A Festival of Lost Meanings

image: Wikimedia commons (link). Background: Butterfly Nebula (link).

Halloween is one of the most important and esoterically meaningful days of the entire annual cycle, and yet according to Alvin Boyd Kuhn it has become "a festival of lost meanings," in which although "the form survives, the meaning is lost."

In an essay entitled "Halloween, a Festival of Lost Meanings," Kuhn explains that the great cycle depicted in the zodiac of the heavens serves in the ancient wisdom of the world as "a pictorial or semantic representation of man's divine soul as it swung round the repeated cycles of life in many incarnations on the earth" (7 - 8, original pagination).

This great cycle, representative of the cycle of the soul in its own cycling down into incarnation and back again, multiple times, was divided into quadrants by the four stations of the two solstices and two equinoxes, and festivals associated with those four stations conveyed profound truths about the corresponding turning points in our soul's own cycle. 

As a festival associated with one of these four very significant points, Kuhn argues, Halloween thus "carries one-fourth of the symbolic representation of human life depicted in the great zodiacal figure or graph devised by the sapient genius of ancient Sages" (7).

Celebrated forty days after the day of the September equinox -- a period of time equating to the gestation of the child inside the womb of the mother, which is forty weeks (see page 10 in Kuhn's essay) -- the ancient tradition of Halloween (which has parallels in other ancient festivals given different names in different cultures) depicts our predicament when plunged into the incarnate world, in which incarnate souls "enwrapped in the coats of animal skins, their divine potential reduced if not smothered by the deadening blanket of the body's sensuous life" forget their true nature and believe themselves to be "the physical creatures they outwardly were" (26). 

The costumes worn on this night, often grotesque, sensuous, or animalistic serve to picture the reality of our incarnate situation, by conveying the metaphorical juxtaposition of, in Kuhn's words, "a being potentially of god stature glaring out through the eyes and features of an animal, a god grimacing like a beast" (26).

And yet, as Kuhn also discusses in this important essay, the descent into this life is essential for our development and growth:

For it is out of reflection of the consequences of our acts that mind is born. And only when mind assumes full direction of the soul's employment of the life forces will the still higher birth of spirit be brought to pass. Even the fool's folly becomes in the end, through the pain that follows it, life's appointed schoolmaster, our pedagogue in growth. Out of our wildest orgies eventually emerge the principles of wisdom. 33

Later in the same discussion, he argues that soul and body may seem to be at odds with one another, but their apparent battle is not meant to "terminate in the victory of the one and the destruction of the other" but rather that "It is going to eventuate in the wedding of the two when they have learned to like each other well enough to harmonize their opposing forces in equilibrium and stabilization in complementary fulfillment of the functions of both. All polar opposition is to be consummated in the union of the two . . ." (35).

The essay goes on to discuss the importance of symbols strongly associated with Halloween, including the Moon, the jack-o-lantern, witches, ghosts, and masks. 

Kuhn's essay also approaches the awe-inspiring goddess Hecate of ancient Greece (pictured above, in her triform aspect), who is associated with crossroads (and thus, Kuhn argues, with the union of the forces of soul and sense -- and by "sense" Kuhn means the body, the senses, sensuality, and physicality). He examines the possible connection between the name of the goddess and the number six, as well as with the word "hex" (which, of course, signifies the number six), as well as with the descent into the darkness but also with the guiding of the soul by the light of her twin torches (and see another ancient depiction of the triform goddess Hekate or Hecate, this time with three Kharites or "Charities," who were known as the Gratiae or "Graces" in Latin -- bringing the number depicted to six).

The importance of the descent into the darkness is also explored in great depth in the profoundly important book In the Dark Places of Wisdom, by Peter Kingsley (which has been discussed in previous posts such as this one and this one).

There, Peter Kingsley writes:

Those people realized there's something very important hidden in the depths. For them it wasn't only a question of confronting a little bit of darkness inside themselves -- of dipping their feet in their feelings, paddling in the pond of their emotions and trying to bring them into the light of day. It was a question of going right through the darkness to what lies at the other end. 69

Later in the same discussion, he says: "To reach there, you have to go down into the darkness [ . . . ]" (71).

Indeed, his description has many echoes of the cross-road described by Alvin Boyd Kuhn in his discussion of the importance of the goddess Hecate -- particularly when Peter Kingsley writes that this journey takes the one who pursues it "to the point where all the opposites meet" (70).

There is a deep teaching in this descent into the darkness and the quest for the place "where all the opposites meet." Alvin Boyd Kuhn argues that Halloween is a festival designed to feed and nourish our spiritual health -- but that we are practically starving our minds because we now chew only on the "dead outer husk" of what was given to us to serve as "sublime truth" (6).

This Halloween, in addition to observing the season's festivities, I would recommend taking the time to visit Alvin Boyd Kuhn's essay on "Halloween: A Festival of Lost Meanings" which can easily be read in an hour or so, as well as meditating on Peter Kingsley's In the Dark Places of Wisdom, which takes more than a day to read but which is best consumed slowly (in my opinion) and savored and chewed upon rather carefully.

Even if you have read them previously, this point in the year's annual cycle is an excellent place to visit them again.

image: Wikimedia commons (link). Background: Pelican nebula (link).

New video: Shipwrecks and Stars

Here is a new video that I just published entitled "Shipwrecks and Stars: from the Depths of the Sea to the Oceans Above."

The video explores the amazing and recently-published discovery of the oldest intact shipwreck in the world, a ship from ancient Greece found at the bottom of the Black Sea by the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project.

Articles discussing this extremely significant find can be found here, here, here, here and here (among other places on the web).

The ship, which has been dated as being about 2,400 years old, has drawn numerous comparisons to the ship depicted on the famous Siren Vase, which depicts a scene from the Odyssey in which Odysseus and his companions must pass by the island of the Sirens, supernatural beings who lure sailors to their deaths with bewitching songs.

The video discusses this comparison, and its significance, in light of the fact that ancient myth from around the world (including this episode from the Odyssey) can be shown to be based upon a common esoteric system of celestial metaphor -- and the fact that ancient artists appear to have encoded such celestial metaphor into their art as well.

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

U-shaped chemtrails and their ramifications

Suspicious airborne trails photographed by the author above Central Coast of California, October 26, 2018.

