Winter Solstice, 2016

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

We are rapidly approaching the exact point in earth's orbit around the sun when the north pole is pointed most directly away from the sun of any point on the circuit.

This point, one of the two solstices in which the earth's axis of rotation is pointed either most directly towards or most directly away from the sun, marks a great "turning point" in which the progress of the sun's rising and setting along the eastern and western horizons ceases to march further and further southward or northward and begins to move back in the other direction. 

For those in the northern hemisphere, where angle of the obliquity of earth's axial tilt has been causing the sun to rise further and further south along the horizon, and to arc lower and lower across the sky above the southern horizon (and to stay above that horizon for a shorter and shorter duration as the arc gets lower and lower), the December solstice marks the point where the sun's progress will turn back around and begin rising further and further towards the north, and arc through the sky along a higher and higher path again (making days begin to grow longer as the arc-line rises higher and higher above the southern horizon, keeping the sun above the horizon for a progressively longer amount of time on the way back to summer solstice).

The process of halting and turning around seems slower than the amount of change in position along the horizon that is detectable at the time of the equinoxes. The sun's progress at its rising and setting points along the eastern and western horizon seems to linger or pause at the solstices, before turning back around -- hence the etymology of the word solstice itself, which indicates "sun" and "station," a place where the sun pauses and its progress along the horizon seems to be "stationary."

The reason that the sun's rising point moves very slowly at the solstices (when it is turning around) and in fact seems to pause during the turnaround itself -- as opposed to the equinox points, when the sun's motion is basically whizzing along the horizon and moving a full degree every couple of days -- is easily understood by envisioning the earth as an old-time sailing ship, with the bowsprit representing the north pole and the lantern at the stern representing the south pole, as discussed in this previous post from back in 2011 (the diagrams are pretty "low-tech" but should help to illustrate the concept).

The importance of the solstice points -- and the point of December solstice in particular -- is evidenced by the numerous ancient sites around the globe which contain solstice alignments in their construction, and which continue to this day to mark out the endless cycle of the sun's movement "down" towards the point of winter solstice and its pause and turnaround at the point of lowest descent at the bottom of the year itself.

The importance of the solstice turnaround is also preserved in the world's myth, which incorporate clear celestial allegory to such an extent that they can accurately be described as being completely built upon the cycles of the sun, moon, and stars -- which is why I refer to them collectively as "Star Myths."

However, while the importance of the points of solstice and equinox is well known and widely acknowledged (and is indeed undeniable, given the numerous sites with celestial alignments, going back to some of the most ancient sites we know of today), the reason why the solstices and equinoxes were considered so important is not necessarily well understood.

The most common explanation you will hear or read will be some variation on the idea that "less-technologically advanced early humans" were overawed by the mighty forces of the physical universe and sought to appease them through various rituals, and that later as agricultural technologies developed, people needed to be able to track the seasons for the purpose of planting and harvesting, and continued to imbue the motions of the sun and the other heavenly cycles with deep reverence and religious feeling, because they knew that the crops and thus all life are completely and utterly dependent on the sun for sustenance. If the sun didn't "turn around" at the winter solstice, but instead kept moving lower and lower towards the horizon, daylight would eventually be swallowed up by night-time and all life as we know it would cease to exist.

While all of the above assertions about the awe-inspiring majesty of the natural world and the celestial realms are in fact true, and while the importance of the sun to all life on earth, and the absolute dependence of all life on the sun's cycles (and the importance of that "turnaround") are equally true, I am convinced that it would be wrong to assume that the prominence of the solstices and equinoxes in the world's ancient sacred sites, and the world's ancient sacred myth, can be completely or even correctly understood using the conventional explanations, most of which are variations of the description in the previous paragraph.

I agree with Alvin Boyd Kuhn (1880 - 1963), one of the most perceptive and insightful observers of the allegorical system employed in the world's ancient wisdom as conveyed in myth, that these great cycles were employed esoterically in order to represent spiritual realities -- realities having to do with things unseen, but vital to our understanding of our own simultaneously material-and-spiritual nature, and to our understanding of the simultaneously material-and-spiritual cosmos in which we find ourselves.

In an essay entitled Easter: The Birthday of the Gods, discussed in this previous post, Kuhn presents arguments and supporting evidence that the ancient esoteric system allegorized the interplay of light and dark displayed in the cycles of the earth's daily rotation and in its annual orbit around the sun (as well as in the circuits of the moon and other heavenly bodies) as representative of the interaction of matter and spirit, and interplay between the visible and invisible realms at every level in the universe and within each man and woman as well.

Of the descent towards the winter solstice, and the great turning-point at which the plunge finally reverses after pausing at the point of lowest descent, he writes:

Using solar symbolism and analogues in depicting the divine soul's peregrinations round the cycles of existence, the little sun of radiant spirit in man being the perfect parallel of the sun in the heavens, and exactly copying its movements, the ancient Sages marked the four cardinal "turns" of its progress round the zodiacal year as epochal stages in soul evolution. As all life starts with conception in mind, later to be extruded into physical manifestation, so the soul that is to be the god of a human being is conceived in the divine mind at the station in the zodiac marking the date of June 21. This is at the "top" of the celestial arc, where mind is most completely detached from matter, meditating in all its "purity." 

