Consider attending this year's CAPA 2020 JFK Conference (Virtual): More important than ever

I've just purchased my reservation to attend this year's conference presented by CAPA: Citizens Against Political Assassinations, which was founded and is still chaired by the legendary Dr. Cyril Wecht, a famous forensic pathologist who in 1965 presented a paper to the American Academy of Forensic Scientists in which he argued against the conclusions of the Warren Commission and gave his analysis and supporting evidence that the murder could not possibly be the work of a lone gunman but rather represented "the overthrow of the American government."

This year's conference is entirely virtual, and runs from Friday 20 November through Sunday 22 November (the 22nd of November, of course, being the anniversary of the murder of President Kennedy). The cost is $50 USD and enables live access to all the presentations as well as participation in the Q&A sessions after each presentation, as well as access to replays of each presentation and Q&A session. You can reserve your space through the sign-up page here.

The murder of President Kennedy, along with the subsequent murders of Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, eliminated the leaders of an entire generation, overthrew the will of the people, and set the nation on its current course: a course which has led to the place in which we find ourselves today, with repercussions felt around the world.

The late researcher and attorney Vincent Salandria declared that the murder of John F. Kennedy did not only kill the president: it effectively killed the presidency itself. 

Some of the researchers presenting at this year's CAPA conference, including Dr. Cyril Wecht, have been bravely and tirelessly working to alert the people of the world to the significance of those assassinations for decades. 

This year's conference also includes a full day dedicated to students, on Friday the 20th, for which registration is completely free.

Welcome to new visitors from the "My Family Thinks I'm Crazy" podcast! (and to returning friends)

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

Big thank-you to Mark Steeves and his friends Jameson and Adam for inviting me over to their new podcast, My Family Thinks I'm Crazy, for a conversation about high school, libraries, dropping in, and many more subjects that I hope you will find to be of interest!

Welcome to anyone visiting for the first time after hearing about my work on the podcast -- please visit again and tell your friends (and your family too, if they will listen).

You can listen to our interview online through the "Google podcasts" player here, or via Spotify here. Or, you can download the audio file to a mobile device to listen while riding the bus or working in the yard, by going to the Podcast FM page for that episode here or the Podcast Addict page for the episode here.

Our conversation was recorded on 08 November, 2020. For this conversation, Mark, Jay and Adam were located in Connecticut, and I was located in California.

Please support their podcast and give them some positive feedback on the interview if you enjoyed it, and thank you for listening!

BONUS DOUBLE FEATURE! Atum & the Ennead: Celestial Foundations of Egyptian Myth

I've just posted a new video entitled "Atum & the Ennead: Celestial Foundations of Egyptian Myth," demonstrating just a tiny sliver of the overwhelming evidence which shows that the mythology of ancient Egypt has as its foundation the very same system of celestial metaphor underlying the ancient myths, scriptures and sacred stories of virtually every culture on our earth.

I originally prepared these slides to share with Cometan during our second conversation, which took place this past weekend, but due to the direction that our discussion took, there was not a good opportunity to share these, and so I made a separate video presenting some of the evidence to back up the assertion that the mythology of ancient Egypt shares the same foundation found around the world (as well as in the stories of the Old and New Testaments, so-called, of the Bible).

Cometan had requested that our second conversation focus specifically on the subject of ancient Egypt. You can see the video of our conversation below: 

For our previous conversation, you can follow this link.

The evidence presented in the video above regarding Atum and the Ennead is discussed in greater depth in my 2019 book, The Ancient World-Wide System: Star Myths of the World, Volume One (Second Edition), along with many other aspects of the myths of ancient Egypt which conclusively demonstrate that these myths are celestial in nature and share the same system found around the globe.

I hope you will enjoy the above videos and that the information in them will be a blessing to you in some way. Please feel free to share either or both video with those who would find their message to be positive. 

Welcome to new visitors from The Amish Inquisition Podcast! (and to returning friends)

Very big triple thank-you goes out to hosts Phil, Ben and Matt of the Amish Inquisition Podcast for inviting me over to a conversation, tracking me down all the way from their hometown of Preston in Lancashire along the River Ribble in England, north of Manchester!