I wasn't planning to write on this topic today, but while driving along this beautiful western edge of the North American continent where I live, I happened to notice some extremely suspicious "persistent contrails" in the sky, and felt that they were worth sharing to illustrate the undeniable fact that something is going on without the consent of the people, and indeed without even the admission that it is taking place.

Not only is something being deliberately sprayed into the air in an ongoing campaign, but the very existence of that activity is denied and those who point out the overwhelming and obvious evidence are ridiculed as "conspiracy theorists."

Above is an un-retouched section of a photograph that I took this morning of two persistent contrails (or, as they are more appropriately and popularly known, two chemtrails) forming two distinctive U-turn patterns in the sky, and crossed by a third and shorter chemtrail.

Below, for context, is the full photograph, which shows that these U-shaped "horseshoe chemtrails" which I witnessed this morning were present in the context of several other chemtrails, none of which were curved in this dramatic fashion:

Suspicious airborne trails photographed by the author above Central Coast of California, October 26, 2018.

The view is of US Highway 101 (the westernmost north-south highway in the US Highway System), facing south. The twin horseshoe chemtrails can be seen just above the lowest point of the mountainous horizon, just above the point where the highway itself disappears from view.

Those who deny the obvious evidence that someone, for reasons unstated, has for years been carrying on a campaign of spraying something into the air in the skies above populated country, calling the suggestion a "conspiracy theory" generally insist that the trails which are popularly known as "chemtrails" are simply ordinary contrails from "normal water-based contrails routinely left by high-flying aircraft under certain atmospheric conditions" (as stated in the dismissive Wikipedia entry entitled "Chemtrail conspiracy theory" which ridicules the possibility that these trails in the sky could be anything else besides routine condensation trails).

If these are trails left by ordinary "high-flying aircraft" such as passenger jets just going about their business, carrying passengers to and from their routine destinations, then an obvious question would be: "Why would an ordinary plane choose to make such a dramatic horseshoe pattern in the sky?" 

I have been on many passenger flights and I have never had a single one of them make a screeching U-turn during its travels such as the U-turns which created the chemtrails shown in the above images. 

Nevertheless, we could argue that an airplane might at some point be required to make such a dramatic U-turn for some reason -- one never knows. However, the obvious problem which is raised by the photographic evidence above is the fact that not one but two different airplanes obviously decided to make a very similar U-turn in a very similar part of the sky, at just about the very same time this morning, in order to leave the trails that you can see in the image.

Surely the possibility that not one but two different planes on routine flights decided to execute hairpin turns at about the same time would seem to be extremely unlikely. Thus, the confident (and condescending) tone of the Wikipedia articles dismissing the "chemtrail conspiracy theory," and which consistently proclaim that the phenomenon known as "chemtrails" is simply caused by "normal water-based contrails routinely left by high-flying aircraft under certain atmospheric conditions" would seem to be called into question by the evidence of "persistent contrails" in shapes that clearly indicate that they were not created by aircraft following routine flight patterns whatsoever.

The flight patterns indicated by the photograph above would have to be described as anything but "routine" by anyone who has any familiarity at all with flying on aircraft back and forth across the country.

And the dramatic horseshoe-shaped U-turn chemtrails which I saw in the sky this morning are by no means the only such "non-routine" shapes that I have seen when observing chemtrails over the Central Coast of California.  Below is another such chemtrail which I personally observed and photographed, on June 23, 2014, over a residential area of San Luis Obispo, California:

Suspicious airborne trails photographed by the author above Central Coast of California, June 23, 2014.

Once again, here is clear evidence that these chemtrails are not the product of condensation that is "routinely left by high-flying aircraft." To describe the flightpath of the aircraft which left the chemtrail shown above as "routine" would be completely absurd. Have any readers ever been on a "routine" flight which meandered across the sky while executing such sharp turns as those demonstrated in the photograph above? The turns made by the aircraft which produced the above chemtrail are beyond "hairpin turns" -- they are practically curlicues ("curly-cues").

I blogged about the chemtrail phenomenon, and included the above photograph, in this post from June of 2014.

And, once again, the above S-curves are by no means unique. Just a couple months before observing the dramatic curlicue contrail pictured above, I photographed this oxbow-shaped chemtrail, also above the city of San Luis Obispo, in April of 2014:

Suspicious airborne trails photographed by the author above Central Coast of California, April 23, 2014.

As you should be able to see, the pilot of the above aircraft (assuming this aircraft even had a pilot, and was not some kind of computer-driven or remotely-controlled plane) has executed a sweeping curve across the sky -- a pattern which I have never experienced during any commercial air flight that I have ever taken when traveling from one city to another. 

In case you are having trouble seeing the parabola-shaped curve of the chemtrail in the above photo, here is a second shot of the same chemtrail from April 2014, taken just a few minutes later, in which I have added a series of small red-and-white arrows pointing to the sweep of the chemtrail's path:

Suspicious airborne trails photographed by the author above Central Coast of California, April 23, 2014.

Once again, I blogged about this chemtrail back in 2014 as well -- interested readers can visit that post here. That post contains another photograph, taken just a few seconds after the above photograph was taken, showing some chemtrails in an adjacent part of the sky (basically, to the left of the image above, which is to say to the north) which are perfectly straight and all parallel to one another -- which refutes any critic who might argue that the dramatic bend in the above-pictured chemtrail might be caused by "wind shear" or other atmospheric phenomenon.

Photographs such as those shown above should leave little doubt that these persistent trails are not the product of "routine high-flying" passenger jets plying their way across the skies to take people to their various destinations. Someone is spraying something, out of aircraft which usually follow straight-line paths but which occasionally make dramatic turns, oxbows, and S-curves -- for reasons unknown.

The fact that this activity is not publicly debated by the legislative bodies established by the Constitution which sets out to establish a democratic representative republic in the united states -- and that this activity is actually denied, as though it is not going on at all -- indicates that we are not actually living in a democracy (or a democratic republic) as established by the Constitution.

If you lie to the people and tell them that some activity is not taking place, then no one can possibly argue that this activity is approved by the public (or by their elected representatives).