Then the swing of the movement begins to draw it "downward" to give it the satisfaction of its inherent yearning for the Maya of experience which alone can bring its latent capabilities for the evolution of consciousness to manifestation. Descending from June it reaches September 21, the point where its direction becomes straight downward and it here crosses the line of separation between spirit and matter, the great Egyptian symbolic line of the "horizon," and becomes incarnated in material body. Conceived in the aura of Infinite Mind in June, it enters the realm of mortal flesh in September. [. . .]

Then on past September, like any seed sown in the soil, the soul entity sinks its roots deeper and deeper into matter, for at its later stages of growth it must be able to utilize the energy of matter's atomic force to effectuate its ends for its own spiritual aggrandizement. It is itself to be lifted up to heights of cosmic consciousness, but no more than an oak can exalt its majestic form to highest reaches without the dynamic energization received from the earth at its feet can soul rise up above body without drawing forth the strength of the body's dynamo of power. Down, down it descends then through the October, November, and December path of the sun, until it stands at the nadir of its descent on December 21.

Here it has reached the turning-point, at which the energies that were stored potentially in its seed form will feel the first touch of quickening power and will begin to stir into activity. At the winter solstice of the cycle the process of involution of spirit into matter comes to a stand-still -- just what the solstice means in relation to the sun -- and while apparently stationary in its deep lodgment in matter, like moving water locked up in winter's ice, it is slowly making the turn as on a pivot from outward and downward to movement at first tangential, then more directly upward to its high point in spirit home. So the winter solstice signalizes the end of "death" and the rebirth of life in a new generation. 4- 5.

Elsewhere, Kuhn explains that the above allegory also relates to the concept of "second birth" -- the spiritual birth, which follows at some turning-point which is necessarily reached many years after the physical birth into our material body. This explains, according to Kuhn's insight, why so many myths seem to involve the concept of two mothers -- one associated with our birth into the physical body, and the other associated with the "rebirth of life" at the point of our "turning upwards," which begins at the point which is esoterically connected with winter solstice.

For an example of the two-mother motif, see the famous Judgment of Solomon from the ancient Old Testament book of First Kings, discussed in this previous post and in a video which I posted on the web here. This episode, and its clear celestial correlations and spiritual import, is discussed at greater length in my most-recent book, Star Myths of the World, Volume Three (Star Myths of the Bible).

Another example of the two mothers can be found in the account of the birth of Samuel, related at the beginning of the Old Testament book of First Samuel, where we meet the two wives of Elkanah, whose names are Peninnah and Hannah. At first, Peninnah is able to bear children, but Hannah is not (I Samuel 1: 2). It is only much later, and by the granting of her petition by the Almighty, that Hannah conceives a child, as described in I Samuel 1: 17 - 20.

In fact, verse 20 of that ancient text actually says "Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD" (and the margin note explains that the derivation of the name Samuel is "Asked of God").

Mentioning this episode briefly in his essential 1940 text Lost Light, Alvin Boyd Kuhn argues that the second clause in the above verse (translated here in the 1611 King James Version as "when the time was come about") can be understood as meaning "At the turn of the year she bore a son" (Lost Light, 479). And, indeed, a margin note in the King James translation admits that the Hebrew text at this point actually translates more literally as saying "in revolution of days."

Alvin Boyd Kuhn's assertion that this revolution point (literally "turning-again" point) refers to the great turning-point of the year is reinforced by the very name of the second mother herself, in this story. Alvin Boyd Kuhn points out that the name Hannah is cognate with Anna -- and that this name itself makes reference to the great circle of the year, and has come down to us in modern languages in all the words relating to a year, such as annual.

Kuhn writes:

And another clear intimation of solstice purport hides in the story of Hannah and the relief of her barren condition through the birth of God's prophet Samuel: "At the turn of the year she bore a son." 479.

Note that this story clearly works as an illustration of the concept of a spiritual birth which only takes place some time well after the physical birth. In the story, Peninnah is described as bearing children long before Hannah does, and Hannah only conceives when God grants her the petition she has asked (I Samuel 1: 17), and after the text specifically states: "and the LORD remembered her" (I Samuel 1: 19). Peninnah is clearly associated with the physical or natural birth and Hannah with the spiritual and miraculous birth, which is only possible through the divine power from the divine realm.

From this example we can see quite clearly that the great turning-point of the year was associated with a deep spiritual analogy, having to do with spiritual matters and not merely with the turning-around of the sun to bring back life and crops on earth in a physical sense.

Nor is it correct to argue, as conventional scholars often do, that the more basic and fundamental conceptions came first (arguing that early humans may have started off with "more primitive" rituals to help the sun turn back around, for example) and then  developed in later centuries into more and more subtle and spiritual understandings (about the awakening of our own spiritual nature, for instance). As  the incredibly perceptive Alvin Boyd Kuhn argues in yet a different place, the understanding of the higher world must have been understood in great depth and thoroughness before such an incredible system of esoteric metaphor could have been designed in order to convey it!

He says:

Reflection of the realities of a higher world in the phenomena of a lower world could not be detected when only the one world, the lower, was known. You cannot see that nature reflects spiritual truth unless you know the form of spiritual truth. And such knowledge would be an a priori requirement to making the comparison at all! Lost Light, 72.