The conversation is best followed on video, because it contains visuals including artwork and star-charts, beginning at about 0:38:30 in the file above, which you can also watch on YouTube here.

This interview was recorded on 01 November 2020.

We covered a range of important topics during our visit, some of which have not been discussed on any previous podcast. Below are links to blog posts which pertain to some of the subjects we touched upon, for those wishing to explore further:

• "Happy Anniversary to Moby Dick!"

• "The divine spark descends to the mortal realm"

• "Ancient mosaic with esoteric celestial elements discovered during recent Pompeii excavations"

• "Simon Shack, Tycho Brahe, Retrograde Mars & the vital importance of our Moon: Exploring the Tychos!"

• "The Judgment of Solomon"

• "The Blessing Mother, the Cursing Mother, the Dream, and the King"

• "Some lessons for us, from the dream of King Solomon"

• "Solomon at Gibeon"

• "The bad judgment of King Midas, and what it teaches us"

• "Who is Doubting Thomas?"

• "The Gospel of Thomas and the Divine Twin"

• "The Self: the hidden treasure"

• "Important interviews with Dr. Richard Schwartz and Dr. Frank Anderson of Internal Family Systems Therapy"

Additionally, prior to watching the video, it would be helpful to carefully study this high-resolution image of the planet Jupiter that the lads posted to their social media recently, since it comes up during the discussion of some ancient artwork and myths:

I hope you will enjoy this interview and the subjects discussed! Please give Phil, Ben and Matt some positive feedback under the video, and subscribe to their YouTube channel if you're interested in seeing more of their podcasts and videos.

A perfect time to contemplate the Pleiades

This is an excellent time of year to observe the gorgeous and mythologically-important star cluster which goes by many names in the various cultures of our earth, and which is most familiar to

civilizations influenced by ancient Greece by the name of the Pleiades (a name which signifies the "daughters of Pleione," Pleione being an immortal daughter of Oceanus).

Now that Hallowe'en and All Hallow's Day have past, and the Moon is beginning to wane towards New Moon again, we have an opportune window for the next two weeks in which to observe the region of the night sky shown in the star-chart above, including the dazzling Pleiades, which are rising in the east during the hours after sunset at this time of year.

The chart above shows the mighty forms of Hercules and Ophiuchus sinking down into the west in the hours after sunset, followed by Sagittarius and the planets Jupiter and Saturn, which are presently close to the head of Sagittarius (I have circled these two planets in the star-chart above).

Above Jupiter and Saturn you can easily find the two "great birds of the Milky Way," Aquila the Eagle and Cygnus the Swan, whose brightest individual stars are Altair (in Aquila) and Deneb (in Cygnus), respectively. These two bright stars together with the brightest star in the constellation Lyra the Lyre (the star Vega) make up what is known as the "Summer Triangle," because these three are high in the sky during the summer months of the northern hemisphere, although now that we are moving through autumn the stars of the Summer Triangle are much further towards the west as the sky grows dark after sundown.

In the chart above I have also circled the location of the Red Planet, Mars, which is now high in the sky and very bright during the hours after sunset, and located in between the Great Square and the "eye" of the constellation Cetus the Whale, as discussed in this previous post.

One of the easiest ways to locate the beautiful cluster of the Pleiades is to look below the most-visible and easily-identified "foot" of the constellation Perseus, which is a constellation consisting of several fairly bright stars in its outline and easily located if you know what to look for and where to look. Perseus is presently rising in the east during the hours following sunset, now fairly high above the eastern horizon by the time the sky grows dark (a month ago Perseus would be much lower above the eastern horizon as the sky grew dark).

The Pleiades are located in between the most-visible "foot" of Perseus and the V-shaped group of stars in Taurus known as the Hyades. In the mythology of ancient Greece, the Hyades were sisters of the Pleiades. The star-chart below shows the sky a couple hours later than the chart above, and zooms-in slightly in order to show the respective locations of the Hyades and the Pleiades more clearly:

The stars of the Hyades form a distinctive "V" in the sky, the two tips of this "V" pointing directly to two stars which I like to envision as the two horns of the Bull of Taurus (I differ from the outlining system suggested by H. A. Rey in this particular regard).