It is one thing for such activity to be going on above the heads of the people, and for some percentage of the population to disagree that such activity should be taking place. There could be public debate about the reasons why it is necessary, and those running in elections could make their opinions on the subject known to the voters, who could weigh their position on that issue along with the views of that candidate on other issues, before deciding on who they want to vote for.

But it is an entirely different matter for that activity to be going on in secret, with no debate, and indeed with active denial that it is taking place at all (even though it has obviously been going on for years) -- and to call anyone who brings up the obvious evidence that such spraying is taking place a "conspiracy theorist."

Indeed, the Wikipedia entry on the so-called "Chemtrail conspiracy theory" (which is linked above and a screenshot of which is included at the bottom of this post) consistently refers to those who believe that these trails represent something more than "routine water-based condensation trails" not only as "conspiracy theorists" but as anti-government conspiracy theorists. The Wikipedia entry cites belief in chemtrails as an example of "anti-government paranoia" and as being "particularly favored by right-wing groups because it fits well with deep suspicion of government."

However, as I have just explained, this activity is going on without any democratic debate, completely outside of the established organs of democratic government. I am neither right-wing (far from it) nor against government: I believe that a democratic government is supposed to represent the will of the people, and thus I am pro-government. 

The government should properly represent the power of the people (acting through their elected representatives in accordance with the Constitution) to stop criminal behavior, such as anti-competitive behavior on the part of large corporations (outlawed by anti-trust laws enacted during the last decade of the nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth century), or the sale of adulterated food products and pharmaceuticals (prohibited by various laws  such as the Pure Food and Drug Act enacted during the first decade of the twentieth century and by the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration around 1930), or the deliberate pollution of streams and waterways (outlawed by various acts passed during the second half of the twentieth century, and by the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970) -- and to this list of behavior which I believe the people, through their government, have the power to regulate and prohibit I would add the deliberate spraying of unknown substances from aircraft in high volumes and going on for years on end.

If we indeed lived in a democracy (or a democratic republic), then it would not be seen as "anti-government" to insist that such spraying be brought under the authority of the democratically-elected government. As it is, this spraying is going on without any democratic oversight whatsoever. Indeed, so far is it from being under democratic oversight, that the people are being deliberately told that it is not going on at all, and that anyone who draws the obvious conclusions from the evidence they can see with their own eyes over their heads on just about any given day of the week must be some kind of "right-wing" conspiracy theorist, exhibiting "anti-government paranoia."

Why the idea that a democratic government should have the authority to regulate the ongoing spraying of unknown substances into the air above our heads is "right-wing" is not explained in the Wikipedia article (or the sources it cites).

Why calls by citizens to their elected officials in the government to look into this obvious spraying is an example of "anti-government" sentiment (or, worse, "paranoia") is similarly not explained.

In fact, it is not explained because it is ludicrous and contradictory on its very face. The Wikipedia article (and the various "authoritative" articles that it cites in support of its condescending dismissal of the "chemtrail conspiracy theory") is not meant to inform: it is meant to ridicule, bully, and silence anyone who entertains the idea that the trails they are seeing in the sky could be anything other than "normal water-based contrails routinely left by high-flying aircraft."

This issue is an important issue -- but it is only one such example of an issue in which official sources can be seen to be deliberately lying to the people, which is profoundly undemocratic and indicates that something is gravely amiss with the current state of affairs. If official sources (including those cited by the Wikipedia article, which cites government sources denying that these persistent contrails represent deliberate spraying) will lie about this issue, then it stands to reason that they will lie about other matters, and indeed there is overwhelming evidence that they are lying about other matters as well.

Below is another image of the U-shaped chemtrails which I observed this morning (taken about ten minutes before the image shown above), as well as the latest version of the Wikipedia article ridiculing the "Chemtrail conspiracy theory." Interested readers can compare this latest Wikipedia entry with a screenshot I made of the Wikipedia entry on the "Chemtrail conspiracy theory" back in 2013 in this previous blog post. Unfortunately, that screenshot from 2013 does not include the entire Wikipedia entry, but it does include the first couple paragraphs, and as you can see, the language has changed since then (to become even more adamant that chemtrail believers are unscientific, and that their arguments are "flawed" and based on "misconceptions"). Obviously, Wikipedia remains steadfast over the course of many years in calling the idea of deliberate chemtrail spraying a "conspiracy theory," despite the clear evidence that these trails are not being laid down by routine jet aircraft flying along on ordinary flight paths.

We are being lied to.

Suspicious airborne trails photographed by the author above Central Coast of California, October 26, 2018.

The gods are real, part 2: Christopher Knowles and the ancient Mysteria

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

Here is a link to another important interview with Christopher Knowles, this one from July of 2017 (scroll down to the interview date of 07/09/2017). The interview, by Dr. Bob Hieronimus on 21st Century Radio, is divided into two separate files online, each containing one hour of the interview. 

Here for convenience are links to hour one and hour two of the interview. In order to download the interview to a mobile device, you can "right-click" (or "control-click") on the following two links: hour one and hour two. If you right-click (or control-click) on this second set of links, that action should bring up a pulldown menu, which contains a choice to "download linked file as" (select this option and save each file to a folder where you can find it, after which you can upload each file to iTunes, for example, and then export each one from there to a mobile device, or burn them to a pair of CDs).

In his research, Chris Knowles discovers an amazing amount of evidence which points very strongly to the conclusion that the Invisible Realm is absolutely real, despite what we have been conditioned to believe during our decades of schooling, as well as by a formidable array of reinforcing messages from various branches of the media after we complete our years of formal education.

In this interview, he lays out a very comprehensive argument regarding the reasons he believes that ancient "archetypes" (which he argues to be another name for ancient deities, who are very real) manifest themselves in modern life, despite efforts to repress or forget them. 

In an extremely important display of insightful analysis, Christopher Knowles sees a connection between the use of loud music (and, at times, entheogenic plants and fungi) in the ancient mysteria and in the ecstatic music of modern rock n' roll and its many branches, permutations, and counter-reactions or counter-movements (including punk). 

As he explains in this interview, and in his other work, in both cases the use of specific symbology and specific techniques (including loud music but also special effects including stage effects and lighting effects) is intended to deliberately evoke the power of the Other Realm -- and not just in a symbolic sense, but to actually achieve direct interaction with the gods.