To argue the other way around, as conventional advocates of the "primitive humans becoming more sophisticated over millennia" try to do, would be akin to arguing that the amazing Montessori teaching devices known as the binomial cube and the trinomial cube were conceived and designed by someone who knew nothing of the function of binomials and trinomials, and then it was later discovered that the wooden cubes that they had built just happened to function perfectly as allegorical representations of higher algebraic concepts!

Thus, as we approach this winter solstice (which takes place at 5:44am Eastern time in North America on the morning of the 21st), you may wish to take the time to consider the profound spiritual message which we grasp in relation to this great revolution-point or turning-again point of the year, symbolic of the awakening of our awareness of our spiritual nature and our connection to the Infinite and Invisible World, which is actually all around us at all times and deep inside of us as well.

And, as we seek to integrate this reality into our lives, there are practices which we can consider incorporating into our own daily motions, if at all possible, including disciplines such as Yoga, meditation, Chi Gung, or many others which have been preserved since ancient times in cultures where the connection to this original knowledge was not lost or stamped out.

As Hannah shows us in the events of I Samuel 1, this second birth comes through earnestly desiring and seeking, and by gracious blessing from the divine realm.

Two metaphors for the Material and Non-material Realms

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

Those who have read my 2014 book The Undying Stars know that there are many names and descriptions by which the "Other Realm" has been known in many different cultures and eras.

Some of these include the Invisible Realm, the Infinite Realm,  the Spirit World, the realm of the gods, the Dreamtime, and "the seed world."

In each case, the descriptions imply that in the Other Realm, there is infinite potentiality -- infinite possibility -- but those possibilities have not necessarily manifested or taken form (because when they do so, they no longer remain infinite but take on finitude or "finity").

This is why the Infinite Realm is also called the Invisible Realm -- because in the Infinite Realm, the possibilities have not yet taken on finitude or manifestation and thus cannot be seen with ordinary sight.

It is also why this Other Realm is described in some cultures as the "seed realm" -- because it is the realm in which potentiality exists in a kind of "seed form," ready to manifest but not yet manifested, and thus still infinite in terms of potentiality. 

When you pick up an acorn, how many branches does the oak tree which might grow from that acorn have? The answer is, "infinite possible variations," because the oak tree at that point is "still in the seed world." Once it turns into a tree, then it will manifest some finite number of branches -- but when it is still in the seed realm, the oak tree is still "pure potential."

This understanding also helps us to perceive the truth in the description of the Other World given by the Lakota holy man Black Elk, when he called that realm: "the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that world." This visible world somehow proceeds from, or flows from, or unfolds out of that other realm -- that realm of pure potentiality.

If you listen to podcasts (and I would very much urge you to do so as often as it is practical, such as when driving long distances or riding on the bus or on the train), and if you listen to the excellent podcast hosted by Greg Carlwood called The Higherside Chats (and again I would strongly urge subscribing to it and listening to the full episodes if at all possible), then you may have heard the excellent interview with guest Laird Scranton from the month of October 2016, in which Laird Scranton provided an excellent and memorable metaphor for helping us to think about the difference between this ordinary visible realm and that other realm of pure potentiality.

I would advise listening to the entire interview, because Mr. Scranton is an insightful researcher and an articulate explainer of the many deep concepts that he explores in his work. 

I myself have some reservations about some of the theories of Immanuel Velikovsky that form some of the focus of that particular interview, although I  certainly agree that there is tremendous evidence on earth and in the solar system to support the idea of a cataclysm or cataclysms in our ancient past. That said, I believe it is always worthwhile to listen to the possible explanations put forth by different analysts and to consider their merits in light of the evidence. 

Additionally, much more was covered in that interview, including the important sacred traditions of the Dogon (which have been mentioned in some previous posts on this blog several years back, such as here and here), and of course there is Laird Scranton's extremely helpful discussion of the realm of potentiality, which goes (in part) like this:

Now, as we talk about the concept of there being two universes -- universes forming in pairs -- the Dogon actually say that they know of seven pairs of universes. There are actually fourteen universes. And that there's a sort of "sibling relationship" between a non-material and a material universe in every case. 

Now, from the perspective of the archaic philosophies that describe this stuff, the non-material universe has perfect knowledge -- but an inability to act. The material universe has imperfect knowledge, but full ability to act.

Now, one way of understanding why that might be true, is -- we have to go back to Einstein. Einstein says that, if you had a team of astronauts who were traveling much closer to the speed of light than we're traveling, that their timeframe would change. Their timeframe would get slower. And the time that it took them to, say, lift a cup of coffee and take a sip might be the same amount of time that it takes us to go through an entire day or an entire week. That, there's a difference in timeframe -- time slows down as acceleration increases, or as mass increases. 

So, when you're talking about a non-material universe -- a non-material universe -- that Einstein's outlook implies that a non-material universe exists in a timeframe that's much, much more quick than ours is -- much, much quicker than ours is. So quick that -- things essentially happen instantaneously. Things that we think of as taking time happen instantaneously.  

Imagine, standing at the top of the Empire State Building with a camera, and filming traffic going by -- and then you bring your video back to your computer, and you speed it up: video. It'll reach a point where things that begin as individual vehicles traveling on a street look like waves. And the reason they look like waves isn't because they're waves, it's because they seem to be moving so quickly that they look like waves to someone who's not moving that quickly.