As you can see from the second chart above, another way to locate the Hyades is to use the very distinctive constellation Orion, which is rising in the east and clears the eastern horizon by about 9pm or 9:30, depending on your latitude and the terrain to the east of your observation point. The chart above should help you to find the V-shaped Hyades relative to the location of Orion, and then you should be able to find the Pleiades in between the Hyades and the foot of the constellation Perseus.

The charts above are for the 5th of November of this year: each night after that, the Moon will be rising later and later and will be waning (becoming thinner as it moves towards its final crescent stage prior to New Moon on the 14th of November).

If you have access to a good pair of binoculars or a telescope, I would highly recommend using their enhanced optics to observe the cluster of the Pleiades, after you have located the Pleiades with your naked eye.

The Pleiades play different roles in the world's ancient myths. Often, they are described as being seven in number (although you will see that there are many more stars than seven in the Pleiades cluster, if you look at them using binoculars or a telescope).  

A previous post discussing the celestial foundations of the story of Balaam and the talking donkey (found in the Old Testament book of Numbers) provides my analysis in which Balaam (and his "twisted foot") is associated with the constellation Perseus, and the "seven altars" described in the text, upon which Balaam makes burnt offerings of bulls and rams, are almost certainly associated with the seven blazing stars of the Pleiades. Note that the Pleiades are located in between the Ram of Aries and the Bull of Taurus, which is an additional detail which supports this interpretation of the seven altars described in the ancient scriptures.

This previous post discusses the analysis of James Mavor and Byron Dix in their 1989 book entitled Manitou, which shows that the Upton Chamber in Massachusetts is aligned with the setting of the Pleiades above a hill across a body of water from the opening of the Chamber, and that cairns upon the skyline of that hill form a kind of "front sight" window between which the stars of the Pleiades could be seen to set by an observer within the Upton Chamber at the appropriate time of year.

I myself have visited the Upton Chamber more than once, and written blog posts about the experience each time, the first one in 2011 here (the blog post about it was written in 2012) and the second time in 2016 (blog post here).

Among the Maori of Aotearoa, the beautiful cluster of the Pleiades is known as Matariki, and the heliacal rising of this cluster (when it first becomes visible above the eastern horizon prior to sunrise) marks the beginning of the New Year -- usually observed in conjunction with either the following Full Moon or the following New Moon, thus making this observation a lunar and solar New Year, as was common in virtually all the ancient cultures of the world prior to the rise of literalist Christianity, which replaced the ancient ways with a solar-centered monotheistic and literalistic paradigm, embarking on a centuries-long campaign to obliterate the world's ancient wisdom wherever the agents of the new literalistic religion went. 

But the stars and heavenly cycles continue to follow their ancient rhythms, pointing us back to the precious inheritance of myth and tradition given to every culture on earth in the far-distant past, and  can still be seen wheeling their silent way across the celestial realm for those who are able to take the time to look.

I hope that you can make the effort to find the Pleiades at this time of year, if it is at all possible for you to do so, and that these dazzling stars will have significance to you as you meditate on their timeless importance and the wisdom given to us in the world's ancient myths.

 

Happy Hallowe'en and All Hallow's Day! 2020

 image: Wikimedia commons (link to background, link to wolf).

Tonight is All Hallow's Evening, or Hallowe'en: the evening before All Hallow's Day, and one of the most important festivals of the year according to the indispensable Alvin Boyd Kuhn (1880 - 1963).

As we arrive at this special station on the annual cycle, I highly recommend re-reading Kuhn's essay entitled "Hallowe'en: A Festival of Lost Meanings," which is available in its entirety to read on the web at archive.org.

