MONA LISA - MON EL ISA
ONE GOD JESUS
Monday, December 13, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
JOHN ADEPT: MYTHOLOGY FOR A NEW GOLDEN AGE 2 of 7
Annuana, the judges of the underworld surrounded her
They passed judgment against her
Inanna was about to ascend into the underworld
When the Annuana, the judges in the underworld seized her
They said: "No one ascends from the underworld unmarked
If Inanna wishes to return from the underworld
She must provide someone in her place"
- Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer
by Diane Wolkstein, Samuel Noah Kramer
ORION, THE ORI-JOHN-EL
Admired in all historic ages as the most strikingly brilliant of the stellar groups, lies partly within the Milky Way, extending on both sides of the celestial equator entirely south of the ecliptic, and so is visible from every part of the globe. Catullus transcribes Oarion from Pindar, shortened Arion, and sometimes to Aorion; the derivation of the word has been in doubt, but Brown refers it to Akkadian Uru-anna, the light of Heaven, originally applied as the sun, as Uru Ki, the Light of the Earth, was to the moon; so that our title may have come into Greek mythology and astronomy from Euphrates.
The Syrians knew it as Gabbara; the Arabians as Al Jabbar, both signifying "The Giant", gradually being turned into Algebra, Algebaro and especially in poetry, Algebar, which Chilmead gave as Algibbar. In early Arabia Orion was known as Al Jauzah, a word also used for stars in Gemini and much, but not very satisfactory, discussed as to it's derivation and meaning in its stellar connection. It is often translated Giant, but erroneously, for it, at first, had no personal signification. Originally it was the term used for a black sheep with a white spot on the middle of the body, and thus may have become the designation for the middle figure of the heavens, which from its preeminent brilliancy always has been the center of attraction. Some think that the belt stars, known to the Arabs as the Golden Nuts first bore the name Jauzah either from another meaning of that word, - walnut; or because the lay in the center of the splendid quadrangle...or from their position on the equator, the great central circle. The title subsequently passing to the whole figure.
Now Geuze signifieth a Wall-nut; and
perhaps they allude herein to the Latine word
Jugula, by which Festus calleth Orion;
because he is greater than any of the
other constellations, as a Wall-nut is
bigger than any other kind of nut.
-Robert Hues
In Egypt, as everywhere, Orion was of course prominent, especially so in the square zodiac of Denderah as Horus is in a boat surmounted by stars, followed by Sirius, shown as a cow, also in a boat; and nearly three thousand years previously had been sculpted on the recently discovered step temple of Sakkara, and in the great Ramesseum of Thebes about 3285 BCE as Sahu. This twice appears in the 'Book of the Dead';
The shoulders of the constellation Sahu;
and
I see the motion of the Holy constellation, Sahu.
A similar title but of Akkadian origin, appeared for Copernicus. Egyptian mythology in the constellation the soul of Osiris, as it did in the star Sirius that of Isis; again in the 'Book of the Dead' we read: "The Osiris N is the constellation Orion"; in this connection, Orion was known as Smati-Osiris the barley god. The giant generally has been represented with back turned toward as, and face in profile, armed with a club, or a sword, and protected by his shield. Saturnus has been another title, but it's connection I hazard to guess that as this divinity was the sun-god of the Phonecians, his name might naturally be used for Uruanna-Orion, the Akkadian sun god.
The leading deities of the Babylonian pantheon were the four creating gods controlling the four major components of the universe; the sky god An, the earth god Ki, whose name was changed in the course of time to Pinhursag: Queen of the Mountain, the air god Enil, who gradually became the leader of the pantheon, and the water god Enki, who also came to be designated the god of wisdom. Among the other more important deity were the moon god Nanna; his son, the sun god Utu, and his daughter Inanna, the goddess of the morning and evening star, known to the Semites as Ishtar. There was also a group of sky gods known as Anunna, some of whom seem to have fallen from grace and have been carried off to the underworld.
In Babylonian 'Epic of Creation' discovered by George Smith in 1872, the signs were Mizrata, a very similar word appears for the Milky Way, generally supposed to be the original of the biblical Mazzaroth; Mazzaloth being the form used in the targums and later Hebrew writings. This word, although uncertain of its derivation, may come from the root meaning "to watch", the constellations thus marking the watches of the night by coming successively to the Meridian.
Another name with the Jews for zodiac was Galgal Hammazaloth, the circle of signs. Flavious Josephus surmised that the twelve stones in the breastplate of the high priest might refer to the twelve zodiacal constellations. Philo Judaeus Christoph Fredrich Schiller, in 'Die Piccolomini', thus alluding to the ancient opinion as to its sacred character:
'Twelve! twelve signs hath the zodiac,
five and seven,
the holy numbers include themselves in twelve:'
In Arabia the zodiac was Al Mintakah al Buruj, or "the girdle of the signs". In Greece it was called the "twelve parts" but, Aristotle called it the 'circle of animals', the signs before Libra was introduced being all of living creatures. The German 'Teirkreis' has the same signification. Proclus called it, "the Oblique Circle", that originally was for the ecliptic. In Rome, it commonly was 'Zodiacus'; the orbis of Ciceros De Divinatione' and orbis signiferus, or circulus signifier. Milton, in 'Paradise Lost', thus accounts for the obliquity of the earth's axis, as if by direct interposition of the creator:
Some say he hid his angles turn askance
The poles of earth twice ten degrees or
From the Sun's axle; they with labour push'd
was bid turn reins from equinoctial road
like distance breath to Tau rus with seven
Atlantic sisters, and the Spartan twins,
Up to the tropic crab, thence down amain
By Leo, and the virgin, and the scales
As deep as Capricorn, to bring in change
of seasons to each clime.
Pope in his 'Essay on Man', called it the divisions were the houses of the sun, and the monthly abodes of Apollo. Dante Aligheri, 1265-1321, designated it, "the oblique circle which conveys the planets" and called it Rubecchio, the Tuscan word for mill-wheel (Mill-KEY, Mill-CHI WHEEL or Milky Way) whose various cogs were represented by the various signs, an image often made use of by the great poet.
The Rig Veda of India had:
The twelve spoke wheel revolves around the heavens
720 Children in pairs [360 days and 360 nights]
abide in it.
And again:
The fellies are twelve: the wheel is one:
With it are collected 360 [spokes]
A common title for it in India was Rasi Chakara. In England, the Venerable Bede, 673-735, substituted the eleven apostles for eleven of the early signs, as the Corona Seucirulus Sanctorum Apostlorum, JOHN THE BAPTIST fitly taking the place of Aquarius to complete the circle.
JOHN, JANUS, AND GEMINI CONNECTION
Duality is a basic binary quality of all natural processes in so far as they comprise two opposite phases or aspects. When integrated within higher context, this duality generates a binary system based on the counterbalanced forces of two opposite poles. the two phases or aspects can either be symmetrical or asymmetrical, successive or simultaneous. The gates of heaven and hell which the Latins associated with Janus, can be taken to symbolize a binary system.
Gemini, as the third sign of the zodiac, these heavenly twins take on the general significance of all symbolic twins (in that they are both divine and mortal, black and white), but Gemini acquire the additional significance of a characteristic phase of the cosmic process as symbolized in the wheel of transformations: the moment in which pure creative forces (Aries and Taurus) is served in two parts, in such a way that one side of dualism is elevated but the other descends into the multiplicity characteristic of phenomena.
Marius Shneider has made a profound study of the Gemini-myth in megalithic culture, showing that it has two tendencies, one white; the other black; one creates the other destroys; both these characteristics are indicated by the arms of each of the wins, which in landscape symbolism , are identical to the river of youth and the river of death.
The Gemini represents creative nature (natura naturans) and created nature (natura naturata), and this duality is sometimes illustrated in tales by a being that wears a mask, or by Protean being capable of turning into a giant, a man or an animal. In medicinal rites, by virtue of their double but constant nature, are both the doctor and - more particularly- the invalid, as is borne out of legend and in myth- the Parsifal story, for example Jean Arthur Rimbaud unknowingly alluded to this duality when he remarked that the poet is both the great invalid and the seer.
At times, two conceptions of the Gemini can be distinguished (as in the parallel myth of the primordial and androgynous being); the heavenly twin expressive of opposite, fused together and integrated into oneness (represented by the spherical or perfect being); and the 'earthly twin' displaying the break, the split (as in two-headed Janus, or triform Hecate, etc.), that is opposites in conflict or at least in dissidence. There is a third aspect, which, is that of the individuation or 'splitting' of the 'double being', but this has to do with the existential order and not the mythic. As a result of the dynamic tendencies of all contradictions, the phenomena becomes a system of perpetual inversions illustrated, for example, in the hourglass which turns upon its own axis in order to maintain it's inner movement; that of the sand passing through the central aperture - the 'focal point' of it's own inversion. The Gemini in essence a symbol of inversion, in its dynamic aspect of opposites.
According to the megalithic conception- and here we are following Shneider- the mountain of Mars (or Janus) which rises up as a mandorla of the Gemini is the locale of the inversion- the mountain of death and resurrection; the mandorla is another sign of inversion and of interlinking, for it is formed by the intersection of the circle of earth, with the circle of heaven. This mountain has two peaks, and every symbol or sign alludes to this "situation of inversion" is marked by duality or by twin heads.
Janus, a god particular to the Italians, with no corresponding divinities among the Greeks, even the ancients were by no means clear as to his special significance; he was however, regarded as one of the oldest and holiest, and most exalted of the gods. In Rome the king and in in later times the rex sacorum (q.v.) sacrificed to him, at every sacrifice he was the remembered first, at every prayer he was first invoked, being mentioned even before Jupiter. In the songs of Salii, he was called the creator god, and the god of gods, he is elsewhere named the oldest of the gods and the beginning of all things.
MAN'S INNER WILDERNESS: JOHN AS JANUS
Indeed even, the Tree of Life in the Apocalypse has been thought of as a type of Zodiac;
bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit
every month.
Probably every nation on Earth has had a solar zodiac in some form, generally one of animals. Hipparchus more scientifically divided the ecliptic circle into twelve equal spaces of 30°(degrees) each, the twelve signs still in Almanac use; but these are not now coincident with similarity named constellations, having retrograded 33° on the sphere since their formation. New Testament Christians of the 16th and 17th centuries also likened Aquarius appropriately to John the Baptist (usually depicted with a reed stick) and Judas Thaddeus, the apostle, (usually depicted carrying a club).
Sagitta, the arrow lies in the Milky Way directly north of Aquila and south of Cygnus, although ancient, is now insignificant, for it has no star larger than 4th magnitude, and none that is named. It has occasionally been drawn as held in Eagles talons, for the bird was armor bearer to Jove; and it sometimes was the arrow of Cupid. Latin authors of classical times since knew it as Canna, Calamus, and Harundo, all signifying the reed from which the arrow shafts were formed, and as a missile, Jaculum, and Telum, the weapon, Javelin, and dart.
As the god Amen was identified with Zeus and Jupiter, so also was Aries, from this came the constellations titles Jupiter Ammon (Amon or Amun); Jovis Sidius; Minervae Sidus, the goddess being Jove's daughter.The Jupiter Libycus of Propetius, Deus Libycus of Dionysius, and Libycus of nonnus. "Draco," said Rawlinson "represented HEA or HOA, the third god on the Assyrian triad, RASTABAN and RASTABEN are from Al Ras al Thuban the Dragons head - Schicards Roso Tabbari.
The Penates were gods who were supposed to attended to the welfare and prosperity of the family. Their name is derived from PENUS, the pantry, which was sacred to them. Every master of his family was the priest of the Peates of his own house. Therefore the "head of the household" was the PENUS (PENIS or PEN). Therefore, the old saying "The PEN is mightier than the sWORD", begins to deliver different interpretations.