Well, that's sort of what's happening here -- and if you imagine that the non-material side exists in an infinitely quick timeframe, there's no opportunity to do something: there's no moment to do something. You don't have an interval of time long enough to actually accomplish something. 

Now, one of the symbols of the non-material side, because of that wave effect, is a serpent. A serpent moves in waves -- in the form of waves. So the serpent becomes symbolic on one level of the energy of the non-material universe. [48:00 through 51:00 in the "Plus" version of the recorded interview].

This seems to me to be a very helpful mental picture for understanding the difference between the realm of pure potential and the manifest realm of the visible, material realm through which we are traveling during this incarnate life.

It also helps to shed some light on some of the assertions of made by Alvin Boyd Kuhn in some of his insightful discussion of the world's ancient myths and scriptures. 

For one thing, Alvin Boyd Kuhn argues that (contrary to the perspective of most literalist Christians, and also contrary to most conventional teaching about the mythology and focus of ancient civilizations such as that of ancient Egypt) the real focus of most sacred myth and sacred tradition is not upon our existence "after death" or "in between incarnations" but rather upon our existence during the incredibly important period in which we ourselves have taken on flesh and manifested in this Visible Realm.

In Lost Light, for example, Kuhn writes:

The collapse of true religion is ever marked by its turning for its real experience from earth to mystical heavens.

Scholars have not sufficiently nor capably reflected on the significant fact that ancient sacred books or Bibles have been largely Books of the Dead. The obvious glaring peculiarity of this fact has never seemed to occur to students. It should from the first have provoked wonder and curiosity that the sages of antiquity would have indited their great tomes of wisdom is such form as to serve as manuals in the life to come, and not as guides for the life lived in the sphere in which the books were available! Only the heavy tradition that religion was a preparation for a life to come, instead of a way of life here, could have stifled this natural reaction to a situation that is odd enough in all conscience. [. . .] It had been ponderously assumed by scholarship that the ancient sages were more concerned with the hereafter and the next world than with life down here. How the march of history would have swung into different highways had the world known that we living men were those "dead" for whom the sagas were inscribed by the masters of knowledge! And what must be the sobering realization for present reflection of the fact that the primeval revelation given to early races for the guidance and instruction of all humanity has missed entirely the world for which it was intended!

The scene of critical spiritual transactions is not "over there" in spirit land, but here in the inner arena of man's consciousness. 196, italics in the original.

Elsewhere in the same volume, Alvin Boyd Kuhn reflects upon the reason we come down to this material realm and provides an extremely helpful metaphor of his own, when he says:

Any man yearning to rise from sedentary occupation and brain work to experience the "feel" of muscular activity outdoors, is a sufficient analogue. The opposition, tension and zest for the game are provided by the playing forces of the two teams of matter and spirit. The game or battle will yield him adequate thrills, since in it he will find coming to function still unevolved latencies of his own measureless being. Each act will enhance his sense of power and glory. That he may live again and enjoy a new joust with matter he must plunge his nucleated units of consciousness into a state of "death" and burial in material inertia [i.e., material incarnation]. 340.

As I have said before, I am certain Kuhn does not intend to exclude women when he uses the term "men" or the masculine singular pronoun "he" -- Kuhn was writing in 1940, and conventions were different then. Elsewhere in the book, he makes very clear that he is describing both men and women, such as in one passage in which he describes the mythical phoenix as emblematic of our multiple cyclings down into incarnate form (see for instance the last paragraph of page 551). 

But note here the parallels with the picture that Laird Scranton's analysis paints of the non-material realm: there in the non-material state, Laird Scranton argues, there is perfect knowledge, but inability to act. It is like seeing all the cars in a video or time-lapse photograph, stretched into long lines or waves: you can see the entire timeline of the journey all at once, but you cannot interact with the car at any specific point, because the moments have all been sped-up into a single wave. Thus, in the immaterial condition, there is only contemplation.

In his own metaphor, Alvin Boyd Kuhn says that this is like "sedentary occupation and brain work" -- there is perfect knowledge, and there can be pure contemplation. But we are compelled to come down to the material realm because it is only in this realm that we can act and interact, and in doing so we can develop and unfold characteristics which, until manifested, exist only as potentialities (or as "unevolved latencies," as Kuhn calls them). They exist only in "seed form" until then.

Kuhn describes our need to plunge down into the incarnate realm in the analogy of the desire to "rise from sedentary occupation and brain work" and experience muscular activity outdoors.

However, we should not misinterpret these helpful metaphors as saying that the Invisible Realm is not important -- far from it. As we have already seen, the sacred traditions explain that this Visible Realm depends upon and proceeds from that Other Realm. This is why awareness of -- and even contact with  -- the Other Realm, even while we are traveling through this incarnate life in the material realm, can be so important. 

For one thing, there is knowledge that can only be obtained through contact with the Other Realm, and no other way. Laird Scranton's metaphor explains that, at least in one sense, in the non-material realm there is perfect knowledge, because it has a very different relationship to the domain of time within which we are operating when we come down into incarnate life. Elsewhere in the same interview, Laird Scranton makes the intriguing point that premonitions and synchronicities may be ways in which the Invisible Realm tries to get messages to us here in this Visible Realm.