Kuhn's meditation on the esoteric significance of Hallowe'en and the subsequent All Hallow's Day (or All Souls Day) contains a wealth of valuable material worthy of deep consideration, even if we do not agree with every single assertion he makes. More important than any single conclusion or suggestion offered by that writer is the overall approach he takes in perceiving the presence of an ancient symbolic system designed to convey profound truths through a kind of code or language connected to the heavenly cycles of sun and moon, and preserved in the world's ancient myths and festivals.

These festivals invite us to participate in these cycles and to experience and internalize the ancient message on a level that goes beyond the intellectual (and thus bypasses the complex web of filters and firewalls which develop in our thinking intellect and which serve a helpful purpose but which can also prevent us from hearing or seeing truths which the defense mechanism of the mind would prefer we filter out).

Kuhn's essay can easily be read in its entirety in a single sitting: I actually read through it every year on this day, and find new thoughts to meditate on each time that I do. 

In it you will find:

• Kuhn's analysis of the reason that All Hallow's Eve and All Hallow's Day fall when they do, forty days after the point of the September Equinox,
• Kuhn's thoughts on the connections between Hallowe'en and the ancient festival of Saturnalia, and his intriguing suggestion regarding that festival's start on December 17 (and the possibility that it may have lasted for seven days, culminating on the night of December 24 and the morning of renewal on December 25),
• Kuhn's analysis of the importance of the number six, which in Greek was "hex," and its connection with the physical world and the cross -- and to the esoteric significance of the number seven which is one beyond that,
• Kuhn's thoughts on the connection between the concept of six and "hex" and the goddess Hekate or Hecate, as well as to other ancient goddesses,
• Kuhn's analysis of the reason for the wearing of masks and costumes during these festivals (Hallowe'en and Saturnalia), as well as the symbolism of the candle within the pumpkin, the indulgence in sexual suggestiveness and license, and other familiar Hallowe'en traditions,
• And many other valuable topics related to the holiday which he calls "Autumn's Mysterious Revel."

While Kuhn's analysis may seem at first glance to be related to heady and perhaps impractical subjects (or at least not directly applicable to our day-to-day life most of the time), with much discussion of the soul plunging down into the material realm and the necessity of that experience, I am convinced that these ancient teachings have incredible practical application virtually every minute of our day, and that the discoveries of some of the most cutting-edge healers and therapists can help us to understand Kuhn's essay -- and the message of the ancient myths and traditions preserved in cultures around the world -- in new ways.

If you read Kuhn's essay on Hallowe'en for yourself, you will see that his central thesis proposes that the symbolism of that festival depicts the incarnation of the divine spark within the "animal" nature of the human body, and the plunge of that higher nature into the "underworld" of darkness, illusion, deception, folly, and division -- including alienation from our own Self.

Kuhn explains that the word persona is the original Latin word for "a mask," and that the word itself derives from the prefix per- meaning "through" and the word sonum meaning "sound," thus indicating "to sound through" or something that the actor "speaks through." 

When in Rome the actors donned the mask (which was all the "costume" they affected for their parts), their voices sounded through the mask. This was to convey the idea that though the voice was that of the actor himself, yet in sounding through the mask it became the voice of the character he personated. And still further light breaks in upon our minds when we apply all this to the Hallowe'en representation. We then realize that this animal form which our soul tenants is the personality through which our god's voice issues carrying the force and form of his divine being out to expression in our entire life. The god in us can only speak out through the lips of our animal selves. It is for us now to wonder with how much distortion they reach expression in our outer world. 31

As I have explained more fully in my most-recent book, Myth and Trauma, I am convinced that when the ancient myths depict a god or goddess going down into the underworld (a pattern found in myths around the world), they are not only teaching about the plunge of the human soul into the incarnate body -- although they are certainly talking about that, as Kuhn elucidates in this essay and in his many other writings -- they are also talking about the "burial" and suppression of the Self, from whom we become alienated by a variety of forces in this incarnate life, but most particularly by trauma.

The critical importance of our alienation from and suppression of Self is a subject treated by leading experts on trauma and healing such as Dr. Gabor Maté and Dr. Richard Schwartz. One of the concepts which Dr. Schwartz has discovered seems particularly applicable to the discussion of Hallowe'en and the distortion of the divine voice through the "mask" of the various personas we don in this life, a concept Dr. Schwartz describes as "blending."