As an example of the parallels between the ancient Mysteries and the modern music scene beginning especially in the 1960s and continuing in successive generations and permutations since then, Mr. Knowles cites the example of the Corybantes or Korybantes, who were said to bang loudly on their shields with their swords as a form of ecstatic percussion in certain ancient mysteria, and who are depicted in the famous Parabiago Plate (or Platera di Parabiago) shown above. In fact, in that ancient artwork, the Corybantes are shown accompanying the goddess Cybele, who is discussed at some length in the above-linked interview with Christopher Knowles. 

Cybele, the Corybantes, and the ancient mysteria are also discussed at length in my 2014 book The Undying Stars, as well as in the later book Star Myths of the World, Volume Two (Myths of Ancient Greece).

In the above-linked interview, Christopher Knowles gives a very comprehensive look at his theory regarding what could be going on with the powerful re-emergence of these extremely ancient patterns, and at one point posits the idea that the extreme trauma of the post-WW2 decades (including  the trauma created by the nuclear arms race and the pervasive sense of dread it engendered, as well as that created by the u.s. involvement in the Vietnam War during the years 1964 - 1975) may have triggered the re-emergence of these supernatural archetypes.

While I believe that is a very valid argument and a distinct possibility, I would also suggest that other forces might be at work, including deliberate, intentional, and fairly well-informed steps to evoke these kinds of supernatural forces by certain elements within the music and film industries beginning in the 1950s and continuing from there. These possible explanations are not mutually exclusive, and I would venture to guess that Mr. Knowles would also agree that multiple possible explanations could be at work in this case.

Whatever the explanation, the evidence and analysis which Christopher Knowles is writing about in his blog and in his books, and discussing in his various interviews, is extremely compelling, extremely important, and must not be overlooked by those trying to determine "what's going down" in the modern world and particularly in the trajectory of the past five or six decades.

This previous post links to two other important interviews featuring Chris Knowles and his work, and contains some additional discussion.

I believe that this topic, and the specific evidence that Mr. Knowles discusses in his research, relates directly to the practice of invoking the gods or taking on the identity of specific gods and goddesses through costume and drama, which appears to be found in cultures literally around the globe, from ancient Greece and ancient India to the Americas and China (and many others as well), discussed in this previous post entitled "Sacred ritual drama and the realm of the gods."

Note that in all of those cultures, the act of evoking the gods appears to involve loud music, driving percussive instruments, and ritual dance.

I would also add that, as the work of Mr. Knowles makes abundantly clear, the power of the gods and of the divine realm is not to be taken lightly or approached casually at all. The link in the paragraph above regarding sacred ritual drama and the realm of the gods discusses the very serious traditions observed by players in Cantonese opera down through the centuries, which they were very careful not to violate. 

There is also the question of the ultimate purpose of this potential connection with the divine realm, which is examined in many different ancient myths which all follow a roughly similar pattern, in which a mortal is asked to choose a gift from a god or goddess. In the Old Testament book of I Kings, the figure of Solomon is given just such a choice -- and the text tells us that he asked for wisdom in order to help others and to promote justice, a choice which pleased the Almighty. 

The ancient text tells us that the Lord specifically states that he is pleased that Solomon did not ask for riches, or long life, or power over his enemies, or even the destruction of the lives of his enemies -- thus telling us, according to the record of the of the world's ancient wisdom, the proper purpose of contact with the Infinite Realm. Other myths from other cultures which follow the same pattern demonstrate the negative consequences of making the wrong choice -- such as the story of the Judgment of Paris, who asks for the most beautiful woman in the world (thus launching the Trojan War), or the story of the choice of King Midas, who asks for wealth and riches (and learns, to his dismay, that the ability to turn everything to gold is actually a curse and not a blessing).

The work of Christopher Knowles points very strongly to the possibility that certain groups have preserved the knowledge and ability of making contact with the realm of the gods -- and they may not be motivated by the desire to gain greater wisdom in order to help the people and to prevent injustice, as advocated in the record of the world's ancient wisdom.

I would strongly recommend supporting and following his work, as a source of very important information and analysis regarding the events we see taking place around the world (and indeed in our very own country and very own neighborhood, as well as in the events which have shaped the world during the past several decades). 

When we realize that the gods are real, and that they do indeed manifest in some way in individual men and women, it should help us become more serious about blessing and not cursing (which is something urged in the ancient texts and traditions of many, many cultures around the globe), and about uplifting others rather than putting them down (and working to not put ourselves down, at the same time).

And, one other important and very hopeful ramification of this information is the realization that although the power of this knowledge can be (and has been -- and continues to be) used by some for their own self-promotion, power, and enrichment, the ancient myths and scriptures are quite clear that the power of the gods stands ready to help in the fight against oppression and injustice. This is the message delivered by the god Thor himself, in the poignant story of Thor's visit to King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway. It is also seen in the assistance given by the goddess Athena to Odysseus and his family in the Odyssey of ancient Greece, as she (along with other gods, including Hermes) helps him to return home and to deal with the usurping suitors who are destroying his household and plotting to marry Penelope and murder Telemachus.

The same message is found in many other myths and sacred stories from around the globe.

---------------------

For the previous post entitled "The gods are real," follow this link.

New video: Excerpts from Star Myths Volume Four (Norse Mythology)

Above is a new video I've just published entitled "Baldr the beloved dying god figure in Norse Myth: Excerpts from Star Myths Volume Four."

It's a video of me reading an extended series of excerpts from my latest book. These passages focus on the incredibly important figure of the god Baldr (whose name is sometimes spelled "Balder" for speakers of modern English).

I hope you enjoy the message of this new video. As always, please feel free to leave feedback and if you feel moved to do so give it a thumbs-up or subscribe to the YouTube channel to receive immediate notification of future videos.

The antidote to censorship: "Like public land, water and the air itself, these frequencies are in the public domain"

image: Wikimedia commons (link, and background image link).

An extremely noteworthy and negative event took place last week, largely unreported by the corporate-controlled media: in a coordinated purge, Facebook and Twitter deactivated the accounts of hundreds of independent media pages, some of them with hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers, just a few weeks prior to a major election.