Also, as Laird Scranton explains at the beginning of the quoted passage above, the ancient traditions of cultures that have preserved their historic ways (such as the traditions of the Dogon culture) emphasize that the material universe and the non-material universe are paired, like siblings. What happens in one can and does impact the other. This means that there may be situations in the material realm that can only be repaired or remedied through some sort of travel to, or contact with, the Infinite Realm. 

All of the above discussion appears to be part of the worldview that permeates all of the ancient  myths, scriptures and sacred traditions of humanity -- a worldview which can be generally labeled a "shamanic worldview" (with the caveat that, of course, that term can be used in a more specific as well as in more general sense, and that the term "shamanic" can also be misused). It is a worldview which includes an understanding of the existence of the Invisible Realm, and an understanding of its importance in our lives at all times.

And, as the above metaphors also help us to see, it is also a worldview which places tremendous importance upon our experience and our actions here in this incarnate life, where we are plunged into the interplay of matter and spirit, the great Battle of Kurukshetra described in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita (with parallels in many other myths around the globe).

Because here, we have imperfect knowledge, but the ability to act. 

We should be grateful to Laird Scranton for that metaphor (and to Greg Carlwood for the excellent interview which brought out that part of the discussion). I hope that these metaphors will be helpful to you in some way.

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

Still time to order inscribed copies of Star Myths of the World!

There's still time to order and receive signed copies of any of my books prior to your favorite winter-solstice-related celebrations or observances, for most locations in North America. 

To order signed copies, please visit this page. 

Payment options include PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and most bank cards. You will see PayPal as the top payment option when you begin the ordering process, but down below the "buy now with PayPal" button will be another button for other payment options.

There will also be an opportunity to specify names and spelling for a personalized inscription.

Signed copies purchased through that site do require shipping and tax. The site is set up for shipping rates within the united states -- there is a contact page linked at that location for those wishing to order shipments to other locations, or those who wish to purchase multiple copies or place other unusual orders.

Of course, you can also order the books through your local bookstore and avoid paying shipping (as well as avoiding sales tax, if you happen to live in a state that does not charge sales tax), although it may take some time for them to get them in stock, so you want to do that right away if you need it prior to the winter solstice period. They won't be able to order inscribed copies, however.

You can also order the books through online retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and others -- some of them offer free shipping. Of course, they won't be able to obtain signed copies either.

All of my books are also typically available through Amazon as well. Strangely, Star Myths of the World, Volume Three (Star Myths of the Bible) has been "temporarily out of stock" on Amazon for over a month on their united states website. Repeated attempts to get them to figure out the problem have so far not met with success. They do have the book available in sites for some other countries. 

Amazon's inability (or refusal) to figure out their inventory stocking issues on their united states site during the entire month of December and almost all of November appears to be their own internal issue, since the book has been available on other sites such as Barnes & Noble for the entire time (here is the link to the book on Barnes & Noble, who can get it to you in two days and usually offer free shipping).

I'm also sure that Amazon will eventually figure out their inventory issues for that title, as they have all of my others available in stock. Unless they really just don't like Star Myths of the Bible over there (or winter solstice holiday sales) and wish to discourage purchases by listing it as "temporarily" out of stock.

If you do order any of my books at this time of year, from whatever sales channel, I hope that they will be a blessing to you, or to whoever reads them!

Table of contents and some sample internal content for each title is available for web viewing here.

Evidence of an ancient conspiracy in the works of Josephus

In my 2014 book, The Undying Stars, I spend a fair amount of time examining the theory of Joseph Atwill outlined in Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus.

Joseph Atwill has discovered undeniable parallels between the events described in the gospel accounts of the New Testament and the events described in the history of the first-century-AD Roman military campaign in Judea which culminated in the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. 

As his research and analysis clearly shows, there are even parallels between the sequence of events as described in the history of that Roman war and the sequence of events as presented in the so-called "synoptic" gospel accounts.

In Caesar's Messiah, Joseph Atwill interprets these remarkable and undeniable parallels as pointing to the conclusion that the gospel accounts must therefore be "a skillful satire" of the Roman conquest of Judea -- a massive Roman inside joke (Caesar's Messiah, 10). 

The purpose for this elaborate inside joke, he argues, would have been primarily twofold. First, it would have been an attempt to defuse the potential for ongoing rebellions of a Messianic nature among the Jewish diaspora within the empire, by skillfully arguing that the Messianic prophecies pointed to a Roman Messiah, in the person of the conquering Flavian generals (Vespasian and his son, Titus). Second, it would have functioned to feed what Mr. Atwill describes as "the overwrought vanity of the Roman Caesars, desiring the populace to worship them as gods" (10).

However, without denying the clear parallels which Joseph Atwill has discovered between the account of the campaign in Judea and the accounts in the New Testament gospels, I would argue that the conclusion he reaches -- that the gospel accounts must be an elaborate inside joke and satire built upon the events of that campaign -- is by no means the only possible interpretation of the evidence at hand.

Simply put, as Mr. Atwill himself freely acknowledges, the only source for the details of the Flavian campaign in Judea which form the basis for his comparison are those provided in the history written by Josephus. 

