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