Articles describing this coordinated purge of accounts can be found here, here, and here. Lee Camp and Eleanor Goldfield's overly profanity-laden but still substantive discussion of this important topic can be heard (or downloaded) here.

The fact that the personal Twitter accounts of some of the individuals associated with the pages that were purged from Facebook were simultaneously suspended for no specific reason (such as the Twitter account of Anti-Media editor Carey Wedler, discussed here) is a particularly ominous development and demonstrates that last week's deletion of accounts was coordinated across two major platforms for publication and political expression.

One standard response to this outrageous action by Facebook and Twitter (and to similar coordinated censorship involving Google and its YouTube platform in previous months) is that "these are private companies, and they can do what they want." 

This opinion is so widespread that it is raised as a possible counter-argument by both Carey Wedler in her video linked above and in the podcast by Lee Camp and Eleanor Goldfield, although in both cases they argue that the "private companies can do whatever they want" assertion is invalid. Carey, Lee and Eleanor are correct: the argument that private companies such as Facebook and Twitter can do whatever they want is invalid, although the counter-arguments offered in the video and podcast linked above are somewhat tentative.

It should be blatantly obvious that this coordinated act of political censorship is completely morally reprehensible and in fact patently illegal -- notwithstanding the fact that both Facebook and Twitter are private corporations. 

However, many in the "alternative" community are somewhat conflicted on this issue, because of the widespread adoption of the seductive but badly mistaken ideology of libertarianism, which believes there is little that cannot and should not be privatized, and rejects the idea that the government of the people should act as a counterbalance against the privatization of that which properly belongs to the public itself. As Professor Michael Hudson says in this regard, "Libertarianism thus serves as a handmaiden to oligarchy as opposed to democracy" (see full quotation on page 142 of his essential text, J is for Junk Economics, which is quoted in previous posts such as this one and this one).

The solution to the dilemma is to realize that the airwaves (or, more precisely, the electromagnetic spectrum) are part of the public domain: they are the gifts of the gods -- or, if you prefer, the gifts of Nature -- to all the people, not to a privileged few. Professor Hudson, who is deeply versed in the history of economic thought and in the counterattack that was launched by the proponents of "junk economics" against classical economics beginning at the end of the nineteenth century and on through the twentieth century, gets to the heart of this issue in a lengthy but extremely thought-provoking discussion that was recorded in 2004 with Standard Schaefer of Counterpunch, entitled "How Privatization Sterilizes Culture."

Note that this interview was recorded in 2004, the very year that Facebook was initially launched and long before Facebook was the media giant that it has since grown to become. Indeed, Facebook was not even opened up to the general public until 2006 -- and the very first generation of the iPhone (which would radically transform internet use and the power of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter) was not even launched until 2007. Twitter was not created until 2006 either.

In that 2004 interview, Professor Hudson declares that "the air waves are a natural monopoly" and that "like public land, water and the air itself, these frequencies are in the public domain."

The government, which in a democracy or a democratic republic should represent the people, has a vested interest in preserving the public domain for the use of all of the people. However, as Professor Hudson explains in that interview, the government failed to perform that duty during the first half of the twentieth century, and auctioned off the spectrum (the "airwaves") at fire-sale prices to be privatized, primarily to those with inside connections. 

And, as those who have read Yasha Levine's outstanding 2018 book Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet, the exact same pattern has been followed with the internet itself.

In Professor Hudson's 2004 interview, linked above, he explains that this pattern of giving away the public domain mirrors the giveaway of public land to the railroads during the nineteenth century (and created the same kind of multi-billion dollar wealth for those who benefit from these giveaways). Professor Hudson notes that the electromagnetic spectrum is technically not "owned" by the tech and telecom companies who license that spectrum from the government, but that they are paying 1920s prices for that spectrum, and that the government does not charge taxes anywhere near appropriate to the value of the public resource (the spectrum) that they are essentially giving away.

The classical economists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as Professor Hudson explains in J is for Junk Economics and in his other books, articles, and interviews, saw the gifts of nature (including "land, water, mineral rights, airwaves" etc, as he writes on page 60) as belonging to the public, and argued that these gifts were "best administered in society's long-term interest via government or a community, not monopolized by rentiers as the ultimate takeover objective of finance capital," which is exactly what has taken place in so many areas of society today under neoliberalism (accelerating, as Professor Hudson points out, after 1980).

Thus, the electromagnetic spectrum is a gift of Nature (or of the gods), just as are the air we breathe, the water in the streams and rivers and lakes, the growing power of the soil to produce crops and trees and lumber, the mineral wealth under the soil, the ports and harbors along the coastline, and indeed even the rays of sunlight which give life to every living creature and growing thing on our planet. 

The electromagnetic spectrum does not belong to Facebook.

It does not belong to Google.

It does not belong to Twitter.

It does not belong to Amazon.

It is a gift of Nature (or the gods) to all the people of the land, just as are the rivers and mountains and forests and the air we breathe.

The government -- which represents the people, according to the founding documents of this nation --  does not just have a right to administer that electromagnetic spectrum in society's long-term interest: it has an absolute duty to do so.

Facebook and Twitter, it should be pointed out, would not have much of a business without access to the electromagnetic spectrum over which their websites are broadcast -- and they are using that electromagnetic spectrum at the pleasure of the people, whose will is supposed to be represented by the government of the people, in a democracy or democratic republic such as that envisioned by the founding documents of this country. 

Obviously, the government can be captured by corrupt forces of cronyism who give away what rightfully belongs to the people (and thus give away that which by rights cannot be given away to be privatized for the benefit of just a few) -- and this exact form of cronyism and the pattern of giving away of the public domain to a few well-connected insiders has played itself out over and over in our nation's history (including in the examples cited by Professor Hudson in the above-linked interview).

However, the solution for that cronyism is for the people to wake up, and exercise their right to demand that such illegal giveaways be reversed. And, in the case of corporations who are using the public platforms they have built on top of what is, in fact, the public domain to abridge the freedom of speech, and the press, and the right of the people "peaceably to assemble," the people must demand that their representative government put an immediate stop to such illegal behavior by those companies -- which in this case includes Facebook and Twitter.

