New video: Seeing the Star Myths -- Scorpio and Ophiuchus

I've just published a new video entitled "Seeing the Star Myths: Scorpio and Ophiuchus."

In it, I explain that an overwhelming amount of evidence points to the conclusion that the world's ancient myths, scriptures and sacred stories from cultures on every inhabited continent and island of our planet are based on a common system of celestial metaphor -- but that unless people can envision the constellations, this evidence will be very difficult to see or comprehend, even if someone is trying to present it and explain it.

Unfortunately, most people do not get a clear image of a constellation and outline in their mind when you say "Capricorn" or "Aries" or "Aquarius," although this is not at all their fault -- we're never taught it in school, and they are not addressed in any of the media we are exposed to on a daily basis. 

Not only that, but the way the constellations are usually presented is worse than unhelpful for seeing the constellations in the sky (and for seeing the connections between the myths and the stars). As the famous author H. A. Rey lamented in a book published all the way back in 1952, there are two ways that the constellations are usually presented to us, and both of them are worse than useless. 

One way is with flowery and often full-color images of what the constellations are supposedly intended to represent, and the other way is with abstract jumbles of lines which look nothing at all like what the constellations are intended to represent. Neither one will be of much use for finding the constellations, remembering what they look like, or seeing how the characters and episodes in the Bible and the other myths and sacred stories from around the world are all representative of specific constellations and their motions as part of the endless heavenly cycles.

However, it doesn't have to be that way! As mentioned above, H. A. Rey published a book over sixty-five years ago which provides an outstanding way of envisioning the constellations -- and what's more, appears to have either been based upon the ancient system used around the world in ancient myths and sacred traditions, or else to have independently reproduced it through Rey's own genius (although to my knowledge he never mentioned the connection between his specific outlining system and the ancient myths).

Of course, I can already hear someone (in my imagination) saying that since I myself grew up using this system of envisioning the constellations, published by H. A. Rey in the book The Stars: A New Way to See Them, and because I am so familiar with that system, that is what I unconsciously "project" into the myths. However, that argument is countervailed by the overwhelming number of ancient artifacts, sculptures, and reliefs from multiple cultures on different continents which can clearly be seen to be portraying gods, goddesses, heroes and heroines in postures which are distinctly reminiscent of the outlines of specific constellations -- outlines which match the system of envisioning the constellations published by H. A. Rey in 1952.

For a few examples of this correspondence, see previous blog posts such as this one, this one, this one, this one (note especially the ancient sculpture of Buddha and Vajrapani) and this one, as well as any of my recent books which contain hundreds of illustrations and star charts.

This video, and others to follow, will show a system for envisioning the constellations which should help in finding them in the night sky -- and in seeing them in ancient myths and artwork from around the world.

This one discusses Scorpio and Ophiuchus (with some mention of other nearby constellations, and of course the glorious column of the Milky Way), as well as a few myths from around the world which connect to those constellations.

Enjoy! Please feel free to share with friends and family, to provide feedback on the video page itself, and to subscribe to the Mathisen Corollary YouTube channel in order to receive notification when new videos are published.