While the Roman conquest certainly took place, and while it certainly resulted in the destruction of the rebellion and the sacking of the Temple (as we can see from the relief images included in the Arch of Titus, constructed as part of the joint triumph awarded by Rome to Vespasian and his son Titus), the only source for the narrative of certain specific events which parallel the events described in the gospels is Josephus himself.

And Josephus is by no means a reliable narrator.

In fact, he is a deeply compromised narrator, as Mr. Atwill once again freely acknowledges. 

Josephus, by his own account, was one of the military leaders of the Jewish rebellion against the Romans, as well as a very high-ranking priest from a highly-regarded family. In his account of the Roman conquest, Josephus describes how he went over to Vespasian in order to save his own life, more than two years before the eventual sacking of the Temple and conclusion of the war -- and how he was afterwards rewarded by the Flavian family with a new life in Rome, including an apartment in Vespasian's own villa (where Vespasian himself had lived, before he built a new palatial villa for himself after becoming emperor), an annual pension for the rest of his life, a new wife (he said he was tired of his old one) selected from among the prisoners, a large quantity of land in Judea which furthermore would be free from taxation, punishment of those who dared to accuse Josephus, and finally ongoing "kindnesses" and "respect" from all of the Flavian emperors and their own families.    

In other words, Josephus was a collaborator with the conquering Romans -- and judging by the incredible rewards he was accorded by the Flavians, the services he provided in his collaboration were extremely valuable to them. The emperor basically adopted Josephus into his family: in fact, Josephus took the emperor's family name, Flavius, which is why you will often see his name given as "Flavius Josephus."

Far from requiring us to conclude that the gospel accounts are a "skillful satire" and vanity-piece for the Flavian emperors, mirroring the supposed "history" given to us by Josephus in his account of the conquest, we should also consider the possibility that the history written by Josephus and perhaps even the events themselves as he describes them are part of a skillful manipulation by Josephus himself.

In fact, there is overwhelming evidence that this is the case: that Josephus fashioned the events of his supposed history after patterns that can be found in the world's ancient mythology, patterns which are also incorporated into the gospel accounts. These patterns are mythological in nature. For whatever reason, Josephus was creating a narrative which was based upon clearly-recognizable mythological patterns. 

And note that, as a high-ranking priest who was intimately familiar with the ancient Hebrew Scriptures which form the basis for what has historically come to be called the "Old Testament" of the Bible, Josephus would have been very familiar with these mythological patterns -- because (as I show with extensive examples in my most recent book, Star Myths of the Bible) the stories of the Hebrew Scriptures are based upon these very same mythological patterns.

In short, the parallels that Joseph Atwill have discovered are very real, and they expose a very real and very important deception -- but it is a deception on the part of Josephus. The patterns in the gospel accounts, which are also found in the "history" of Josephus, are part of a very ancient mythological pattern which can be shown to predate Josephus by thousands of years.

Please note that all of this is not to say that Josephus and his fellow-collaborators might not have had a hand in the final format in which these myths are arranged in the canonical gospel accounts. In fact, it is very likely (as I argue in The Undying Stars) that the story of literalist Christianity as it came to exist in the centuries following the conquest of Judea was part of a deliberate campaign to subvert the ancient wisdom given to humanity in the world's sacred myths, and to replace it with a belief that these sacred stories are actually supposed to be interpreted as literal and historical accounts.

Let's briefly examine a couple of important scenes from the account of Josephus, for which Joseph Atwill finds parallels in the gospel accounts, and show that these scenes are patterned upon more-ancient myths that can be found elsewhere (and which, I would argue, probably never took place, either in the campaign of the Romans or in the events related in the gospel accounts, which are actually part of the same mythological tradition).

One of the very first events that Joseph Atwill examines is the account in Wars of the Jews by Josephus, in which at the sea of Galilee: "Titus begins his campaign with a battle in which Jews fall into the water and are fished out" (Caesar's Messiah, 399). In his account, which is found in Book 3 and chapter 10 (and subsection 9 within that chapter), Josephus describes the destruction of fleeing Jewish vessels upon the lake by the Romans, and the subsequent slaughter of those who leaped into the water -- with Romans "running them through with their long poles" (spearing them like fish).

Joseph Atwill argues that this scene from Josephus' history parallels the accounts of the beginning of Jesus' ministry, where he too is described at the sea of Galilee, and calls his disciples with the promise to make them "fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19 and Mark 1:17).

However, before we conclude that this parallel means that the gospel accounts are a skillful satire, an inside joke, and an imperial vanity piece, we should note that battle scenes in which unfortunate combatants are "speared like fish" are actually found in myths which long predate the first-century-AD Roman campaign in Judea.

For example, in an episode which I discuss in Volume Two of my Star Myths of the World series, the unfortunate companions of Odysseus are speared like fish by the gigantic and cannibalistic Laestrygonians, in Book 10 of the Odyssey.

Here is the account, as presented in the superlative translation of Professor Robert Fagles:

Straightway she summoned royal Antiphates from assembly,
her husband, who prepared my crew a barbarous welcome.
Snatching one of my men, he tore him up for dinner --
the other two sprang free and reached the ships.
But the king let loose a howling through the town
that brought tremendous Laestrygonians swarming up
from every side -- hundreds, not like men, like Giants!
Down from the cliffs they flung great rocks a man could hardly hoist
and a ghastly shattering din rose up from all the ships --
men in their death-cries, hulls smashed to splinters --
They speared the crews like fish
and whisked them home to make their grisly meal. Book 10, lines 125 - 136.