The supreme law of the land, enshrined in the Constitution, acknowledges that the freedom of speech, and of the press, and of the right to peaceably assemble are inalienable rights. Those rights are now being threatened, as a result of the egregious and lamentable giveaway of the public domain (discussed at greater length in the Michael Hudson interview) and the abject failure of the elected government (over the course of the past 100 years) to properly administer that public domain in the best interest of society and the people at large.

Because of that privatization, and that abdication, companies such as Facebook and Twitter have in large part become the public forum for the expression of ideas and political opinions. They must not be allowed to abridge the right of the people to peaceably assemble, or to express their ideas in a peaceable manner in the public forum. 

I would argue that this struggle goes all the way back to the destruction of the ancient wisdom that was given to all societies on earth in remote antiquity. The ancients understood that the gifts of flowing fresh water, or of the produce of the harvest, came from the invisible realm -- the realm of the gods. The story in Greek myth of the giving of the olive tree to the people of Athens, by the goddess Athena, is a good example which illustrates this principle. 

Staying with ancient Greece, they likewise understood the bounty of the harvest to be a gift from the goddess Demeter, and the riches of mineral wealth locked away beneath the soil to be given by the god of the Underworld. If we had to identify the god with whom the bounty of the electromagnetic spectrum would have been understood to be associated, it would most likely be Zeus himself (see image above).

The advent of literalist Christianity, and especially the series of events which led to its installation across the Roman Empire, led directly to the overturning of this understanding in the territories over which Rome exercised power -- and eventually to centuries of feudalism, during which the gifts of the gods to all the people were usurped for a small, well-connected segment of the population. The classical economists, with their focus on taxing rentier privilege and natural monopolies, wanted to undo the oppressive structures that characterized the feudal system -- and they were making significant progress in that direction throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, before the rentiers struck back.

But the cause of these rentiers and privatizers is ultimately doomed, because they do not have a leg to stand on. Their cause is not merely unjust -- it goes against the law of the universe itself. That which properly belongs to the gods, and which is given by the gods to the people of the land, cannot ever really be sold-off, or given away. It does not belong to the privatizers, who cannot claim to own the rivers, lakes, forests, aquifers, oil reserves, fresh air, or electromagnetic spectrum, any more than they can claim to own the sun itself.

To claim otherwise is to go against the deathless gods themselves -- and that path is always shown to be a path of folly and of ultimate destruction, in the timeless wisdom of the ancient myths, scriptures and sacred stories given to the ancestors of every man and woman on this planet.

Important article from Bibhu Dev Misra on the ancient petroglyphs of Maharashtra, India

images: 

Top left: Petroglyph in Maharashtra, India. From Bibhu Dev Misra's post, "12,000-year old petroglyphs in India show Global Connections." 

Top right: Winged scarab, tomb of Tutankhamun. Wikimedia commons (link).

Bottom: Screenshot from Stellarium.org, showing stars of the zodiac constellation of Cancer the Crab. Colors inverted. Outlines drawn-in based upon constellation-outlining system suggested by H. A. Rey in 1952.

Several years ago, I wrote a blog post entitled "Gaps and Biases" in which I argued that the clues regarding humanity's ancient past resemble those we might encounter in a complex mystery story, and that the example of Scooby Doo and the gang (consisting of Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Velma, and Daphne -- each of whom clearly displays a variety of strengths and weaknesses, biases, predilections, and predispositions) might better illustrate what it will take to solve the puzzle than the example of Sherlock Holmes, who (while extraordinarily talented) was only one person.

In that post, I argued that unraveling the mystery of humanity's ancient past will likely require many different perspectives from many different researchers, all over the globe, bringing different perspectives, different approaches, different backgrounds, different strengths, and different suggestions.

One researcher might be most intrigued by the archaeological evidence found in the ancient monuments and megaliths around the world, while another might be most drawn to the evidence of a system of "sacred geometry" encoded in the ancient art and symbols which have survived from antiquity. Another researcher might be drawn to the systems of gematria which are evident in many ancient sacred scriptures, while another might be predisposed to or especially experienced in the analysis of geology and the geological evidence which can help us to untangle the mystery of our planet's ancient history -- and of the timeline of humanity's distant past.

Additionally, the very fact of our different backgrounds and upbringings on different parts of the globe and in different cultures will naturally enable some researchers to examine and analyze evidence which might be more difficult for others to interpret.

In light of this assertion, I believe it is imperative for as many of us as possible to join the effort of examining the evidence available to us and to see what perspectives and insights we can offer in order to contribute to the task of recovering the truth about our planet's ancient history -- and the ancient history of humanity. 

A little over a year and a half ago, I wrote a blog post calling attention to the outstanding analysis which Bibhu Dev Misra has been publishing at his website entitled Myths, Symbols and Mysteries. In my blog post, entitled "An important article from Bibhu Dev Misra on evidence of Yoga in ancient Central America," I agreed that the connections which Bibhu was arguing between postures depicted in pre-Columbian figurines from the Americas and Yoga postures or asanas which have been practiced for thousands of years in India and other parts of Asia. 

Additionally, I offered the suggestion that some of the connections which Bibhu was finding between depictions of deities in Central America and depictions of deities described in the scriptures of ancient India (including depictions of the god Shiva) may in part be due to the fact that the world's ancient myths show unmistakable signs of being based upon a common, worldwide system of celestial metaphor -- and that the similar characteristics between the specific gods depicted in ancient India and ancient Central America may be due to the fact that both deities are based upon the constellation Ophiuchus in the heavens, and share the specific characteristics of that constellation.

In other words, this is in which evidence that we see in the archaeological and artistic record (in this case, depictions of a specific god in more than one ancient culture, from very different parts of the globe) can also be seen to be connected to evidence in another field of study: the study of the evidence that the world's ancient myths are all based upon a common system of celestial metaphor, and that the gods and other figures in the ancient scriptures and sacred stories correspond to specific constellations in the night sky.

This is a perfect example of the ways in which different researchers, looking at different evidence and bringing different backgrounds, can add evidence which suggests that the world's sacred traditions appear to share connections which defy the conventional narratives of humanity's ancient history -- and point to the possibility that our understanding of the remote past is in need of radical revision.

