as a goddess figure, and the three aspects became a trinity mystery.   In various ancient cults this triple aspect came to represent the “Great Mother,” and in this capacity was often referred to as the “White Goddess.”  This triple aspect is adored by many in Witchcraft.  This is the background upon which the Virgin Mary came to be associated with the waxing Moon.

Knowledge once known to the most ancient known culture, the Sumerians, became fragmented long ago.  Somehow those prehistory scientists knew that the Moon held no atmosphere.  And they regarded the Moon to be a separate and independent member of the solar family, not some satellite of Earth.  The folklore that grew around that ancient knowledge stated that when energies were forming as our solar systems’ planets, an invading planet-sized object interacted with this planet’s unstable material.  That “battle” thus accounted for a smaller portion breaking away from the unstable mass which would become Earth.  That chunk that broke away then lost its primal atmosphere and radioactive elements, causing it to shrink in size.  Drained of its elements, and thrown from the orbital pattern established by the forming planet Earth, it became the companion of Earth, sharing its orbital neighborhood.

Abridged from The Shiny Herd.

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Concealed Background of Scriptures

Posted in agnoticism, Atheism, Atheist, belief, Bible, culture, faith, freethought, Hebrew scripture, prehistory, random, religion, thoughts with tags , , , , , , , on February 1, 2011 by chouck017894

Long before the Hebrew scriptures were crafted in 7th century BCE Jerusalem, the nomadic Hebrew tribes were clearly influenced by older cultures they touched upon during their wanderings across the ancient Near East.  In their extended wanderings, often across barren regions, the creative powers that other cultures personified as gods were more easily comprehended by them as a singularly harsh deity that was grudgingly supportive.  Not surprisingly, tribal leaders found it politically convenient to insinuate that they embodied some supernatural connection to that power, and the concept of a priest-like go-between was the accepted custom. 

Centuries later when the nomadic Hebrew tribes had wandered with their herds into the more agricultural region of Canaan, the rank of priest was virtually one and the same as tribal leader.  Even in the more advanced cultures that the Hebrew tribes touched upon—cultures such as Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria—were commonly presided over by priest-kings.  The more prosperous Hebrew tribes that had settled in the northern regions developed into the kingdom of Israel as the southern secondary Hebrew tribes tended their flocks and herds in the more rugged hill country.  But the northern kingdom of Israel fell to Assyrian invasion, and the priests in the little 7th century BCE village of Jerusalem, fearing a similar fate, threw their lot in with the young tribal leader Josiah who dreamed of bringing the scattered tribes of the south into a cohesive society.  To aid and abet Josiah in this ambition, the priests of Yahweh embarked upon a propaganda program to not only inspire allegiance of the people but to intimidate any neighboring cultures that entertained any ideas of taking control of the territory of Judah.

In the process of composing a “history” for their tribal region and the cult of Yahweh, the priests drew upon two teaching devices that they had collected (but little understood) in their wanderings and which were regarded as ancient even then.  One was astronomy-inspired teachings of Sumerian origin that once used  groups of stars (constellations) to illustrate lessons of creation and cosmology.  These astronomy-based educational props were referred to as “logi.”  The second device drawn upon was a text known as Ha-Qabala —a set of guide lines better known today as the Cabala or Kabala.  This is commonly, but erroneously, said to be an occult mystical philosophy of rabbinical origin, which became widely transmitted in medieval Europe.  But the analytical eminence upon which the Ha-Qabala later became interpreted in that medieval timeframe pre-dated any esoteric rabbinical interpretation of the Hebrew scripture.