As I show in Volume Two, this scene and virtually every other episode in the Odyssey can be shown to be based upon the same system of celestial metaphor which underlies the ancient myths, scriptures and sacred stories of the world.

The fact that Josephus works into his account a scene in which his own unfortunate countrymen are speared like fish is probably evidence that Josephus was well acquainted with the ancient myths of humanity (in fact, I would argue that he was probably well versed in their deeper esoteric meaning, and with their celestial foundation as well -- some evidence of this knowledge on the part of Josephus is discussed in The Undying Stars). In fact, in the narrative presented in the "history" of Josephus, he also works into his account of this particular massacre the throwing of rocks!

Another of the parallels which Joseph Atwill has discovered involves the building by Titus of "a siege wall around Jerusalem" in AD 70, described in Book 5, chapter 12 of the history presented by Josephus (see for example Caesar's Messiah page 400 and elsewhere). He finds parallels to this and other aspects of the siege of Titus to the "predictions" of a siege of Jerusalem made by Jesus in the gospel accounts (Jesus describes the compassing of Jerusalem by armies of Gentiles in Luke chapter 21 and in Matthew chapters 24 and 25).

Unless you take the accounts as literal history and believe that they describe accurate predictions made decades prior to the Roman campaign which culminated in the sacking of the Temple by Titus, then these details do indeed appear to indicate that the New Testament gospel accounts as we have them today were indeed composed after the sacking of the Temple (we can be fairly certain that the Temple was indeed sacked by Titus and his forces, because scenes of the Temple artifacts being led away in triumph are included in the Arch of Titus, and the people alive at that time probably saw the triumphal procession itself, which according to the account of Josephus included those artifacts as a central feature). 

However, once again the feature of a wall as described by Josephus in this instance is a very common feature of ancient myth, and one that can be tied to a celestial pattern -- I detail several instances of cities or citadels surrounded by just such a wall in the Odyssey, in Volume Two of Star Myths of the World. And, in Volume Three of the series (Star Myths of the Bible), I show that the prediction or prophecy included in the gospel accounts that the Temple will be cast down to the ground such that not a single stone remains upon another is almost certainly celestial as well (involving a celestial Temple).

Indeed, if it involved the physical Temple in Jerusalem, then even literalist Christians would have to admit that the prophecy did not take place as described in the gospels, since the Western Wall is still standing to this day -- which shows that the description that "there shall not be left one stone upon another," found in Luke 21:6 and Matthew 24:2 did not take place in the literal and historical events. Indeed, the fact that the prediction about not one stone being left upon another but that all of them would be thrown down can be seen not to have taken place (and could have been seen not to have taken place during the period of ancient Rome) should cause us to question the conclusion that the gospels were intended as a way of making the populace worship the Flavians as gods. 

The prophecy is celestial in nature, and involves a constellation of stars setting in the west (down to the level of the ground), as I discuss in Star Myths of the Bible.

In fact, we can see in Old Testament accounts that Jerusalem is also compassed by a wall, such as in the passage at the beginning of 1 Kings chapter 3, in which we are told that Solomon "made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt" until he had finished building "his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about" (italics added for emphasis). I believe that these details are given as celestial clues (and again, there are many episodes in the Odyssey of ancient Greece in which similar celestial clues are given, pointing to the same region of the night sky).

Joseph Atwill also asserts that the references to the coming of the Son of man, which are a frequent feature in certain discourses of Jesus found in the gospel accounts, are intended to refer to the coming of the Flavian generals and specifically Titus (the son of Vespasian), as part of the "skillful satire" and the desire to make the population "worship them as gods."

However, I would argue that the context of the passages again points to a celestial identity for the figure described as the Son of man. As I explain in The Undying Stars, during the Olivet Discourse (sometimes called the "Little Apocalypse") found in Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Jesus describes the coming of the sign of the Son of man in the heavens, moving from east to west, and separating the sheep from the goats (see especially Matthew 24: 27 through Matthew 25: 33).

As the star-chart diagram below shows, and as I explain in greater detail in The Undying Stars, the sign of the Son of man almost certainly corresponds to the zodiac constellation of Aquarius. Aquarius does indeed move from the east to the west (as do all the stars, due to the rotation of the earth upon its axis, towards the east), and Aquarius does indeed separate the sheep from the goats as well (he separates Aries the Ram from Capricorn the Goat):

An astute reader will notice that as we face towards the south (which is the direction that those in the northern hemisphere above the line of the tropics must face in order to see the zodiac), the "sheep" of Aries appear to be on the left, while the "goats" of Capricorn appear to be on the right -- and in the Matthew 25 passage, it is clearly stated that the sheep will be "on his right hand, but the goats on the left" (Matthew 25: 33). 

That's because, as they say in the army when an instructor is facing a group and referring to directions such as left and right, from the perspective of the constellation Aquarius (if his front is facing towards us), the sheep are on "my right, your left" and the goats are on "my left, your right." The Biblical passage clearly says that the sheep on on his right hand, not ours as we face the sky.