JANUS, AMUN, and MONEY
Among the early media of exchange in ancient times were cattle, and to a less extent, agriculture implements and household utensils. This rough currency was superseded by pieces or bars of metal valued by weight. To obviate from constantly re-weighing them, the pieces of metal were stamped with their weight and a guarantee by the authority using them, at first the private trader or banker and later the State. Eventually, their value fixed by the State. This was the origin of coins and money as we know them today. It will therefore be seen that as society became to complex for direct barter, the exchange of goods of related value gradually gave way to indirect exchange by means of symbols. These were authenticated by a symbolic mark.
The first coins are seen in Greece and China almost simultaneously in the early 7th century. Common symbolism on early Greek coins were among the heads of figures of gods and animals associated with them. Janus can later be seen in the Roman 'As', and eventually the portrayal of Alexander was the beginning of representations of the heads of sovereigns, which was the characteristic of most European coins since the beginning of the Roman Empire. The ancient tradition of representing only gods was, however, so strong that it still dominated the coins of Alexander, who was represented as a defied hero, almost a god, and thus the image we see on coins is so idealized as only remotely to resemble the probable subject. We can often place Alexander's profile wearing the horns of Amun/Aries.
In this case Alexander, as Amun with the Ram horn can be seen as a continuous manifistation of the defied man however more importantly, his head (PEN, OPEN) now constantly drifting between the focal point of two worlds. The apotheosis of the subject is important symbolically, as the cult of Amun/Amen has also survived in currency. The subject of the god gave place to that of the idealized ruler, and this tradition has never died, for it lives in the coins of Elizabeth II. Although a portrayal of an individual, the head is also a symbol of sovereignty and it is presented with the impersonal dignity befitting the role. A symbolic portrait rather than a realistic one, it is a conception which derives from the religious coinage of Greece.
A PENNY FOR YOUR PENANCE
The fourth century saw the beginning of trade in holy relics which was to develop into a veritable battle of local churches for possession of wonder-working relics. Just as it was believed that the soul is present in every part of the body. So concluded that the saints power was present in every relic, regardless of whether a particular part of the holy person's body was attached to the rest or not or whether it was separated from the tomb. The whole affair soon grew into lucrative international financial enterprise, complete with thefts, counterfeits, and potentially embarrassing duplications. Two churches claimed the body of Saint Luke, and at least ten displayed the head of John The Baptist.
The head as the upper part and the chief part of the body, is sometimes used to represent the whole man. It also represents the seat of life and being the chief member of the body, has rule and control over all members. Thus, Christ is the spiritual head of His church, or circle, not only in eminence and influence but that He communicates life and strength to every believer. Salome is frequently depicted carrying the head, often haloed, of John The Baptist on a platter. A head on a platter is sometimes employed as an attribute of John The Baptist.
Meanwhile, as we have previously examined, John The Baptist carried a reed stick, and was clothed with camel hair and with a girdle of skin about his loin. The reed is one of the symbols of the Passion, for on the cross, Christ was tended a sponge soaked in vinegar on the end of a reed. It thus symbolizes humility and greatness and also used to represent the just, who dwell on the banks of the waters of grace. The small cross carried by St. John the Baptist is commonly made of reeds. The camel came to symbolize temperance, probably because the camel could go without drinking for such long periods at a time. The camel, as the means of travel in the Orient, was not only a beast of burden but, the sign of royalty and dignity. The camel was therefore, commonly used in Renaissance art to help provide an oriental setting for biblical themes.
The ilex or holly oak, is an evergreen which because of it's thorny leaves, is regarded as a symbol of Christs crown and thorns. It is also said to have been the tree of the cross and, therefore, is symbolic of the Passion of Christ as well. A legend relates that all the trees, when they heard Jesus was to be crucified, agreed not to allow their wood to be defied for this purpose. when the axe touched them, they all splintered into a thousand fragments. Only the ilex remained hole and permitted to be used as an instrument of the Passion and it is often found in paintings of St. John the Baptist.
JANUS: A HEAD OF THE ADEPTS
In Zohar; the 'magic head', stands for astral light; in Medieval art it is a symbol of the mind and the spiritual life which explains the frequency in decorative art. Plato asserted in 'Timaeus' that "the human head is the image of the world." In corroboration of this LeBlant points out that the skull, the semi-spherical crown of the human body, signifies the heavens. Clearly the head-symbol here coalesces with that of the sphere as the symbol of oneness. The eagles head has been used as a solar symbol and an emblem of the center point of emanation, that is, the cosmic flame and the spiritual fire of the universe.
Two, three, or four heads are shown in juxtaposition symbolize a corresponding intensification of a given aspect of head symbolism, thus the Gemini, a symbol of the duality of nature, or of the integrating (but not unifying) link between two principles of creation, are represented by beings with two heads or two faces. Hecate is depicted with three heads- she is called the triform for this reason - a symbolism which may be related to the three levels of heaven, earth, and hell, as well as for Diel's "three urges of Life'. Herbert Kuhn in 'L'Acension de l'humanite' makes the point that decapitation of corpses in prehistoric times marked man's discovery of the independence of the spiritual principle, residing in the head, as opposed to the vital principal represented by the body as a whole.
It would appear that Janus was first a god of the light and of the sun, who opened the gates of heaven on going forth in the the morning and closed them on returning at evening. In course of time he became the god of all GOING OUT and COMING IN, to whom all places of entrance and passage, all doors and gates were holy. In Rome all doors and covered passages were suggestive of his name. The former were called 'ianuoe', over the latter, the arches which spanned the streets were called 'iani', a term perhaps symbolic of the vault of heaven. Many of these were expressly dedicated to him, especially those that were situated in markets and frequented streets, or at crossroads. In this case, they were adorned with his image, and the double arch became a temple with doors, or the two double arches a temple with four. He was generally represented as a porter with a staff and key in his hands and with two bearded faces placed back-to-back and looking in opposite directions. He is also the god of entrance (en-TRANCE) into a new division of time, and was therefore saluted every morning as the god of the breaking day, Janus Pater Matutinus or Janus, "the father/mother protector". Under this name, Janus Pater was also the god of creation.
The beginning of all the months (the calends) were sacred to him, as well as Juno; and among the months, the first of the natural tear, which derived from him in its name Ianuarius. For sacrifices on the calends, twelve alters were dedicated to him: his chief festival however, was the 1st of January, especially in B.C.E 153 this was made the official beginning of the new year. On this day he was invoked as the god of beginnings, and was honored with cakes of meal called 'ianuoe'. Saturn was an ancient Italian deity. It was attempted to identify him with the Grecian god Cronos (past, present, and future), and fabled that after his dethronement by Jupiter he fled to Italy, where he reigned during what was called the Golden Age. In memory of his beneficent dominion, the feast of Saturnalia was held every year in the winter season. Then all the public business was suspended, declarations of war and criminal executions were postponed. Slaves were indulged with great liberties and a feast was given to them at which they sat at a table, while their masters served them, to show the natural equality in man, and that all things belonged equally to all, in the reign of Saturn.
Every quarrel, was carefully avoided, and no more work was done than necessary to make a lucky beginning of the daily business of the year; mutual good wishes were exchanged, and people made presents of sweets to one another as a good omen that the new year might bring nothing but that which is sweet and pleasant in it's train. It was also customary to exchange small gifts and lamps to light the way through the year were also popular. The newly chosen consul and the other other officials together with the senate and the knights went up to the Capitol to offer to Jupiter a festal sacrifice of white cattle and to pray for the safety of the state. Under the Empire the 3rd of January was substituted as the day for offering vows for the prosperity of the imperial house. The origin of all organic life, and especially all human life, was referred to him; he was therefore called (consivius or 'sower'). There was also a festival of Janus on August 17th.
PAN'S HOLY WOODS
From JANUS sprang all wells, rivers, and streams; in this relation he was called the spouse of Juturna, the goddess of the spring and father of Fontus or Fons, the god of the fountains. Faunus, "the well wisher" is one of the oldest and most popular deities, who was identified with the Greek pan on account of their similar attributes. As a god spirit of the forest, plains, and fields, he gave fruitfulness to the cattle, and he was called Inuus. With this he was also god of prophesy, called by the name Fatuus. he revealed the future in dreams and strange voices communicated to his votaries while sleeping in his precincts upon the fleeces of sacrificed lambs. A goddess of like attributes called Fauna and Fatua was associated in his worship. She was regarded sometimes as his wife, sometimes his daughter. Just as Pan was accompanied by the Paniskoi, or little Pans, so the existence of many Fauni was assured beside the chief Faunus.
Faunus appears as an old king of Latium, son of Picus and grandson of Saturnus, father of Latinus by nymph Marica. After his death, he is raised to the position of a tutelary deity of the land, for his many services to agriculture and to cattle breeding. Two festivals called Faunelia, were celebrated in his honor, one on the 13th of February in the temple of the island in the Tiber, the other on the 5th of December. The peasants brought him rustic offerings and amused themselves with dancing.
Faunas or Pan, is the god of the woods and fields, of flocks and shepherds. Pan dwelt in grottoes, wandered on the mountains and in the valleys, and amused himself with the chase or in leading the Dances of the Nymphs. he was fond of music, and was as, as we have seen, the inventor of the syrinx or shepherds pipe which he, himself played in a masterful manner. Pan like other gods who dwelt in the forest, was dreaded by those whose occupations caused them to pass through he woods by night, for the gloom and loneliness of such senses dispose the mind to superstitious fears. Hence. sudden fright without any visible cause was ascribed to Pan, and called a "Panic Terror".
As the name of the god signifies all, pan came to be a symbol of the universe and a personification of nature, and later still to be regarded as a representatives of all of the gods and of heathenism itself. Sylvanus and Faunus were Latin divinities whose characteristics are so nearly the same as those of Pan that we may safely consider them as the same personage under different names. The wood nymphs, Pan's partners in the divine, were but one class of Nymphs.
SHIP OF FOOLS, JANUS IN MYTHOLOGY
As the god of coming and going of traffic, he had power not only on land but, also on sea; he was therefore described as the husband of the sea goddess Venilia and as the discoverer of the art of ship building. For this reason the Roman "As" bore the impression of a ship on the obverse of the head of Janus. His authority extended as much over war as peace. In connexion with war, he was known in the fane founded by Numa near the ancient Forum, as 'Ianus Quirinus'. When war was declared, the consul opened the double doors of his sanctuary and summoned the Roman youths capable of bearing arms to march through it with him. As long as war continued, the doors stood open, but on the declaration of peace, they were closed. From the time of Numa to the year of the birth of Christ, this happened only on four occasions, and twice in the reign of Augustus.
While Janus appears as the most ancient of Roman Gods, at the same time he was named the most ancient king of the land, who dwelt upon the Janiculum on the right bank of the Tiber, and erected a temple to the gods and gave a friendly reception to Saturn. In very late times he is represented with a bearded and unbearded face, and instead of his usual attributes of the key and staff (KEY/ROD or CHI-RO) the fingers of his right hand exhibited the number 300 (CCC) and those of his left hand, the remaining days of the year (LXV or 65).
The Romans believed that every man had his GENIUS and every woman her JUNO; that is, a spirit who had given them being and was regarded as their protector through life. on their birthdays men made offerings to their genius, woman to their Juno. The symbolism of the moon is wide in scope and very complex. The power of the satellite was noted by Cicero, when he observed that "Every month the moon completes the same trajectory executed by the sun in a year...It contirbutes in large measure to the maturation of shrubs and growth of animals". This helped explain the important role of the lunar goddess such as Ishtar, Hathor, Anaitis, Artemis, Diana or Jana is a feminine form of Janus.
Janus (in Latin, Ianus) was also worshiped under different names such as Janus Bifrons and Janus Clusivus and Janus Patulcius. According to legend, he had ruled jointly with a mythical king called Camesus. Janus was supposed to have built a city on a hill, which became known as the Janiculum. Saturn reigned in Saturnia, a village on Capitoline Hill. The reign of Janus was said to have been a golden age of peace and plenty, and when he died he was deified.
