Welcome to new visitors from the Gnostic Warrior Radio show -- and returning friends!

For those who enjoyed the recent essay (and blog post) entitled "Revelation chapter 22 and the Egyptian Book of the Dead," and who want to know how that essay came about, check out my interview with Moe Bedard of the Gnostic Warrior Radio program, recorded on March 16, 2017 and available for listening or downloading here.

If you're having trouble getting it to play, try the "Play in a new window" button -- or "right-click" (or "control-click") on the "Download" link, to save the file so you can listen to it on a mobile device while working in the garden or riding the bus or the train to work.

During that interview, Moe asks specifically about Revelation 22 and verse 16 -- and I'm so glad that he did, because although I had not specifically examined that particular chapter of Revelation in great detail, I promised Moe that I would look into it.

The next day, I wrote the essay linked above, discussing some of the celestial metaphor which appear to be operating in Revelation 22, as well as the clear parallels to the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (or the "The Book of Coming Forth By Day"), and some thoughts about the themes and wisdom being conveyed to us in that ancient text.

This is another example of a time when I did not know the answer when I started out, but just one day or two later the answers seemed to come out of the text, and out of the Other Realm to illuminate the text. You can listen to the interview and hear for yourself that I clearly did not have all the connections that later came into view when I wrote the essay about Revelation 22 just a day and a half later (the interview was on Thursday afternoon and I wrote "Revelation chapter 22 and the Egyptian Book of the Dead" on Saturday).

I'm very grateful that Moe decided to reach out and invite me on for another visit to the Gnostic Warrior Radio show. Welcome to any new visitors coming to the website for the first time as a result of that interview. Our previous conversation was posted back in October of 2014, discussing the book The Undying Stars, published earlier that year.

Below are some links to previous posts for those who wish to explore further some of the subjects that came up during this most recent conversation:

• Some of the books that influenced me when I was growing up, such as the wonderful illustrated books on the Greek myths and the Norse myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire, and the star books by H. A. Rey.
• The incredible importance of the system of outlining the stars published by H. A. Rey in 1952.
• Some examples of ancient Greek pottery in which figures depicted appear to be relate to the constellations as outlined in the system of H. A. Rey (and see also this video).
• The importance of the thesis and evidence presented in Hamlet's Mill, by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend (published in 1969).
• Evidence that ancient philosophers understood the evidence that the myths of the world are built upon a system of metaphor in order to convey esoteric truth, including in the work of Plato and of Aristotle.
• The concept of the Higher Self and the way the myths appear to point us towards the reality of the Higher Self (see for instance posts here, here, and here).
• The Samson cycle of myths from the book of Judges in the Hebrew Scriptures (and see also this video).
• The evidence that the Star Myths of the world may be revealing a doctrine akin to reincarnation.
• The teaching that this visible world actually proceeds from and has its source in the Invisible Realm (as the Lakota holy man Black Elk says: "That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that world").
• The precessional numbers, and how they are found in many traditional martial arts (for instance).
• The famous teaching method demonstrated in the original Karate Kid movie (1984), and how it demonstrates to us the concept of the esoteric in order to grasp truths that our "ordinary mind" would have trouble assimilating.
• Why I personally believe we can see plenty of evidence that the earth is in fact a globe rotating on its axis (not flat).
• Some discussion of the importance and deeper meanings illuminated in the myth of Prometheus (much more discussion on that subject can be found in Star Myths of the World, Volume Two).
• The Revelation 22: 16 discussion, which comes up at the 00:37:00 minute mark in the interview. After the interview, I looked into it more deeply and wrote this essay discussing its significance. For more discussions of texts from Revelation, see this and this previous blog post (and this video), as well as some of the chapters in Star Myths of the World, Volume Three (Star Myths of the Bible). 
• Evidence that the author who calls himself Paul may have been teaching a Gnostic understanding of the ancient wisdom.
• The importance of the Nag Hammadi library, its burial in ancient times and its re-discovery in the twentieth century.
• The importance of blessing and not cursing.
• The vision that "Every fountain has its nymph," commonly expressed in regard to the world-view of the mythology of ancient Greece, but actually characteristic of all the world's ancient wisdom.
• The contrast between the vision of the universe infused by the Invisible Realm, and the disconnected vision which rejects that understanding (and see also this post on the same subject).

I hope that you will enjoy the conversation! Thanks to Moe and the Gnostic Warrior community for graciously inviting me over for a discussion of these important subjects.