Last week, Bibhu Dev Misra wrote another tremendously insightful article, this time examining the magnificent petroglyphs of the Maharashtra region of India, many of which have only recently come to light. His article is entitled "12,000-year-old petroglyphs in India show Global Connections," and I strongly encourage everyone to read his analysis very carefully and consider its implications.

His arguments -- and the evidence in the massive petroglyphs of Maharashtra, which may date back to the incredibly remote date of 10,000 BC -- point to the conclusion that well-known symbols which can be found in other cultures (literally around the globe) may have already been in use several thousand years prior to the oldest civilizations known to conventional history. These symbols may belong to some now-forgotten predecessor culture or cultures, predating ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, ancient China, and ancient India by many millennia. 

The evidence which Mr. Misra presents in his article is extremely compelling. Equally astonishing is the fact that all of the examples which he discusses can be shown to have a celestial component as well -- and thus to provide yet further evidence that the world's ancient myths and scriptures (which, I have argued, can be convincingly shown to be based upon celestial metaphor as well, and to be using the same system of celestial metaphor in myths all around the world) are likely also descended from some now-forgotten predecessor culture -- and thus are all closely related.

For example, Mr. Misra begins by showing an enormous petroglyph found in Maharashtra, thought to date back to 10,000 BC -- and he argues that it bears close and unmistakable resemblance to the symbol of the "winged scarab" depicted in numerous inscriptions and surviving pieces of artwork from ancient Egypt. Below is an image from his article, juxtaposing the petroglyph on the left and a winged scarab on the right:

image: Bibhu Dev Misra's post, "12,000-year old petroglyphs in India show Global Connections." 

I would agree completely with Bibhu's analysis and his assertion that the petroglyph in Maharashtra is indeed a form of "winged scarab" -- and I would also agree with him that the implications of this similarity are profound. Ancient Egypt is believed to have flourished from about 3000 BC until the rise of classical Greece and Rome, thousands of years later -- going back to a time which is fully five thousand years before our present time, here in the twenty-first century AD (or CE, if you prefer).

And yet the petroglyphs of Maharashtra, India are thought to date to a time fully seven thousand years prior to the dawn of the civilization of ancient Egypt! In other words, the very earliest days of ancient Egypt are closer in time to us than the days of the architects of these ancient petroglyphs in India would be to someone at the dawn of ancient Egypt. We look back to the start of Egyptian civilization and imagine the gulf of time separating us from that day as a vast gulf of time indeed. And yet the gulf of time separating the first days of Egypt from the origin of these petroglyphs in India is greater still by fully two thousand additional years.

The implications are staggering -- and yet I'm convinced that there is still more to this story. Because, as I have argued many times in the past, in blog posts going back many years, the symbol of the scarab with its upraised arms can almost certainly be seen to be directly related to the constellation of Cancer the Crab in the night sky (a constellation whose most distinctive features include its outstretched arms, as well as its "Beehive Cluster" of stars in the middle of its forehead -- which relates to the location of the pineal gland, the Third Eye, and the elevation of the consciousness at the top of the Djed Column, all of which explain why the scarab would often be depicted with outstretched, upward-curving wings).

Previous posts which have argued the connection between the scarab and the constellation Cancer include:

• "Scarab, Ankh, and Djed"

• "Ambrose and Theodosius"

• "Summer solstice, 2014"

• "Summer solstice, 2016"

• "The blessing of the Beehive Cluster"

• "Summer solstice, 2018"

I would argue that the evidence pointing to an identification between the constellation Cancer and the ancient symbol of the scarab with upraised arms is extremely compelling. Based upon this well-established correspondence, the appearance of a winged scarab petroglyph among the ancient artwork of Maharashtra, India argues that this connection may predate ancient Egypt (and any other ancient civilization known to conventional history) by many thousands of years!

At the top of this post is an image juxtaposing both the ancient petroglyph from India and a winged scarab from ancient Egyptian art with the outline of the constellation Cancer in the night sky. The similarities may not appear to be particularly striking, but when it is understood that Cancer the Crab also occupies an extremely important place on the great cycle of the year (near the "top of the year," and the summer solstice) then the significance of this constellation -- with its upraised arms and dazzling "Beehive Cluster" located in the forehead region -- may be more understandable. 

The other two examples offered by Bibhu Dev Misra in his important article on the petroglyphs of Maharashtra can also be seen to have strong celestial connections. The third example he offers in his examination finds an unmistakable similarity to the constellation Pisces, another zodiac constellation and one which also occupies a significant location on the great celestial cycle of the year. The arguments in Mr. Misra's article that one of the petroglyphs in India depicts the constellation Pisces are extremely compelling, and indeed I would argue that the identification is undeniable. 

This celestial correspondence, added to the correspondence just argued between the symbol of the winged scarab and the zodiac constellation of Cancer, adds to the evidence we find in the myths that some extremely ancient culture must have existed long before ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia and ancient China, and must have seen in the cycles of the heavens a way of conveying deep spiritual messages using an esoteric system of celestial metaphor.

Because there is such a clear depiction of a very familiar zodiac symbol, in the ancient petroglyph which evokes the Fishes of Pisces, the arguments that the other petroglyphs are also celestial in their origins is even more sustainable. 

The next petroglyph that Bibhu Dev Misra's article examines, after the symbol of the scarab, is a petroglyph depicting a pattern which is found worldwide and is often called the "master of animals" (or the "mistress of animals"). This symbol has been found by Richard Cassaro in artwork on many continents, including in the Americas -- and he often refers to it as the "god self" icon (see Richard's excellent analysis on his website here).

I have corresponded with Richard and offered my opinion that this "god self" symbol (which is also referred to as the "master of animals," or -- when female -- the "mistress of animals" symbol) is almost certainly indicative of the constellation Ophiuchus. Below is the image from Bibhu Dev Misra's article about the petroglyphs of Maharashtra, showing the "master of animals" petroglyph juxtaposed with a similar icon from ancient Mesopotamia:

image: Bibhu Dev Misra's post, "12,000-year old petroglyphs in India show Global Connections." 