Zeus was originally the sky and was anthropomorphized into the god of the sky in human shape with human passions. The oldest of the Latin gods appears to have been Janus who was similarly identified with the sky and similarly personified in a later period. Jupiter is a parallel but, later god, both with Janus worshiped by two successive strata in Italy. Janus it would appear belonged to the older stock, with attributes that of time-god, seasons, and eternity.
FROM JANUS TO JOHN, and BACK AGAIN
Other legends were attached to him, including one related to the temple of Janus Geminus. There was another temple of Janus in the Forum Holitorium in Rome. Referred to by contemporary writers as a shrine (sacellum or sacarium), and the most important shrine of Janus in Rome. It originally stood between the Forum Romanum and the Julian Forum and was permanently inaugurated bridge, probably a double bridge, as it was known as Ianus Geminus (twin); when the doors at each end of bridge had to be closed for religious reasons, the other half of the bridge could still function.
Accounts of its foundation ascribe it variously to the time of Titus Tatius and more popularly to Numa Pompilius, as a sign of peace and war. During the war with Titus Tatius, when the Romans were hard pressed, a huge force of very hot water gushing from the Temple of Janus Gemius pushed back the enemy. This apparently explained why the doors were kept open in time of war, so that Janus could come to the aid of the Roman people, if needed. They were closed throughout Numa's reign; again after the First Punic War in BCE 235, in BCE 30 (after the battle of Actium), twice under Augustus; and several times in the imperial period.
This surname JANUS was originally derived from the Hebrew given name YOCJANAN (Jehovah has favoured me with a son), and the name was adopted into the Latin (via Greek) as JOHANNES. This name has enjoyed enormous popularity in Europe, being given in honor of St. John the Baptist, precursor of Christ and of St. John the Evangelist, author of the fourth gospel, as well as others of the nearly one thousand saints of the name.
There are numerous variant spellings of the surname, and it is known to every country in the world in different forms. There have been many notables of the name including twenty-one popes and two anti-popes XVI (997-8) and XXIII the former included in the papal numbering, which erroneously contained a fictitious John XV who was thought to have ruled for a few weeks immediately prior to the true John (985-96). John (surnamed Lackland) 1167-1216 was the king of England from 1199 youngest son of Henry II born in Oxford. He attempted to seize the crown during Richard I's captivity in Austria, but was pardoned and nominated his successor by his brother on his deathbed. He was crowned at Westminster on 27th May 1199. He alienated barons by bad administration and heavy taxation and was forced to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymeade on 15th June 1215. It was also the name of two kings of France John I (1316) who lived only seven days, and John II (1319-64) taken prisoner at Poitiers by the Black Prince, returned to captivity in England when he could not raise ransom money agreed upon, and died in London.
In a very savage, and unfortunate trend, violence ended the reigns of 29 Byzantine emperors, incuding Nicephorus the 2nd, whose head was put on public display. Other unfortunate rulers are listed below with the dates when the disaster struck:
MAURICE, Decapitated, 602 Common Era
PHOCAS, Dismembered, 610 CE
LEONITIUS, Decapitated, 705CE
TIBIRIUS III, Decapitated, 705CE
JUSTINIAN, Decapitated, 711CE
PHILIPICUS, Blinded, 713 CE
CONSTANTINE VI, Blinded, 797 CE
LEO V, Stabbed, Decapitated, 820 CE
NICEPHORUS II, Stabbed, Decapitated, 969 CE
MICHAEL V, Binded, 1042
ALEXIUS II, Strangled, Decapitated, 1183
ISACC II, Blinded, 1193
ALEXIUS IV, Strangled, 1204
ALEXIUS V, Blinded, Mamimed, 1204
JOHN IV, Blinded, 1261
JOHN VII, Blinded, 1474
JOHN'S BLOODLINE
The hypothesis that Freemasonry evolved from the knightly orders of the Crusades, specifically named are the Knights Templar and to a lesser extent the Knights Hospitaller, is important to note here. That the Hospitallers were (and are still today) more properly known as the Knights of St. John. Both Saints John are also commonly referred to in Templar records and we know their festival days were of importance to the Templars. When the Templars were suppressed in 1307 most of their property, especially in England, became the property of the Hospitallers. Many Knights Templar in that area joined the Hospitallers following the suppression as well.
There is a school of Masonic research holding that the Fraternity is descended from the Druids and other truly ancient Celtic priesthoods of the sun. Implausible as this theory is, it has a direct correlation to the veneration of the Saints John. Although entirely pagan and pre-Christian, these sun priests claimed as their holiest days the summer and winter solstices the day when the sun shines the most and the day when it shines the least. As this was common among many pagan theologies, the early and medieval Christian Church adopted the solstices as important feast days and simply renamed them for two of the most important saints. The summer solstice was officially fixed to June 24 and dedicated to St. John the Baptist and the winter solstice was fixed to December 27 and dedicated to St. John the Evangelist.
When we look at the dates, it becomes clear that the Saints John The Baptist and Evangelist are positioned in stunning parallel to predictable astrological events. Also, when we adopt the precession of the equinoxes, we refer to the precession of Earth's axis of rotation with respect to inertial space, something already long worked out even before the time of John and Jesus. It would be expected of them as adepts, to dedicated to their lives to teach the power of the mind, and the importance of human evolution at any capacity. Hipparchus discovered that the positions of the equinoxes move westward along the ecliptic compared to the fixed stars on the celestial sphere. The exact dates of his life are not known, but astronomical observations attributed to him date from 147 BC to 127 BC and were described in his publications. He is considered the greatest astronomical observer, and perhaps, the greatest overall astronomer of antiquity.
Currently, this annual motion is about 50.3 seconds of arc per year or 1 degree every 71.6 years. The process is slow, but cumulative. A complete precession cycle covers a period of approximately 25,765 years, the so called great Platonic year, during which time the equinox regresses over a full 360°. Precessional movement also is the determining factor in the length of an Astrological Age. John and more-so Jesus opened the door or the mandorla ("almond door") into the age of Pisces two thousand years ago, presently coming to a conclusion. It has been known that the ruling elite at various times throught history not only deppened on seers but, they depened on their prophesy as determined through astrological and in some cases scientific prediction. It was then, common for a governing family body to being or end a war for it's State, at the request of the sage.
In the United Kingdom, the name John has not been a popular name for members of the royal household. However, King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215; Prince Alexander John, the youngest son of King Edward VII, died shortly after birth, and Prince John, the youngest son of King George V, died in his sleep in 1919. On 5 November 1981, Diana's first pregnancy was officially announced, and she frankly discussed her pregnancy with members of the press corps. In the private Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington on 21 June 1982, The day of the summer solstice, Diana gave birth to her and Prince Charles's first son and heir, William. As such, the name John has been considered unlucky by the British Royal Family and its use avoided. It was reported that Diana, Princess of Wales wished to name her elder son "John", after her own father, but was prevented from doing so by royal tradition.
Diana Frances née Spencer was born at Park House, Sandringham in Norfolk, England on 1 July 1961, and was baptised on 30 August 1961 at St. Mary Magdalene Church by the Rt. Rev. Percy Herbert (rector of the church and former Bishop of Norwich and Blackburn), with godparents that included John Floyd (the chairman of Christie's). She was the fourth child to the couple, with older sisters Sarah (born 19 March 1955) and Jane (born 11 February 1957), as well as an infant brother, The Honourable John Spencer (born and died on 12 January 1960). The heir to the Spencer titles and estates, her younger brother, Charles, was born three years after her on 20 May 1964.
Diana was the youngest daughter of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (later the 8th Earl Spencer) who was of British descent and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (formerly the Honourable Frances Burke Roche, and later Frances Shand Kydd) who was of English and Irish descent. She was also a descendant of King James II of England,and there are considerable connections that provoke ideas that she may also be related to the secret ancestry of Jesus and Mary Magdalene's children therefore, also a descendant of John The Baptist.
Two very interesting coordinates that we want to pay very strict attention to here is St. Mary Magdalene's Church located at 51° 32′ 54″ N, 0° 6′ 29″ W and the location of the Jordan River of where John The Baptist and Jesus met to begin His ministry: 33° 11′ 12″ N, 35° 37′ 9″ E. If Jesus was the greatest medium, psychic, alchemist, and channel for healing that the earth has ever experienced, can we safely suggest that a decoy doctrine has been used by powerful entities to suppress the mystical truth about His real mission on earth? Are there ancient structures at specific locations that deliver mystical encoded message, perhaps even prophetic, and more important are there new ones and if so where are they?
IN THE COMING ARTICLES...
Is there a name frequently given to a etheric world intelligence or a human because he has psychic skills? A good connection to cosmic-consciousness is in the name JACK. In the coming articles, we will explore new ideas based on synchronicity and associations of various source materials, to illustrate who these Jacks were and more importantly, what they built into society, and were they got their ideas from, and who financed them. If the builders where adepts, their blueprints for an expansion of both divine consciousness and its anchor on territory to form the fabric of life-as-we-know-it is the 'focal point' between heaven on earth. If so, are these secret traditions continuing to this day and who may these new adepts be? Stay tuned...
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities Mythology, Religion, Literature & Art By Dr. Oskar Seyffert
Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning By Richard Hinckley Allen
Dictionary of Roman Religion By Lesley Adkins, Roy A. Adkins
A Dictionary of Symbols By Juan Eduardo Cirlot
Signs and Symbols in Christain Art By George Ferguson
Symbols: Signs and Their Meaning and Uses in Design By Arnold Whittick
Great Ages of Man, a TIME-LIFE Book: Byzantium By Philip Sherrard
They passed judgment against her
Inanna was about to ascend into the underworld
When the Annuana, the judges in the underworld seized her
They said: "No one ascends from the underworld unmarked
If Inanna wishes to return from the underworld
She must provide someone in her place"
- Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer
by Diane Wolkstein, Samuel Noah Kramer
Admired in all historic ages as the most strikingly brilliant of the stellar groups, lies partly within the Milky Way, extending on both sides of the celestial equator entirely south of the ecliptic, and so is visible from every part of the globe. Catullus transcribes Oarion from Pindar, shortened Arion, and sometimes to Aorion; the derivation of the word has been in doubt, but Brown refers it to Akkadian Uru-anna, the light of Heaven, originally applied as the sun, as Uru Ki, the Light of the Earth, was to the moon; so that our title may have come into Greek mythology and astronomy from Euphrates.
The Syrians knew it as Gabbara; the Arabians as Al Jabbar, both signifying "The Giant", gradually being turned into Algebra, Algebaro and especially in poetry, Algebar, which Chilmead gave as Algibbar. In early Arabia Orion was known as Al Jauzah, a word also used for stars in Gemini and much, but not very satisfactory, discussed as to it's derivation and meaning in its stellar connection. It is often translated Giant, but erroneously, for it, at first, had no personal signification. Originally it was the term used for a black sheep with a white spot on the middle of the body, and thus may have become the designation for the middle figure of the heavens, which from its preeminent brilliancy always has been the center of attraction. Some think that the belt stars, known to the Arabs as the Golden Nuts first bore the name Jauzah either from another meaning of that word, - walnut; or because the lay in the center of the splendid quadrangle...or from their position on the equator, the great central circle. The title subsequently passing to the whole figure.
Now Geuze signifieth a Wall-nut; and
perhaps they allude herein to the Latine word
Jugula, by which Festus calleth Orion;
because he is greater than any of the
other constellations, as a Wall-nut is
bigger than any other kind of nut.
-Robert Hues
In Egypt, as everywhere, Orion was of course prominent, especially so in the square zodiac of Denderah as Horus is in a boat surmounted by stars, followed by Sirius, shown as a cow, also in a boat; and nearly three thousand years previously had been sculpted on the recently discovered step temple of Sakkara, and in the great Ramesseum of Thebes about 3285 BCE as Sahu. This twice appears in the 'Book of the Dead';
The shoulders of the constellation Sahu;
and
I see the motion of the Holy constellation, Sahu.