In his book entitled Internal Family Systems Therapy, Second Edition, Dr. Schwartz defines "blending" as:

The act in which a part takes over a person's seat of consciousness, or Self. Blending occurs along a continuum, so that the Self can remain present with some blending or be obscured with full blending. 281

For more discussion of what Internal Family Systems Therapy means by "parts," I recommend checking out the IFS website here, as well as the book linked above, and also the many interviews with Dr. Schwartz available on the web and in podcasts, one of which can be found here.  

Elsewhere in the same book, Dr. Schwartz expands on this phenomenon of blending, by which the inherent and unbreakable Self can be obscured or distorted by parts (which should ideally be led by our essential Self, and should trust and accept the leadership of that Self), saying:

We are all born with a Self. It does not develop through stages or borrow strength and wisdom from the therapist, and it cannot be damaged. It can, however, be occluded or overwhelmed by parts. We call this blending. When a part blends fully, we see the world through its eyes. When a part blends partially, its perspective influences us. When polarized parts blend, we live in the midst of an ongoing debate and have no peace of mind. But when parts unblend, the Self is immediately present and available. When the Self accepts and loves parts -- perhaps a child who was terrorized into submission, or an angry teenager who was exiled for standing up to persecution -- those parts transform back into who they were meant to be. The Self-led mind is self-righting and has plenty of room for all feelings, views, and parts. 43

Can you see how this understanding of the concept of the blending of Self with parts sheds a whole new light on Kuhn's illumination of the ancient festivals of Hallowe'en and All Hallow's Day? In the most simplified terms, the symbolism of Hallowe'en can be seen as dramatizing the force of "blending" and the distortion of Self, which we all experience during this incarnate life, while the symbolism of All Hallow's Day (and other ancient patterns, including the hallowing of the seventh day following the preceding six) is intended to dramatize to our deeper understanding the wholeness and restoration of what Dr. Schwartz calls "unblending," in which the parts "transform back into who they were meant to be," the Self is present and available, and assumes its intended role of leading, a role which Self is eminently capable of fulfilling and is in fact designed to fulfill.

I would in fact suggest that reading Alvin Boyd Kuhn's essay on Hallowe'en in light of the concept of blending introduced by Dr. Schwartz and Internal Family Systems would be an extremely valuable exercise, and especially pertinent at this time of year.

Indeed, I am more and more convinced that the ancient wisdom given to the cultures of the world in their original myths, scriptures, and sacred traditions has as one of its most central purposes the healing of trauma, the recovery of Self, and the understanding of the very concepts which cutting-edge modern healers are elucidating through their extremely helpful and therapeutic paradigms, such as IFS.

I would like to personally wish you a very happy and meaningful Hallowe'en, and a blessed All Hallow's Day!  

A Conversation with Cometan!

Big thank-you to "the lads" over at the Amish Inquisition podcast (you can also find their YouTube channel here) for introducing me to the intriguing young philosopher and scholar who goes by the name of Cometan, and who has written his dissertation for his Masters thesis on the evidence that rock art around the world is based on the stars!

Cometan has been a guest on the Amish Inquisition twice, and you can hear those interviews here (part one) and here (part two).

After his second appearance on the show, when host Amish Phil asked him if he were familiar with my work (answer: not yet), Cometan reached out to introduce himself to me and invite me to have a conversation with him about the stars and their relationship to humanity's ancient worship and wisdom. 

We decided to record our conversation so we could share it with you and preserve it for future reference as desired, and so . . . here it is!

This conversation was recorded on Sunday, October 18, 2020. Here is the link to the video, which is also embedded above.

I hope you will enjoy it!

We plan to schedule future conversations and have some more thought-provoking discussions -- next one will probably take place some time in November. 

Do check out the Amish Inquisition if you haven't already (in their most-recent episode, the lads interview Darren and Graham from the Grimerica Show), and also give Cometan some encouragement as he follows his dreams and pursues areas of research in the direction in which his heart and talents are leading him.