And below is an image of the stars of the constellation Ophiuchus, from the free online planetarium app Stellarium, with the constellation's outline as suggested by H. A. Rey in 1952:

Note the oblong central body of the constellation Ophiuchus, as well as the serpents held on either side of the figure. These serpents give the constellation the name by which we know it, which means "Serpent-holder" -- but the wiggly lines on either side of Ophiuchus could be interpreted as other types of animals, or as lightning bolts or other symbols, in the many different variations of the "god self" or "master of animals" symbol found in ancient artwork from around the world.

Below, for example, is an image of the famous "Portal of the Sun" at Tiahuanaco (or Tiwanaku) in the modern state of Bolivia, in South America. At the top-center of the gate, we see a "god self" icon (as Richard Cassaro has pointed out):

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

The fact that the figure on this ancient gate or portal has a long tunic-like garment, reaching down to cover most of its legs (so that only the feet are visible) is indicative of the outline of Ophiuchus in the sky as well. Even more revealing, of course, is the fact that this figure is holding linear shapes in either hand, on either side of its body.

Previous books analyzing the Star Myths of the World, and especially Star Myths Volume Two (Greek Myths) and Star Myths Volume Three (Star Myths of the Bible), have provided abundant examples which prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the constellation Ophiuchus was associated  with gates and portals in ancient myth -- just as we see here in the great Portal of the Sun at Tiahuanaco.

Thus, in addition to the petroglyph of the winged scarab and the petroglyph of the Fishes connected by a distinctive band (indicative of Pisces) from the Maharashtra region of India, the petroglyph of the "master of animals" motif (or the "god self" icon, as Richard Cassaro names this pattern) can be shown to be related to an important celestial figure -- and one which plays an important role in the world's ancient myths and scriptures.

Finally, Bibhu Dev Misra's important new article examines a petroglyph from a different part of the state of Maharashtra in India -- this one thought to date to about 7000 BC by contemporary scholars. Mr. Misra argues that the ancient petroglyph (which still predates the earliest dates of ancient Egyptian civilization by about four thousand years) is related to the famous "imperial eagle" motif found in ancient Rome -- and in many later imperial crests particularly in Europe and Russia many centuries after  the apparent "fall" of the Roman Empire. Indeed, this "spread eagle" symbology is also found in the great seal and iconography of the united states.

Below is an image of the eagle from ancient Maharashtra, juxtaposed with an imperial eagle from the heraldry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Below, I have added the stars of the constellation Aquila the Eagle, upon which I believe this very ancient "spread-eagle" motif is almost certainly based. Note the stars which form the two legs of the "spread-eagle" in the night sky, beneath the outstretched wings of Aquila. Note also that the stars of Aquila, three in number, could easily be envisioned as giving the constellation a "two-headed" outline, with one "beak" pointing to the left and one to the right -- a common motif in the "imperial spread eagle" in heraldry:

images: 
Top left: Petroglyph in Maharashtra, India. From Bibhu Dev Misra's post, "12,000-year old petroglyphs in India show Global Connections." 
Top right: Wikimedia commons (link).
Bottom: Stellarium.org

Note that seeing the outline of Aquila "on paper" (or on a tiny screen) does not really do it justice: in the night sky, this constellation is much larger than it appears in any illustration. In the night sky, this constellation resembles a tremendous bird of prey (or even a bat), flying upwards through the Milky Way. This time of year is actually a very good season for viewing Aquila in person, if you are able to do so.

Either way, it should be readily apparent that the petroglyph from ancient India which Mr. Misra is discussing, and which predates any civilization known to conventional history by thousands of years, may well be based upon the outline of Aquila the Eagle in the night sky -- as are (I am convinced) the "spread eagle" symbols found in heraldry throughout Europe and Russia, as well as during the days of  the ancient Roman Republic and the Roman Empire.

Thus, there should be little doubt that the ancient petroglyphs recently discovered in Maharashtra, and analyzed by Mr. Misra in his insightful article, do indeed have worldwide connections -- likely indicating the existence of some extremely ancient culture, predating any known to conventional history by thousands of years, whose symbology is reflected in later cultures literally around the globe.

Further, these connections reveal the importance to that now forgotten ancient culture of the celestial figures found in the infinite heavens -- figures which also play a vital role in the sacred myths and scriptures of cultures around the world.

As Bibhu Dev Misra notes in his article, these petroglyphs indicate that the system of envisioning the constellations must be much, much earlier than is presently admitted by conventional history. This discovery, as he points out, "pushes back the date for the origin of astrological symbols to the period around 10,000 BCE or earlier, and raises the very real possibility that our astrological knowledge is the legacy of a lost civilization that flourished during the Ice Age."

He further points out that "such complex esoteric concepts and associated symbolic imagery" as that found in these 12,000-year-old petroglyphs are almost certainly not the product of the so-called "primitive hunter-gatherers" or "early humans" that we read about in our classroom textbooks predating the earliest civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia or ancient Egypt. Indeed, Mr. Misra suggests that these ancient petroglyphs may reflect "the esoteric knowledge of an erstwhile 'Golden Age' civilization that perished during the cataclysms of the Younger Dryas epoch (10,900 BCE - 9700 BCE) when our planet was struck by multiple fragments of a giant comet" (a theory that has been advanced by Graham Hancock and Randall Carlson, and see also the similar arguments of Professor Robert Schoch, who argues that an advanced ancient civilization may have been nearly completely obliterated and driven underground not by the impact of a comet but rather by violent outbursts of solar radiation and radioactivity around the same epoch).

In any case, it should be clear that evidence in the world's ancient mythology -- and particularly the existence of a worldwide pattern of celestial symbology, found in the myths and also in the world's ancient artwork and symbology -- is an extremely important line of evidence in the quest for the truth regarding the mystery of humanity's ancient past. I am convinced that the mythological evidence -- and in particular the celestial mythological evidence -- stands alongside the archaeological and the artistic evidence, all of which points towards the undeniable conclusion that the conventional narrative of humanity's ancient history is gravely flawed, and in need of radical revision.

Kudos to Mr. Bibhu Dev Misra for his outstanding analysis of the ancient petroglyphs of Maharashtra, India -- and their relation to ancient symbology. I would recommend adding his blog and his analysis to your list of regular reading.

And I believe we must all continue to analyze and discuss the evidence and the possible explanations for that evidence, keeping an open mind and a positive attitude as we explore various hypotheses, in the quest for the truth about our remote past.