A similar title but of Akkadian origin, appeared for Copernicus. Egyptian mythology in the constellation the soul of Osiris, as it did in the star Sirius that of Isis; again in the 'Book of the Dead' we read: "The Osiris N is the constellation Orion"; in this connection, Orion was known as Smati-Osiris the barley god. The giant generally has been represented with back turned toward as, and face in profile, armed with a club, or a sword, and protected by his shield. Saturnus has been another title, but it's connection I hazard to guess that as this divinity was the sun-god of the Phonecians, his name might naturally be used for Uruanna-Orion, the Akkadian sun god.
The leading deities of the Babylonian pantheon were the four creating gods controlling the four major components of the universe; the sky god An, the earth god Ki, whose name was changed in the course of time to Pinhursag: Queen of the Mountain, the air god Enil, who gradually became the leader of the pantheon, and the water god Enki, who also came to be designated the god of wisdom. Among the other more important deity were the moon god Nanna; his son, the sun god Utu, and his daughter Inanna, the goddess of the morning and evening star, known to the Semites as Ishtar. There was also a group of sky gods known as Anunna, some of whom seem to have fallen from grace and have been carried off to the underworld.
In Babylonian 'Epic of Creation' discovered by George Smith in 1872, the signs were Mizrata, a very similar word appears for the Milky Way, generally supposed to be the original of the biblical Mazzaroth; Mazzaloth being the form used in the targums and later Hebrew writings. This word, although uncertain of its derivation, may come from the root meaning "to watch", the constellations thus marking the watches of the night by coming successively to the Meridian.
Another name with the Jews for zodiac was Galgal Hammazaloth, the circle of signs. Flavious Josephus surmised that the twelve stones in the breastplate of the high priest might refer to the twelve zodiacal constellations. Philo Judaeus Christoph Fredrich Schiller, in 'Die Piccolomini', thus alluding to the ancient opinion as to its sacred character:
'Twelve! twelve signs hath the zodiac,
five and seven,
the holy numbers include themselves in twelve:'
In Arabia the zodiac was Al Mintakah al Buruj, or "the girdle of the signs". In Greece it was called the "twelve parts" but, Aristotle called it the 'circle of animals', the signs before Libra was introduced being all of living creatures. The German 'Teirkreis' has the same signification. Proclus called it, "the Oblique Circle", that originally was for the ecliptic. In Rome, it commonly was 'Zodiacus'; the orbis of Ciceros De Divinatione' and orbis signiferus, or circulus signifier. Milton, in 'Paradise Lost', thus accounts for the obliquity of the earth's axis, as if by direct interposition of the creator:
Some say he hid his angles turn askance
The poles of earth twice ten degrees or
From the Sun's axle; they with labour push'd
was bid turn reins from equinoctial road
like distance breath to Tau rus with seven
Atlantic sisters, and the Spartan twins,
Up to the tropic crab, thence down amain
By Leo, and the virgin, and the scales
As deep as Capricorn, to bring in change
of seasons to each clime.
Pope in his 'Essay on Man', called it the divisions were the houses of the sun, and the monthly abodes of Apollo. Dante Aligheri, 1265-1321, designated it, "the oblique circle which conveys the planets" and called it Rubecchio, the Tuscan word for mill-wheel (Mill-KEY, Mill-CHI WHEEL or Milky Way) whose various cogs were represented by the various signs, an image often made use of by the great poet.
The Rig Veda of India had:
The twelve spoke wheel revolves around the heavens
720 Children in pairs [360 days and 360 nights]
abide in it.
And again:
The fellies are twelve: the wheel is one:
With it are collected 360 [spokes]
A common title for it in India was Rasi Chakara. In England, the Venerable Bede, 673-735, substituted the eleven apostles for eleven of the early signs, as the Corona Seucirulus Sanctorum Apostlorum, JOHN THE BAPTIST fitly taking the place of Aquarius to complete the circle.
Duality is a basic binary quality of all natural processes in so far as they comprise two opposite phases or aspects. When integrated within higher context, this duality generates a binary system based on the counterbalanced forces of two opposite poles. the two phases or aspects can either be symmetrical or asymmetrical, successive or simultaneous. The gates of heaven and hell which the Latins associated with Janus, can be taken to symbolize a binary system.
Gemini, as the third sign of the zodiac, these heavenly twins take on the general significance of all symbolic twins (in that they are both divine and mortal, black and white), but Gemini acquire the additional significance of a characteristic phase of the cosmic process as symbolized in the wheel of transformations: the moment in which pure creative forces (Aries and Taurus) is served in two parts, in such a way that one side of dualism is elevated but the other descends into the multiplicity characteristic of phenomena.
Marius Shneider has made a profound study of the Gemini-myth in megalithic culture, showing that it has two tendencies, one white; the other black; one creates the other destroys; both these characteristics are indicated by the arms of each of the wins, which in landscape symbolism , are identical to the river of youth and the river of death.
The Gemini represents creative nature (natura naturans) and created nature (natura naturata), and this duality is sometimes illustrated in tales by a being that wears a mask, or by Protean being capable of turning into a giant, a man or an animal. In medicinal rites, by virtue of their double but constant nature, are both the doctor and - more particularly- the invalid, as is borne out of legend and in myth- the Parsifal story, for example Jean Arthur Rimbaud unknowingly alluded to this duality when he remarked that the poet is both the great invalid and the seer.
At times, two conceptions of the Gemini can be distinguished (as in the parallel myth of the primordial and androgynous being); the heavenly twin expressive of opposite, fused together and integrated into oneness (represented by the spherical or perfect being); and the 'earthly twin' displaying the break, the split (as in two-headed Janus, or triform Hecate, etc.), that is opposites in conflict or at least in dissidence. There is a third aspect, which, is that of the individuation or 'splitting' of the 'double being', but this has to do with the existential order and not the mythic. As a result of the dynamic tendencies of all contradictions, the phenomena becomes a system of perpetual inversions illustrated, for example, in the hourglass which turns upon its own axis in order to maintain it's inner movement; that of the sand passing through the central aperture - the 'focal point' of it's own inversion. The Gemini in essence a symbol of inversion, in its dynamic aspect of opposites.
According to the megalithic conception- and here we are following Shneider- the mountain of Mars (or Janus) which rises up as a mandorla of the Gemini is the locale of the inversion- the mountain of death and resurrection; the mandorla is another sign of inversion and of interlinking, for it is formed by the intersection of the circle of earth, with the circle of heaven. This mountain has two peaks, and every symbol or sign alludes to this "situation of inversion" is marked by duality or by twin heads.
Janus, a god particular to the Italians, with no corresponding divinities among the Greeks, even the ancients were by no means clear as to his special significance; he was however, regarded as one of the oldest and holiest, and most exalted of the gods. In Rome the king and in in later times the rex sacorum (q.v.) sacrificed to him, at every sacrifice he was the remembered first, at every prayer he was first invoked, being mentioned even before Jupiter. In the songs of Salii, he was called the creator god, and the god of gods, he is elsewhere named the oldest of the gods and the beginning of all things.
MAN'S INNER WILDERNESS: JOHN AS JANUS
Indeed even, the Tree of Life in the Apocalypse has been thought of as a type of Zodiac;
bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit
every month.
Probably every nation on Earth has had a solar zodiac in some form, generally one of animals. Hipparchus more scientifically divided the ecliptic circle into twelve equal spaces of 30°(degrees) each, the twelve signs still in Almanac use; but these are not now coincident with similarity named constellations, having retrograded 33° on the sphere since their formation. New Testament Christians of the 16th and 17th centuries also likened Aquarius appropriately to John the Baptist (usually depicted with a reed stick) and Judas Thaddeus, the apostle, (usually depicted carrying a club).
Sagitta, the arrow lies in the Milky Way directly north of Aquila and south of Cygnus, although ancient, is now insignificant, for it has no star larger than 4th magnitude, and none that is named. It has occasionally been drawn as held in Eagles talons, for the bird was armor bearer to Jove; and it sometimes was the arrow of Cupid. Latin authors of classical times since knew it as Canna, Calamus, and Harundo, all signifying the reed from which the arrow shafts were formed, and as a missile, Jaculum, and Telum, the weapon, Javelin, and dart.
As the god Amen was identified with Zeus and Jupiter, so also was Aries, from this came the constellations titles Jupiter Ammon (Amon or Amun); Jovis Sidius; Minervae Sidus, the goddess being Jove's daughter.The Jupiter Libycus of Propetius, Deus Libycus of Dionysius, and Libycus of nonnus. "Draco," said Rawlinson "represented HEA or HOA, the third god on the Assyrian triad, RASTABAN and RASTABEN are from Al Ras al Thuban the Dragons head - Schicards Roso Tabbari.
The Penates were gods who were supposed to attended to the welfare and prosperity of the family. Their name is derived from PENUS, the pantry, which was sacred to them. Every master of his family was the priest of the Peates of his own house. Therefore the "head of the household" was the PENUS (PENIS or PEN). Therefore, the old saying "The PEN is mightier than the sWORD", begins to deliver different interpretations.
Among the early media of exchange in ancient times were cattle, and to a less extent, agriculture implements and household utensils. This rough currency was superseded by pieces or bars of metal valued by weight. To obviate from constantly re-weighing them, the pieces of metal were stamped with their weight and a guarantee by the authority using them, at first the private trader or banker and later the State. Eventually, their value fixed by the State. This was the origin of coins and money as we know them today. It will therefore be seen that as society became to complex for direct barter, the exchange of goods of related value gradually gave way to indirect exchange by means of symbols. These were authenticated by a symbolic mark.
The first coins are seen in Greece and China almost simultaneously in the early 7th century. Common symbolism on early Greek coins were among the heads of figures of gods and animals associated with them. Janus can later be seen in the Roman 'As', and eventually the portrayal of Alexander was the beginning of representations of the heads of sovereigns, which was the characteristic of most European coins since the beginning of the Roman Empire. The ancient tradition of representing only gods was, however, so strong that it still dominated the coins of Alexander, who was represented as a defied hero, almost a god, and thus the image we see on coins is so idealized as only remotely to resemble the probable subject. We can often place Alexander's profile wearing the horns of Amun/Aries.
In this case Alexander, as Amun with the Ram horn can be seen as a continuous manifistation of the defied man however more importantly, his head (PEN, OPEN) now constantly drifting between the focal point of two worlds. The apotheosis of the subject is important symbolically, as the cult of Amun/Amen has also survived in currency. The subject of the god gave place to that of the idealized ruler, and this tradition has never died, for it lives in the coins of Elizabeth II. Although a portrayal of an individual, the head is also a symbol of sovereignty and it is presented with the impersonal dignity befitting the role. A symbolic portrait rather than a realistic one, it is a conception which derives from the religious coinage of Greece.
A PENNY FOR YOUR PENANCE
The fourth century saw the beginning of trade in holy relics which was to develop into a veritable battle of local churches for possession of wonder-working relics. Just as it was believed that the soul is present in every part of the body. So concluded that the saints power was present in every relic, regardless of whether a particular part of the holy person's body was attached to the rest or not or whether it was separated from the tomb. The whole affair soon grew into lucrative international financial enterprise, complete with thefts, counterfeits, and potentially embarrassing duplications. Two churches claimed the body of Saint Luke, and at least ten displayed the head of John The Baptist.
The head as the upper part and the chief part of the body, is sometimes used to represent the whole man. It also represents the seat of life and being the chief member of the body, has rule and control over all members. Thus, Christ is the spiritual head of His church, or circle, not only in eminence and influence but that He communicates life and strength to every believer. Salome is frequently depicted carrying the head, often haloed, of John The Baptist on a platter. A head on a platter is sometimes employed as an attribute of John The Baptist.
Meanwhile, as we have previously examined, John The Baptist carried a reed stick, and was clothed with camel hair and with a girdle of skin about his loin. The reed is one of the symbols of the Passion, for on the cross, Christ was tended a sponge soaked in vinegar on the end of a reed. It thus symbolizes humility and greatness and also used to represent the just, who dwell on the banks of the waters of grace. The small cross carried by St. John the Baptist is commonly made of reeds. The camel came to symbolize temperance, probably because the camel could go without drinking for such long periods at a time. The camel, as the means of travel in the Orient, was not only a beast of burden but, the sign of royalty and dignity. The camel was therefore, commonly used in Renaissance art to help provide an oriental setting for biblical themes.