There is a claim among Cabalists, undoubtedly with much justification, that a kind of religious metaphysics  was taught by word of mouth among some of the Tannaim—i.e. the earliest theology-shapers of Judaism.  Certainly oral instruction preceded the invention of writing.  Not generally known among Bible scholars is that the opening book of the Bible, Genesis, was originally presented in cabalistic script.  The key to cabalistic script lies in understanding the code that was used, which involved the use of graphs derived from twenty-two proper names and which correspond to numbers, symbols and ideas.  The difficulty in translating from this original code was formidable, for the cabalistic presentation of twenty-two proper names did not simply designate identifiable things: the names were regarded as being the things themselves!  This is difficult for most of us to comprehend who are trained in the A-B-C approach to teaching.  We do not use words that have an ontological link with the essence of the object that the words specify.  That is to say, the words that we use do not emanate from the objects that are designated.  An example is the opening line of Genesis; in the schemata of the cabalistic Genesis the words are: Bereschyt Bara Elohim.  From this the Yahweh priests interpreted “In the beginning God…”

Ancient Cabalistic insight was not concerned with any specific persons, nor was it concerned about the history of any group of persons.  Neither did that insight embrace the notion of a humanlike discriminatory god.  The Cabalistic texts from which the priests worked was encoded with names such as Aleph, Bayt, Ghimel, etc., and these pertained to projections of biologically structured energies at various stages of manifestation.  In other words, the Creation process.  The ontological connection with names taken from the Ha-Qabala reveals a startlingly different understanding of Creation than the Yahweh priests interpreted it.  The subject is too vast to be adequately covered here, but consider these few names from the Ha-Qabala texts as examples of how priestly translations perverted the scientific significance of the complicated texts.

Moses:  The Cabalistic name from which the star of the Exodus tale was derived is traced to Mosheh, properly spelled Mem-Sheen-Hay. The Mem part of the name refers to water—the waters (energies) of Creation.  This was altered in priest translation to mo, the Egyptian word for water, which strengthened the association of the character to that earthly locale.  The kingdom of Egypt in the Exodus saga symbolizes the power and abundance that is the generative source of Creation.  The Sheen part of the name means “breath,” and  implies the stirrings of life which emanate from those primal energies.  The Hay part of the name referred to the activation of life.  The biblical character of Moses therefore personifies the Life Principle in its movement through the elemental energy dimensions to manifest as matter form.  The energy involvement as matter is thus presented as the destined “Promised Land.”

Abram/Abraham:  To understand the Cabalistic meaning with these two adjusted names, we have to first look at the ram part of the name.  The ram component carries the crucial meaning of “Cosmic Dwelling”—or what may be interpreted as the non-manifesting conditions out of which all diverse energy forms of matter are projected.  Thus Ab-ram (or Av-ram) indicated the stage of primal energy development out of ram, so Abram represents the Life Principle at the level of cosmic action.

For this reason the priests of Yahweh declared Ab-ram to be the seed bearer—the biological regeneration factor that is carried into manifestations of life.  These energies evolve and transform as matter forms of life, and this transformation was indicated in scripture with the character’s name being changed from Ab-ram to Abraham.  It is at this point that the four skins of matter are initiated (mental, astral, etheric and dense energies).  In the priest contrived “history,” Abraham is then characterized as a fervent, unquestioning believer in Yahweh.  The Ha-Qabala, however, stated only that the manifested life form recognized its energy alliance with the Life Principle.  This is what is declared by the priests of Yahweh to be God’s covenant with Abraham.  But to advance beyond the imperfect stage of dense matter development, the four energy dimensions from which a matter form is made manifest (the four skins of matter) must be transcended (cut around), and it is from this Cabalistic teaching that the practice of circumcision was instituted as a condition of Jewish faith.

Ararat:  The mountain upon which the scriptural character of Noah is alleged to have landed after the Deluge is given as Ararat, a name derived from a Cabalistic name that vibrates in meaning as “new cycle.”  Noah is depicted as riding upon the waters of Creation into a new cycle of energy involvement that is represented as having taken place over forty days.  This disguises the involvement with, and passage through the four elemental energy planes that manifest as matter—identical with the four energy planes mentioned with Abram-Abraham.  Thus in scriptural myth Noah’s ark was launched upon Creation’s waters to navigate out of timelessness to become grounded upon the peak of matter where a new energy cycle is begun.  The scriptural version then asserts that Noah planted a grape-vine, made wine (of life), and became drunk (intoxicated with life) all in the same day after he landed!

These few examples of the prehistory astronomy knowledge and the Cabalistic source material used to manufacture a “history” of ancestors of the Judaic faith system provide reason for Jews, Christians and Muslims to reevaluate their “holy words;” and maybe reconsider their contentious relationship to each other.

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