The ilex or holly oak, is an evergreen which because of it's thorny leaves, is regarded as a symbol of Christs crown and thorns. It is also said to have been the tree of the cross and, therefore, is symbolic of the Passion of Christ as well. A legend relates that all the trees, when they heard Jesus was to be crucified, agreed not to allow their wood to be defied for this purpose. when the axe touched them, they all splintered into a thousand fragments. Only the ilex remained hole and permitted to be used as an instrument of the Passion and it is often found in paintings of St. John the Baptist.
JANUS: A HEAD OF THE ADEPTS
In Zohar; the 'magic head', stands for astral light; in Medieval art it is a symbol of the mind and the spiritual life which explains the frequency in decorative art. Plato asserted in 'Timaeus' that "the human head is the image of the world." In corroboration of this LeBlant points out that the skull, the semi-spherical crown of the human body, signifies the heavens. Clearly the head-symbol here coalesces with that of the sphere as the symbol of oneness. The eagles head has been used as a solar symbol and an emblem of the center point of emanation, that is, the cosmic flame and the spiritual fire of the universe.
Two, three, or four heads are shown in juxtaposition symbolize a corresponding intensification of a given aspect of head symbolism, thus the Gemini, a symbol of the duality of nature, or of the integrating (but not unifying) link between two principles of creation, are represented by beings with two heads or two faces. Hecate is depicted with three heads- she is called the triform for this reason - a symbolism which may be related to the three levels of heaven, earth, and hell, as well as for Diel's "three urges of Life'. Herbert Kuhn in 'L'Acension de l'humanite' makes the point that decapitation of corpses in prehistoric times marked man's discovery of the independence of the spiritual principle, residing in the head, as opposed to the vital principal represented by the body as a whole.
It would appear that Janus was first a god of the light and of the sun, who opened the gates of heaven on going forth in the the morning and closed them on returning at evening. In course of time he became the god of all GOING OUT and COMING IN, to whom all places of entrance and passage, all doors and gates were holy. In Rome all doors and covered passages were suggestive of his name. The former were called 'ianuoe', over the latter, the arches which spanned the streets were called 'iani', a term perhaps symbolic of the vault of heaven. Many of these were expressly dedicated to him, especially those that were situated in markets and frequented streets, or at crossroads. In this case, they were adorned with his image, and the double arch became a temple with doors, or the two double arches a temple with four. He was generally represented as a porter with a staff and key in his hands and with two bearded faces placed back-to-back and looking in opposite directions. He is also the god of entrance (en-TRANCE) into a new division of time, and was therefore saluted every morning as the god of the breaking day, Janus Pater Matutinus or Janus, "the father/mother protector". Under this name, Janus Pater was also the god of creation.
The beginning of all the months (the calends) were sacred to him, as well as Juno; and among the months, the first of the natural tear, which derived from him in its name Ianuarius. For sacrifices on the calends, twelve alters were dedicated to him: his chief festival however, was the 1st of January, especially in B.C.E 153 this was made the official beginning of the new year. On this day he was invoked as the god of beginnings, and was honored with cakes of meal called 'ianuoe'. Saturn was an ancient Italian deity. It was attempted to identify him with the Grecian god Cronos (past, present, and future), and fabled that after his dethronement by Jupiter he fled to Italy, where he reigned during what was called the Golden Age. In memory of his beneficent dominion, the feast of Saturnalia was held every year in the winter season. Then all the public business was suspended, declarations of war and criminal executions were postponed. Slaves were indulged with great liberties and a feast was given to them at which they sat at a table, while their masters served them, to show the natural equality in man, and that all things belonged equally to all, in the reign of Saturn.
Every quarrel, was carefully avoided, and no more work was done than necessary to make a lucky beginning of the daily business of the year; mutual good wishes were exchanged, and people made presents of sweets to one another as a good omen that the new year might bring nothing but that which is sweet and pleasant in it's train. It was also customary to exchange small gifts and lamps to light the way through the year were also popular. The newly chosen consul and the other other officials together with the senate and the knights went up to the Capitol to offer to Jupiter a festal sacrifice of white cattle and to pray for the safety of the state. Under the Empire the 3rd of January was substituted as the day for offering vows for the prosperity of the imperial house. The origin of all organic life, and especially all human life, was referred to him; he was therefore called (consivius or 'sower'). There was also a festival of Janus on August 17th.
PAN'S HOLY WOODS
From JANUS sprang all wells, rivers, and streams; in this relation he was called the spouse of Juturna, the goddess of the spring and father of Fontus or Fons, the god of the fountains. Faunus, "the well wisher" is one of the oldest and most popular deities, who was identified with the Greek pan on account of their similar attributes. As a god spirit of the forest, plains, and fields, he gave fruitfulness to the cattle, and he was called Inuus. With this he was also god of prophesy, called by the name Fatuus. he revealed the future in dreams and strange voices communicated to his votaries while sleeping in his precincts upon the fleeces of sacrificed lambs. A goddess of like attributes called Fauna and Fatua was associated in his worship. She was regarded sometimes as his wife, sometimes his daughter. Just as Pan was accompanied by the Paniskoi, or little Pans, so the existence of many Fauni was assured beside the chief Faunus.
Faunus appears as an old king of Latium, son of Picus and grandson of Saturnus, father of Latinus by nymph Marica. After his death, he is raised to the position of a tutelary deity of the land, for his many services to agriculture and to cattle breeding. Two festivals called Faunelia, were celebrated in his honor, one on the 13th of February in the temple of the island in the Tiber, the other on the 5th of December. The peasants brought him rustic offerings and amused themselves with dancing.
Faunas or Pan, is the god of the woods and fields, of flocks and shepherds. Pan dwelt in grottoes, wandered on the mountains and in the valleys, and amused himself with the chase or in leading the Dances of the Nymphs. he was fond of music, and was as, as we have seen, the inventor of the syrinx or shepherds pipe which he, himself played in a masterful manner. Pan like other gods who dwelt in the forest, was dreaded by those whose occupations caused them to pass through he woods by night, for the gloom and loneliness of such senses dispose the mind to superstitious fears. Hence. sudden fright without any visible cause was ascribed to Pan, and called a "Panic Terror".
As the name of the god signifies all, pan came to be a symbol of the universe and a personification of nature, and later still to be regarded as a representatives of all of the gods and of heathenism itself. Sylvanus and Faunus were Latin divinities whose characteristics are so nearly the same as those of Pan that we may safely consider them as the same personage under different names. The wood nymphs, Pan's partners in the divine, were but one class of Nymphs.
As the god of coming and going of traffic, he had power not only on land but, also on sea; he was therefore described as the husband of the sea goddess Venilia and as the discoverer of the art of ship building. For this reason the Roman "As" bore the impression of a ship on the obverse of the head of Janus. His authority extended as much over war as peace. In connexion with war, he was known in the fane founded by Numa near the ancient Forum, as 'Ianus Quirinus'. When war was declared, the consul opened the double doors of his sanctuary and summoned the Roman youths capable of bearing arms to march through it with him. As long as war continued, the doors stood open, but on the declaration of peace, they were closed. From the time of Numa to the year of the birth of Christ, this happened only on four occasions, and twice in the reign of Augustus.
While Janus appears as the most ancient of Roman Gods, at the same time he was named the most ancient king of the land, who dwelt upon the Janiculum on the right bank of the Tiber, and erected a temple to the gods and gave a friendly reception to Saturn. In very late times he is represented with a bearded and unbearded face, and instead of his usual attributes of the key and staff (KEY/ROD or CHI-RO) the fingers of his right hand exhibited the number 300 (CCC) and those of his left hand, the remaining days of the year (LXV or 65).
The Romans believed that every man had his GENIUS and every woman her JUNO; that is, a spirit who had given them being and was regarded as their protector through life. on their birthdays men made offerings to their genius, woman to their Juno. The symbolism of the moon is wide in scope and very complex. The power of the satellite was noted by Cicero, when he observed that "Every month the moon completes the same trajectory executed by the sun in a year...It contirbutes in large measure to the maturation of shrubs and growth of animals". This helped explain the important role of the lunar goddess such as Ishtar, Hathor, Anaitis, Artemis, Diana or Jana is a feminine form of Janus.
Janus (in Latin, Ianus) was also worshiped under different names such as Janus Bifrons and Janus Clusivus and Janus Patulcius. According to legend, he had ruled jointly with a mythical king called Camesus. Janus was supposed to have built a city on a hill, which became known as the Janiculum. Saturn reigned in Saturnia, a village on Capitoline Hill. The reign of Janus was said to have been a golden age of peace and plenty, and when he died he was deified.
Zeus was originally the sky and was anthropomorphized into the god of the sky in human shape with human passions. The oldest of the Latin gods appears to have been Janus who was similarly identified with the sky and similarly personified in a later period. Jupiter is a parallel but, later god, both with Janus worshiped by two successive strata in Italy. Janus it would appear belonged to the older stock, with attributes that of time-god, seasons, and eternity.
FROM JANUS TO JOHN, and BACK AGAIN
Other legends were attached to him, including one related to the temple of Janus Geminus. There was another temple of Janus in the Forum Holitorium in Rome. Referred to by contemporary writers as a shrine (sacellum or sacarium), and the most important shrine of Janus in Rome. It originally stood between the Forum Romanum and the Julian Forum and was permanently inaugurated bridge, probably a double bridge, as it was known as Ianus Geminus (twin); when the doors at each end of bridge had to be closed for religious reasons, the other half of the bridge could still function.
Accounts of its foundation ascribe it variously to the time of Titus Tatius and more popularly to Numa Pompilius, as a sign of peace and war. During the war with Titus Tatius, when the Romans were hard pressed, a huge force of very hot water gushing from the Temple of Janus Gemius pushed back the enemy. This apparently explained why the doors were kept open in time of war, so that Janus could come to the aid of the Roman people, if needed. They were closed throughout Numa's reign; again after the First Punic War in BCE 235, in BCE 30 (after the battle of Actium), twice under Augustus; and several times in the imperial period.
This surname JANUS was originally derived from the Hebrew given name YOCJANAN (Jehovah has favoured me with a son), and the name was adopted into the Latin (via Greek) as JOHANNES. This name has enjoyed enormous popularity in Europe, being given in honor of St. John the Baptist, precursor of Christ and of St. John the Evangelist, author of the fourth gospel, as well as others of the nearly one thousand saints of the name.
There are numerous variant spellings of the surname, and it is known to every country in the world in different forms. There have been many notables of the name including twenty-one popes and two anti-popes XVI (997-8) and XXIII the former included in the papal numbering, which erroneously contained a fictitious John XV who was thought to have ruled for a few weeks immediately prior to the true John (985-96). John (surnamed Lackland) 1167-1216 was the king of England from 1199 youngest son of Henry II born in Oxford. He attempted to seize the crown during Richard I's captivity in Austria, but was pardoned and nominated his successor by his brother on his deathbed. He was crowned at Westminster on 27th May 1199. He alienated barons by bad administration and heavy taxation and was forced to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymeade on 15th June 1215. It was also the name of two kings of France John I (1316) who lived only seven days, and John II (1319-64) taken prisoner at Poitiers by the Black Prince, returned to captivity in England when he could not raise ransom money agreed upon, and died in London.
In a very savage, and unfortunate trend, violence ended the reigns of 29 Byzantine emperors, incuding Nicephorus the 2nd, whose head was put on public display. Other unfortunate rulers are listed below with the dates when the disaster struck:
MAURICE, Decapitated, 602 Common Era
PHOCAS, Dismembered, 610 CE
LEONITIUS, Decapitated, 705CE
TIBIRIUS III, Decapitated, 705CE
JUSTINIAN, Decapitated, 711CE
PHILIPICUS, Blinded, 713 CE
CONSTANTINE VI, Blinded, 797 CE
LEO V, Stabbed, Decapitated, 820 CE
NICEPHORUS II, Stabbed, Decapitated, 969 CE
MICHAEL V, Binded, 1042
ALEXIUS II, Strangled, Decapitated, 1183
ISACC II, Blinded, 1193
ALEXIUS IV, Strangled, 1204
ALEXIUS V, Blinded, Mamimed, 1204
JOHN IV, Blinded, 1261
JOHN VII, Blinded, 1474
The hypothesis that Freemasonry evolved from the knightly orders of the Crusades, specifically named are the Knights Templar and to a lesser extent the Knights Hospitaller, is important to note here. That the Hospitallers were (and are still today) more properly known as the Knights of St. John. Both Saints John are also commonly referred to in Templar records and we know their festival days were of importance to the Templars. When the Templars were suppressed in 1307 most of their property, especially in England, became the property of the Hospitallers. Many Knights Templar in that area joined the Hospitallers following the suppression as well.
There is a school of Masonic research holding that the Fraternity is descended from the Druids and other truly ancient Celtic priesthoods of the sun. Implausible as this theory is, it has a direct correlation to the veneration of the Saints John. Although entirely pagan and pre-Christian, these sun priests claimed as their holiest days the summer and winter solstices the day when the sun shines the most and the day when it shines the least. As this was common among many pagan theologies, the early and medieval Christian Church adopted the solstices as important feast days and simply renamed them for two of the most important saints. The summer solstice was officially fixed to June 24 and dedicated to St. John the Baptist and the winter solstice was fixed to December 27 and dedicated to St. John the Evangelist.
When we look at the dates, it becomes clear that the Saints John The Baptist and Evangelist are positioned in stunning parallel to predictable astrological events. Also, when we adopt the precession of the equinoxes, we refer to the precession of Earth's axis of rotation with respect to inertial space, something already long worked out even before the time of John and Jesus. It would be expected of them as adepts, to dedicated to their lives to teach the power of the mind, and the importance of human evolution at any capacity. Hipparchus discovered that the positions of the equinoxes move westward along the ecliptic compared to the fixed stars on the celestial sphere. The exact dates of his life are not known, but astronomical observations attributed to him date from 147 BC to 127 BC and were described in his publications. He is considered the greatest astronomical observer, and perhaps, the greatest overall astronomer of antiquity.
Currently, this annual motion is about 50.3 seconds of arc per year or 1 degree every 71.6 years. The process is slow, but cumulative. A complete precession cycle covers a period of approximately 25,765 years, the so called great Platonic year, during which time the equinox regresses over a full 360°. Precessional movement also is the determining factor in the length of an Astrological Age. John and more-so Jesus opened the door or the mandorla ("almond door") into the age of Pisces two thousand years ago, presently coming to a conclusion. It has been known that the ruling elite at various times throught history not only deppened on seers but, they depened on their prophesy as determined through astrological and in some cases scientific prediction. It was then, common for a governing family body to being or end a war for it's State, at the request of the sage.
In the United Kingdom, the name John has not been a popular name for members of the royal household. However, King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215; Prince Alexander John, the youngest son of King Edward VII, died shortly after birth, and Prince John, the youngest son of King George V, died in his sleep in 1919. On 5 November 1981, Diana's first pregnancy was officially announced, and she frankly discussed her pregnancy with members of the press corps. In the private Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington on 21 June 1982, The day of the summer solstice, Diana gave birth to her and Prince Charles's first son and heir, William. As such, the name John has been considered unlucky by the British Royal Family and its use avoided. It was reported that Diana, Princess of Wales wished to name her elder son "John", after her own father, but was prevented from doing so by royal tradition.
Diana Frances née Spencer was born at Park House, Sandringham in Norfolk, England on 1 July 1961, and was baptised on 30 August 1961 at St. Mary Magdalene Church by the Rt. Rev. Percy Herbert (rector of the church and former Bishop of Norwich and Blackburn), with godparents that included John Floyd (the chairman of Christie's). She was the fourth child to the couple, with older sisters Sarah (born 19 March 1955) and Jane (born 11 February 1957), as well as an infant brother, The Honourable John Spencer (born and died on 12 January 1960). The heir to the Spencer titles and estates, her younger brother, Charles, was born three years after her on 20 May 1964.
Diana was the youngest daughter of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (later the 8th Earl Spencer) who was of British descent and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (formerly the Honourable Frances Burke Roche, and later Frances Shand Kydd) who was of English and Irish descent. She was also a descendant of King James II of England,and there are considerable connections that provoke ideas that she may also be related to the secret ancestry of Jesus and Mary Magdalene's children therefore, also a descendant of John The Baptist.
Two very interesting coordinates that we want to pay very strict attention to here is St. Mary Magdalene's Church located at 51° 32′ 54″ N, 0° 6′ 29″ W and the location of the Jordan River of where John The Baptist and Jesus met to begin His ministry: 33° 11′ 12″ N, 35° 37′ 9″ E. If Jesus was the greatest medium, psychic, alchemist, and channel for healing that the earth has ever experienced, can we safely suggest that a decoy doctrine has been used by powerful entities to suppress the mystical truth about His real mission on earth? Are there ancient structures at specific locations that deliver mystical encoded message, perhaps even prophetic, and more important are there new ones and if so where are they?
IN THE COMING ARTICLES...
Is there a name frequently given to a etheric world intelligence or a human because he has psychic skills? A good connection to cosmic-consciousness is in the name JACK. In the coming articles, we will explore new ideas based on synchronicity and associations of various source materials, to illustrate who these Jacks were and more importantly, what they built into society, and were they got their ideas from, and who financed them. If the builders where adepts, their blueprints for an expansion of both divine consciousness and its anchor on territory to form the fabric of life-as-we-know-it is the 'focal point' between heaven on earth. If so, are these secret traditions continuing to this day and who may these new adepts be? Stay tuned...
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities Mythology, Religion, Literature & Art By Dr. Oskar Seyffert
Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning By Richard Hinckley Allen
Dictionary of Roman Religion By Lesley Adkins, Roy A. Adkins
A Dictionary of Symbols By Juan Eduardo Cirlot
Signs and Symbols in Christain Art By George Ferguson
Symbols: Signs and Their Meaning and Uses in Design By Arnold Whittick
Great Ages of Man, a TIME-LIFE Book: Byzantium By Philip Sherrard
Monday, May 10, 2010
JOHN ADEPT: MYTHOLOGY FOR A NEW GOLDEN AGE 1 of 7
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
Luke 1:1-1:4
ADEPTS FOR THE NEW AGE
There are many mysteries in the world today that words simply can not unlock. The seeds of chance yield unspecified fruit. An acorn, if sown into the earth and grown to maturity, will produce an oak tree. It is the labor of a student that determines the course of a teachers instruction. The more complex we see the material to learn, the more secrecy we see behind it's inner-workings, and it's message is usually the tip to another iceberg. Most adepts are able to fully realize what their mission and their role in that mission is. Meanwhile, we can easily lose the poor listener to the sound of wind blowing through trees in the distance.
A lazy student will someday make a lazy teacher and life's true instructions and purposes then lies dormant. However, man like every intelligent animal being, will always find a way to "pick-the-lock" and make life's noumenal inner-workings easier to understand with a picture, a diagram, or easier yet: a symbol. In a sorted and organized fashion the pupil can recall characteristics previously unseen to the developing eye based on hidden memories deep in recesses of the mind. With time and the right amount of exposure, the student is left to study the brilliance of the work, burned onto the photographic mind, left to ponder it's true, lost significance. The composite is the the myth.
This series of articles for NOW HAPPENED will focus on a lineage of learned adepts named John and their close relationships with various other Johns, James, Jesus and other significant and similar builders of society. Perhaps this illustration of some of our greatest minds will dove-tail into new insights and historical synchronicities between them. With the help of some of our favorite authors, artists, Google and Wikipedia, we will let them unfold their story, reveal their true hidden customs and traditions, and most of all explain the great work they inspired and how they moved the masses with the stroke of a pen.
THE ORIGIN OF JOHN
The name John, meaning "Yahweh is gracious", derives via Latin Iōhannēs and Greek Ἰωάννης, from the Hebrew name יוחנן (Yôḥanan, also transliterated Yochanan).Yochanan was the name of several important rabbis in the Second Temple Period in Israel, such as Yochanan ben Zakai and Yochanan ben Nuri. The New Testament was written in Greek, and the Hebrew name was adapted in Greek as Ἰωάννης, Iōannēs. The name Ioannes became extremely popular among the early Christians, and bearers include such noted members of the early church as Ioannes Chrysostomos.
The name came into use in other parts of the Christianized Roman Empire. The Western areas of the Roman Empire did not, however, speak Greek like the areas in the East. Instead, they spoke Latin. Accordingly, in the Western part of the Roman Empire the name was Latinized as Iohannes (pronounced like the Greek).
The local populations in these areas of the Roman Empire soon changed Roman names to fit their own dialect, which included dropping the suffixes -us and -es from such names. In the Roman sphere of influence, Johannes became the Italian Giovanni, the Germanic Johann, the Hungarian János, and the Slavic languages Ivan, Jan, Ján, Honza and Jovan, and Ion in the area on the Black Sea that is now Romania. On the outskirts of the Empire in the newly converted Ireland it became the Irish Eoin. In some cases, the pronunciation of the original initial "Y"/"I" also changed to variants of "J", so that in Iberia the name eventually changed to the Spanish Juan and the medieval Portuguese Juo/Joane (now João) and Ivo. In Gaul, it became the Old French Jehan and later Jean (pronounced /ʒɑ̃/). In the Occitano-Romance area it became Joan (feminine, Joana) and Jan in Occitan and Catalan, from older Iouan and Iohan.
Jah is the shortened name for God YHWH, and Jehovah most commonly used in the Rastafari movement and the world wide preaching of Jehovah's Witnesses in upwards of 500 languages. It comes from the Hebrew יָהּ = Yah. In the original text of the Hebrew Bible, "Jah" occurs 50 times, 26 times alone and 24 times in the term "Hallelujah". In the King James Version of the Bible it is transliterated as "JAH" or all capital letters, in only a single instance: "Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him." (Psalm 68:4).
Oannes (Hovhannes [Հովհաննես] in Armenian) was the name given by the Babylonian writer Berossus in the 3rd century BC to a mythical being who taught mankind wisdom. Berossus describes Oannes as having the body of a fish but underneath the figure of a man. He is described as dwelling in the Persian Gulf, and rising out of the waters in the daytime and furnishing mankind instruction in writing, the arts and the various sciences.
The name "Oannes" was once conjectured to be derived from that of the ancient Babylonian god Ea, but it is now known that the name is the Greek form of the Babylonian Uanna (or Uan) a name used for Adapa in texts from the Library of Ashurbanipal. The Assyrian texts attempt to connect the word to the Akkadian for a craftsman ummanu but this is a merely a pun. Scholars have long speculated that the name might ultimately be derived from that of the 8th century figure of Jonah (Hebrew Yonah). Bible critics have made the reverse claim, although the Hebrew name has the known meaning of "dove".
The name had gained popularity among Jews in Judea and Galilee by the time the area became a province of the Roman Empire in 6 A.D. and before. John Hyrcanus (יהוחנן), was the first king of the Hasmonean Dynasty, and was the nephew of Judas Maccabeus. It was the given name of Yochanan ben Zechariah, a Jewish prophet known in English as John the Baptist.
THE DEAD SEA TELLS NO TALES: A SCENE IN THE DESERT
The Qumran site near the Dead Sea has always been identified with the Essenes, a Jewish sect descended from an ancient line of high priests. The word Essenes is mostly translated as "pious ones" or "healers". In 152 B.C.E., after leading the Jews into a war of independence, Jonathan, brother of Judas Maccabeus assumed the position of high priest in Jerusalem. This usurpation by a pretender prompted the Essenes to declare the priesthood illegitimate. They broke away from the temple and all ties with their fellow Jews. They even rejected the Jewish calendar and marked the Holy days by their own recordings.
Calling themselves the righteous remnants of Israel, the sect withdrew from society and established monastic-like-brotherhoods, the first in Judaic history. This sect spread in towns through out the country but concentrated on a region between Jericho and the Dead Sea. There separated by the corrupt society of the time, and no longer under authority of the temple, the brothers answered instead to the priesthood who keep the covenant.
One of the Dead Sea Scrolls records that the settles of Qumran lived there for 20 years "like blind men groping their way at noon", until a priestly leader, the teacher of righteousness, rose among them. He was a "man to whom God made known all the mysteries of the words of his servants the prophets". Scholars have failed to identify the teacher; but whoever he was, his followers pined their hopes for salvation on his visionary words.
He instructed the people to interpret the lessons in the Bible, for encoded within scripture were prophesies that might shed some light on current events and end times, concepts that members of the sect viewed as one and the same. The Bible said the teacher, revealed that the wicked would soon be destroyed. In the aftermath, three figures would emerge to restore that Essenes to their rightful place in Jerusalem: A great prophet, a Messiah descended from King David, and a second priestly Messiah, the "Anointed of Aaron". Until that day, the Essenes must dedicate their lives to worship, study, and spiritual purification.
LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS
Aside from the scrolls, the most complete account of Essene organization, initiation, and beliefs comes from the first century Jewish historian Philo Judeaus of Alexandria. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder, also first century, gave additional early descriptions of the sect. All the sources depicted a life defined by hardship, self deprivation, and military style discipline. A complex of hierarchy officials, by a council made up of three priests and 12 layman, governed the community according to strict application of Biblical law.
Members shunned wealth, dressed modestly, took a vow of celibacy, and differed to their superiors. Like fellow Jews, they ceased all activity on the Sabbath. But the Essenes took the practice to greater extremes, and restricted even natural body functions on the Holy days. The initiation practice and process lasted at least three years.
The candidate for membership spent one year living apart from the settlement. Next, he faced an examination, first by the leader then by full assembly. If accepted, he became the apprentice of the sect and then worked his way up to full membership. Josephus reports that the oath of admission included the inductee's solemn promise "forever [to] hate the unjust and fight the battle of just." each new apprentice was issued a linen robe, a loin cloth, and an ax, the last primarily to survive in the wilderness but also to dispose of human waste in accordance with the rules of purity.
After living for a year within the community, the apprentice relinquishes his valuables and assumed some of the responsibilities of the sect. After the second year, he achieved full membership privileges and was permitted to join the communities table. The highly regimented daily routine began after a short nights sleep. The Essene arose in silence before sunrise and donned their robes. The first words they uttered were prayers offered in the direction of the rising sun "as though, entreating him to rise", wrote Josephus.
From the sunrise prayer service they went to their chores, laboring until the mid-day in the fields, flour mill, kitchen, stable, smelting furnaces, and pottery kiln. Some became experts on the healing powers of herbs and gemstones. Others, the community scribes, sat bent over unfurled scrolls meticulously copying scripture. In the late morning they immersed themselves in cold water, disdaining the oil generally used for cleansing, which they thought impure. Then they filed into the refectory to eat the first meal of the day. Afterward, they resumed work until time for a second meal. Evenings were devoted for prayer, worship and the study of scripture.
Punishment for breaking the rules was severe. Transgressors were sometimes deprived of food, a precious commodity in the wilderness. The rations of any member who failed to give his belongings to the community could be reduced to 1/4th, with the offender cut-off from participation in the group for a year. Anyone who fell asleep during a meeting served one months penance; if a man was caught laughing in a boisterous manner, a portion of his food was denied for 30 days. The punishment for indecent dress was meted out over six months. Those who spoke God's name aloud risked expulsion
JOHN THE BABY
On the occasion of the Annunciation to Mary, the archangel Gabriel also told her that her cousin Elizabeth who was also "well stricken with years" and also had been barren, had also conceived a child. These almost exactly recurring forms of miraculous birth were not spiritual cribbings but, rather as examples of the marvelous ways in which sacred events foretold the future and resonated with the past. This particular miraculous birth, that of John the baptist to Elizabeth appears in the Gospel of Luke and predates the apocryphal account of the birth of the Virgin.
The historical Herod was a ruthless man who married many times and was responsible for the death of three of his sons. Late in life, he seemed to have bouts with insanity. Perhaps because of these facts, he became the raging arch-villain, especially in medieval mystery dramas where his role was played to a hilt, with hysterical outbursts and blood-thirsty ravings, to the great delight of audiences.
When Herod realized that the three kings would not help him find the future "King of the Jews" (which was supposed to be Herod's title), He ordered the death of all children under the age of two. Soldiers snatched infants from the arms of their mothers, small bodies were everywhere. It was quickly decided that these children, the first martyrs, went straight to heaven. They became known as the Holy Innocents. Later, artist's tried to work this happy ending into the scene thus, mollify it's horror. The little ones flying straight up into the sky and into the arms of waiting angles. Why wasn't John the Baptist killed in this butchering? Elizabeth hid him under her cloak and fled to the hills. Perhaps the soldiers thought Elizabeth as to old to have such a young child.
As the families grew, so did the family name and tradition. There is also the question of the many Mary's. The plethora of Marys in the Old Testament can be accounted for partly by the fact that Miriam is a common Jewish name. Anna, Mary's mother, had been widowed three times, and each time had a daughter, each who she named Mary. Sons of these Mary's were the "brethren" of Jesus. If we add to this extended family Marys cousin Elizabeth and her child John the baptist, we can imagine Jesus growing up in a noisy of cousins.
In some legends of the flight into Egypt, the Holy family meets up with the young John and his parents on their return. At the Annunciation, we also hear of John kicking Elizabeth's pregnant stomach, indicating his sensitivity to a very close brush with Mary, also pregnant with Jesus. As a grown man John will carry a reed stick with a cross bar lashed to it near the top and occasionally hold a lamb, marking his prophesy of the master to come. When John the Baptist was born he could walk. His old father Zechariah (struck dumb and mute by God after asking for proof of God's divinity), was healed after he reassured Elizabeth of his name to be John, in writing after he was born. The prophesies continue, and the Great Plan begins to unfold.
WAS JOHN THE BAPTIST AN ESSENE?
Scholars have drawn striking parallels between the Essenes and early Christianity. Some have even gone so far to suggest that Jesus may have belonged to sect and was secretly initiated at Qumran. Though this assertion is highly controversial, a better argument can be made that John the Baptist was an raised by Essenes. The Gospel of Luke suggests that even as a child, John lived in Judean wilderness, site of the Qumran settlement. Like the Essenes, he forsook civilization for an ascetic life. Where Essene initiates administered ritual cleansing similar to Baptism, John baptized sinners in the nearby Jordan River. Yet John's name is absent from the scrolls, and nowhere in the Bible is he actually called an "Essene".
It has often appeared strange to Christians that Jesus should have anything to do with baptism, which was explicitly said to be for forgiveness of sins. Surely, He had none? The rugged adept, John The Baptist hesitated to carry out the rite. But Jesus answered him, "Let it be now: it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness."
There are two unique features associated with Jesus baptism - a vision, and a voice. This double testimony was not public, the purpose, mainly for Jesus himself. It marked God's seal on his special mission. The true story of Jesus has never been unfolded to the world, although a few hints may be offered in some commentaries written by the ante-Nicene fathers. The facts concerning his life and mission are among the priceless mysteries present to this day, in the secret vaults beneath the "Houses of the Brethren". To a few of the Knights Templar, who were initiated into the arcana of the Druses, Nazarene, Essene, Johannites and other sects still inhabiting the remote and inaccessible fastnesses of the Holy Land, part of the strange story was told. The knowledge of the Templars concerning the early history in Christianity was undoubtedly one of the main reasons for their persecution and final annihilation.
JOHN'S MINISTRY
John the Baptist and Jesus were almost exact contemporaries, John being six months older. Both were to become preachers with different ministries, but both immensely significant. John lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel. This public appearance came only as a result of a specific call from God to preach repentance and to baptize. It is closely connected with Gods saving grace in Jewish history. John is likened to the prophet Issiah's prediction; "The voice of one crying in the desert". By coming from the desert like Elijah (ELI-JOHN), John could be seen as a second Elijah who was to come. John underlined his prophetic link by wearing the simple clothes, made of camels hair with a leather belt, also worn by Elijah.
His mass appeal was unprecedented: he did not have to come to the people, they came to him. Three places are mentioned as the place he preformed his baptism for those who responded to his preaching by repenting. The three locations are mentioned in Johns Gospel; Bethany on the other side of Jordan, at the level of Jericho, further east at Aenon near Salim, and Batanaia (Bashan in the old testament).
Jesus after his own baptism by John, takes up the same proclamation; Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. Pharisees and Sadducee, heavily attacked by John, came to repent and be baptized, telling them they will have to "produce fruit in keeping with repentance." The Essene are not mentioned, as their view of baptism was different. They performed regular, ritual self-baptisms, after careful initiation, in their own closed community.
John knew that his method of baptism by water was only preparing the way for someone he said would baptize "with the Holy Spirit and with fire." When this man came to him, he recognized Him, proclaiming Jesus, "the Lamb of God". After a brief conversation, in which John protested that it was he who should be baptized, not Jesus, John finally baptizes Jesus and this action marked the official public beginning of Jesus ministry. The next day Jesus would meet his first disciples in Galilee; Andrew, Peter and Philip. John continued his ministry as he moved to Aenon near Salim and later back to the territory of Herod Antipas, who had him arrested.
THE GREAT FORERUNNER
Herod feared a kind of sedition from Johns mass following. Not to mention that John had dared to publicly denounce the adultery Herod had committed with Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. John was then taken to the Fortress of Machaerus, east of the Dead Sea. Herod's own attitude toward John, was a mixture of fear and admiration. From prison, John sent disciples to Jesus to find out if He really was the Messiah. Jesus evident preparation for suffering rather than triumph, for martyrdom rather than judgment, was so unexpected that confirmation seemed necessary. Jesus provided this in a characteristic way, by pointing at all of those aspects of his ministry which the prophets had predicted as the Messiah.
The famous story of Salome, (Herodias daughter) and her dance ends with Johns beheading at the request of Salome perhaps influenced by Herodias after John's denouncement of their affair. Jesus went on to praise John publicly by insisting that "there had never been anyone greater than John the Baptist." Thus John is greater than Elijah, greater even than Moses. he was the last of the prophets truly linking the old covenant with the new. Some John followers are later discovered in the New testament at Ephesus. Later his teachings influenced the baptismal sect of Mandeans.
In the Middle ages, Christians in a world of strife and violence, rediscovered john's unique role as a preacher of repentance. in 1099, crusader knights founded an order in Jerusalem, dedicated to care for the weak, the sick, the poor and to the defense of faith. They called it The Knightly Order of the hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem. Saint John the Baptist is one of the patron saints of Freemasonry and at one time, indeed, the only one. The Name of John the Evangelist having been introduced subsequently in the sixth century. His festival is celebrated on June 24th by the Masonic fraternity.
ON THE NEXT ARTICLE TO COME...
We will next focus on the Dark to Middle Ages and the consciousness explosion in the Renaissance. What is the outcome when a secret fraternities apply a mystical approach to higher earthly values in art, sacred geometry, and the natural sciences. We will focus on the likes of three important of the time: JOHN DEE, JOHANNES BAYER, AND JOHANNES KEPLER. How did these men affect not only the way we our esoteric and exoteric worlds but, our views of space and the cosmos all together. Stay tuned...
UPDATED 06/16/2012 --
After reading the following observations by TBR News we wanted to add them to this particular blog entry:
Washington, D.C. May 8, 2012: “There is fact and then there is fiction. ‘Fact’ is that the sun rises in the east or that water is wet. ‘Fiction’ is that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny exist. One of the things that has always struck me as entertaining is the rage and detestation with which the Evangelical Christians view the gay community. Even more amusing is their view on evolution but I will save that for another time.
Considering the total lack of period reference to their Jesus, coupled with the indisputable fact that the New Testament gospels were written over a hundred years after the fact and subject to constant revision over the centuries, an historian realizes that the New Testament is nothing but propaganda. But to get back to the anti-gay attitudes of the Evangelicals, if they were to actually read the immense body of serious history of the beginning of the Christian era, they would realize that the basic dogmas of the early Christian church were lifted, in toto in most cases, from the doctrines of the Essenes, a period Jewish cult.
If Jesus existed, he must certainly have been an Essene. The problem with this concept is that the Essenes were an all-male communistic community of farmers, despised women and only used them to breed sons. Eventually, the Essenes joined the revolt against Rome and were virtually obliterated by the Romans, and most crucified for rebellion against Rome. A small handful of cult members fled to the hills and were the ones who wrote what are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
There are written in an easily-translated script and have been in the hands of Jewish scholars for almost fifty years. It is rather odd that very little has been published of these period scrolls and it is rather commonly known in the historical community that these scrolls will never be published because they connect Jesus to the Essense and openly espouse a homosexual lifestyle. If this is the case, it is rather ironic that the Evangelical cultists are so anti-homosexual when their founder and leading member was quite evidently a practicing member of a homosexual community. This strikes many historians, and lay people, as rather hypocritical but fanatic cultists are often guilty of hypocrisy.”
Saturday, January 16, 2010
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S GATEKEEPER
Here is a Washington myth-related link that the mainstream loves to put out there. Meanwhile, here is an alternative account from a Washington historian that may ruffle some historical feathers called 'The "Black" Eye on George Washington's "White" House.' We at NOW are not Washington historians but, in both accounts, we can not deny the fact that Washington's teeth weren't altogether his, they belonged to another group of souls. His teeth (gatekeepers) or his mouth (gateway) to these spirits, could prove to be as mysterious as Mona Lisa's smile. We will take a different look at this myth from our opinion and perspective.
The origin of the mouth, excuse me, myth is hard to trace. The better question is, why start a rumor and choose wood despite Washington's maticulous records left behind of his personal errors and political accomplisments? Most importantly, the dentures left behind as proof to the fallacy of the myth didn't stop anyone from spreading the rumor. The first path to take to solve the reasoning behind the myth is the symbolic one. Then, by association, we will form a general theme to link all of the meanings behind these symbols. Therefore, after doing a little reading into it, It seems obvious that the myth is "rooted" in symbolic significance to trees. So this may be one reason for the wooden element to the story, however we should first compare it to an earlier myth from his childhood and then connect the dots all the way to Egypt.
A DIVINE LADDER
"I can not tell a lie." This seems to be the cryptic buzz words for a "cover story", so, he both admits to understanding cover stories and is later praised by his father for "intelligence" on the matter, rather than "lying through his teeth (trees or truth)". It is done by the author that penned the story so, Washington is not to blame for it's authenticity. While reading 'The Cherry Tree' story over again for this post, It wasn't surprising to learn that earlier "he wandered about the garden amusing himself by hacking his mother's pea- sticks". There is a biblical tie in here as well, in terms of the garden as the setting, and the moral played out by two fathers (or feathers) one of them of course, is hidden in the intellect (thought or Thoth).
In analyzing the folk tale, The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean which was included in the 1734 second edition of Round About Our Coal-Fire (a book the Washington's may have owned), it is obvious that English lore was simply mystical lore and that the Giant(s) here could be likened to God. We propose that the quote from the story could simply indicate that Washington had already visited the mystical location in the heavens (the tree of life) and now was after the physical fathers sacred location (the tree of knowledge)on earth.
TESTING THE SON
For Washington, it could represent his symbolic initiation into dominion over territory, furthering his domestic legend, tying in many esoteric ideas. His father confesses in this myth, "My son, that you should not be afraid to tell the truth is more to me than a thousand trees! yes, though they were blossomed with silver and had leaves of the purest gold!" In English lore, a cherry tree planted near the house brings luck, and the luckiest lovers are those who meet for the first time under a cherry tree. In the bible, before Jesus clears the Temple, He curses a fig tree in Mark 12:14 "May no one ever eat your fruit again!". In the fable, Washington's father clearly observing the flaw in his own character, could only reward his son, rather than give him a consequence for the action. Was this a lie or was the tree cursed?
Further, the ornamental and priceless way he describes his own vision of spirtual truth by multiplying silver trees with golden leaves brings the "duck that lays the golden eggs" from the story of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' into perspective, as the alchemical/physical fruit produced by a material God versus the priceless glory of illumination that comes from rejecting it. Jack could be likened to the biblical Jacob and his own ladder to heaven, and most importantly, Jesus and his initiation into channeling God after He meets John the Babtist, cutting out (or chopping down) the earthly middle-man and attempting this even if it means facing death. It was clear that destiny would choose Him.
While in the desert attempting to speak directly to God, Jesus is tempted by Satan three different times. He resists these temptations and then has a vision of himself with an ax chopping down an apple tree. Later, as He appears as a vision to his waiting disciples, he reaches into his body, manifests his heart and tells them to follow Him. With this new found insight as the Messiah, he proceeds to perform mystical signs and wonders such as giving vision to a blind man, turning water into wine, and raising Lazarus from the dead. It seems that the tree here may symbolically represent Rome and after considering what John the Baptist and Jesus spoke about prior to the visions, it also appears to be the case that the tree was rotten from the roots, thus the axe may symbolize love. Jesus goes on to say about the gatekeepers: "There are many standing at the door, but it is the solitary who will enter the bridal chamber."
A CALLING FROM ABOVE OR BELOW?
As we move on, it's not by accident that trees are also closely linked to the pillar and the mountain. Designed to draw water from the earth and reaching up to the heavens, we see it as the ark that sustains life. Washington was well taught, eventually intitated into the highest level of Freemasony. It seems there was a construction of Washington's persona over the years that influnced both the wisdom seeker and the careless student in life. It was a good way to sell both the books based on myth, and those on half truth's where authenitc rumors could sell twice as may novels. Hidden in books and loose paper, our modern history is a mishmash of thought, ink, and pulp from trees.
Backed by the wealthiest bankers, Napoleon, went into Egypt and the Rosetta stone helped in the discovery of truths over our ancestry. As part of the settlement to end the war with France, the Britsh immediatly took possesion of the stone then, a race to decipher the hieroglyphs was on. Backed by his own wealth, Stanley Kubrick, the visionary director and photographer. He produced some of the most important films related to occult and other hidden symbolic subject matter. He was a well studied chess player that spent more than 10 years on a script that was never filmed about Napoleon. He had collected and studied over 500 books on the subject. Instead, he made Barry Lyndon and Full Metal Jacket. In a 1987 interview with Gene Siskel, Kubrick said, "Full Metal Jacket suggests there is more to say about war than it is just bad." He added that everything serious the drill instructor says, such as "A rifle is only a tool, it is a hard heart that kills," is completely true.
KUBRICK'S HOLLY WOOD MAGIC
'Spartacus' was Kubrick's take on slavery and I highly recommend it to anyone, as it is still relevant today in a world of body scanners and RFID chips. Couple that with his other film, 'Barry Lyndon', and it could easily suggests a composite of both Napoleon and George Washington's character through Kubrick's point of view. It seems that Kubrick was a very political and highly esoteric writer. If we remember that the hatchet in 'The Cherry Tree' story was also made of wood, then it follows that the story can now carry multiple meanings.
Symbolically, this also reminds us of the 'Dawn of Man' sequence in Kubrick's 2001:A Space Odyssey, as early man discovers a use for mastering weaponry after following the smooth (Kubrick chose wood) surface of the monolith (pillar) up into the heavens. Later, being rewarded by "divine intelligence" with increasing its dominion into the animal world and revising it's territorial strategy, thus changing the landscape as it goes. One wonders what new landscapes lie ahead in this thirst for knowing more?
One big secret among many in that film is that the future mission's to Jupiter and beyond, are all based on cover stories! Even HAL catches on before the space crew! In Chinese astrology wood is ruled by Jupiter. It is also personified as a God-like man in the Mesopotamian version Marduk. Following the Greeks version in Zeus replaced by that of the Romans Jupiter, which we use today to describe only the planet out in space. Attributes for Jupiter also include the eagle, a sceptre, and a thunderbolt. All of these symbols are used to describe secret and sacred hidden meanings.
THE RESURRECTION MACHINE, AS LIGHT AS AN ATEF.
'The Apotheosis of George Washington' centered in inner occulus of the U.S. Capitol dome, casts a new version of who the new God/man or Gold man became. The enlightened man like the ancient pharaohs buried in golden tombs, their arms crossed with a crook (sceptre or scepTREE) and flail (thunderbolt, God's Teeth or Thoth) engraved into a coffin. They were destined to write the history that we now follow. Most common Egyptians were never heard from again, this is why we can no longer say that slaves built pyramids, as those slaves would have been Hebrew people, and so far their records show a story that contradicts what is obviously a cover story to how the Pyramids of Giza where built and what they were really used for. Mummies were buried in the Valley of the kings, in secret tombs away from the pyramid sites.
The tomb of George Washington is empty, serving it's purpose, likened to an empty sarcophagus. This is at the heart of the mysterious Kings Chamber in Giza. The key to transfiguration. A metaphysical metamorphosis of intelligent man that wanted to hoard what was offered in both the spiritual and material world. So "crooks" in life always had a chance to redeem themselves through the (tree, crook, wood) of knowledge, both good and evil. Perhaps the rumor persisted about Washington's wooden teeth to temporarily conceal the truth behind his use of his own slaves teeth. His reputation is now one that seems to be headed for mythology in a pantheon with Zeus.
FEATHER IN YOUR CAP
In ancient Egypt, Andjety was the local god of the Delta town named Djedu. He was represented in human form with two ostrich feathers (atef) on his head and holding the crook and flail in his hands. At a very early date in Egyptian history, Andjety, who had a close relationship with kingship from the earliest of times, was absorbed into Osiris of Busiris, who became a national god known simply as Osiris. Osiris, of course, was regarded not only as a god but also as a deified deceased king and consequently his insignia, and particularly that of the crook and flail, were treated as symbols of royalty.
We can finish here with Yankee Doodle, a song with a mysterious origin and meaning and a paragraph from one of NOW's favorite author's, Manly P. Hall. Yankee Doodle could be an inspired story taken from ancient esoteric wisdom, simply to sell the latest "cover story" in a time to justify the atrocities of war and racism through hidden spiritual contexts. See this latest ABC article, U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes. Could Jesus be the feather (father) in the cap of cabalists, using references to justify and promote war at any cost necesary to protect these secret traditions? Or is there something else going on? It could be that the feather provided by Ma'at (MAC-aroni or Maat-crown) at the weighing of the heart ceremony in the afterlife could be the second (hidden) feather associated with Andjety.
I see another snarl of men
A digging graves they told me,
So 'tarnal long, so 'tarnal deep,
They 'tended they should hold me.
It scared me so, I hooked it off,
Nor stopped, as I remember,
Nor turned about till I got home,
Locked up in mother's chamber.
Does the gatekeeper lie within? From HEALING: THE DIVINE ART by Manly P. Hall:
"The [pineal] gland and it's auraus constitute a microcosm. The cabalists perfectly symbolized the mystery in their Sephirothic tree. The first and the highest part of this tree they called the Kether; it corresponds to the pineal gland. Chochmah, and Binah, the second and third spheres, correspond to the right and left lobes of the cerebrum. In the cabalistic writings it is stated that the ten parts of the Sepherothic tree represents the ten parts of the human body, but that all of these parts exist primarily within the Kether itself. Thus the whole tree is within the crown (Kether) in principia. Likewise, the whole body and the whole life of man is within the magnetic field of the pineal gland, the light radiating from which is the crown."
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