In short, the Biblical narrative can be shown to be based from first to last upon celestial patterns that inform all of the ancient myths, scriptures and sacred stories of humanity. They are not simply a clever Roman fiction, a skillful satire, an inside joke, or a Flavian vanity-piece. They actually contain profound ancient wisdom, which (like the wisdom contained in all the other ancient sacred stories of the world) is vital to our lives and can be profoundly beneficial, if interpreted in the language that it is actually speaking to us, which is a celestial and esoteric language.

I am convinced that overwhelming evidence exists to argue that this ancient wisdom was deliberately subverted by those who wanted to create a sophisticated campaign to cause men and women to take these stories literally, and to ignore their esoteric meaning. I am also convinced that Josephus and his associates were central to that campaign -- perhaps in part because people like the author we know as "Paul" were busily teaching the Gnostic and esoteric understanding of the ancient doctrine of the "Christ within," and those who did not want that secret to be given to the masses wanted to contain it and "put the cat back into the bag" by promoting a falsely literal and historical version of that message instead.

Joseph Atwill has provided extremely valuable evidence regarding this ancient deception, with his perceptive analysis comparing the gospel accounts and the histories of Josephus. While I disagree with the main conclusions that he has reached, I believe that his are understandable conclusions to suggest as one possible explanation for the evidence at hand, particularly if the celestial metaphors are not understood, and the connections of those same patterns to other myths (including but not limited to those which we find in the Odyssey of ancient Greece, as well as strong parallels to the mythology of ancient Egypt not discussed in the above examination). 

One thing should be fairly certain from all of the above discussion, and that is that the events in the gospel accounts are not literal and historical in nature, but rather metaphorical. I happen to believe that they are actually metaphors intended to convey profound truths about our human condition and about the nature of the simultaneously physical-and-spiritual universe in which we presently find ourselves, and that they should not be dismissed as a clever Roman satire.

Now, thanks to the insights of Joseph Atwill, we can see that the works of Josephus are almost certainly not completely literal and historical in nature either -- and that Josephus is almost certainly part of an ancient conspiracy involving the transition to literalist Christianity, a conspiracy which has resulted in the suppression of that beneficial message for centuries (and which later resulted in the destruction or suppression of the ancient wisdom preserved in the traditions of other cultures around the world).

One solid foundation

This is one of my favorite songs, "One Foundation" by the Wailers, sung by Peter Tosh.

I have previously written out what I believe to be the lyrics, in a previous post here.

When we realize that all the world's ancient myths, scriptures, and sacred traditions share a common celestial foundation, it should truly unite us and cause us to see that we all share a very ancient common heritage. The clear connection between the constellations and the world's sacred stories provide more than enough evidence which can be easily examined to demonstrate this common foundation.

And one of the primary and central messages of that ancient wisdom tells us that the most important part of each and every man and woman is invisible -- the divine spark inside each one of us -- not our external, physical body of clay.

Respect.

imagine

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

Shango and Oya of the Yoruba

image: Wikimedia commons (composite image, foreground and background).

Abundant evidence from myths found around the world, on every single inhabited continent on our planet -- as well as the inhabited islands of the vast Pacific Ocean -- points to the incredible conclusion that these ancient myths all appear to be built upon a common system of celestial metaphor.

This same worldwide system underlies the stories of what we call the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, as well as the myths, scriptures and sacred traditions of ancient India, ancient Greece, ancient China, ancient Japan, ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, the peoples of various part of Europe, and of the Americas, and other parts of Asia, and the islands of Polynesia and Micronesia, and the same system can even be seen to form the basis for myths and sacred traditions found in Australia and in Africa.

Some of the myths and sacred traditions of Africa are explored in Star Myths of the World, Volume One, which seeks to provide an overview of representative Star Myths from numerous cultures on different continents (whereas Star Myths of the World, Volume Two and Star Myths of the World, Volume Three focus more deeply on myths from Ancient Greece and from the Bible, respectively).

Because Volume One tries to give a broad introduction to the vast scope of this ancient worldwide system, only a few myths from each different continent could be highlighted. Entire multi-volume sets could of course be written on the Star Myths of each of the different traditions, showing ways that the myths of all these different cultures appear to be based on the motions of the constellations and other heavenly bodies and heavenly cycles.

Many more myths and sacred stories from the continent of Africa and its many different cultures and myth-systems could be explored in addition to those featured in Volume One of the Star Myths of the World series.

One of the myth-cycles that could be explored would be the myths and traditions surrounding two important Yoruba deities or Orisha: Shango and Oya.

Shango is a powerful Orisha of fire and of thunder and lightning.

In his 1980 study of Yoruba oral tradition and divination entitled Sixteen Cowries, William Bascom writes of Shango (sometimes also spelled Xango):

Shango is a God of Thunder. Living in the sky he hurls thunderstones to earth, killing those who offend him or setting their houses afire. His thunderbolts are prehistoric stone celts which farmers sometimes find while hoeing their fields; they are taken to Shango's priests, who keep them at his shrine in a plate supported by an inverted mortar, which also serves as a stool when the heads of initiates are shaved (cf. Bascom 1972: 6). The stones in Shango's sacrifices may be an allusion to his thunderbolts, and in one verse Shango kills a leopard by putting an inverted mortar over it. [ . . . ]

He was noted for his magical powers and was feared because when he spoke, fire came out of his mouth. One verse has Shango lighting a fire in his mouth with itufu, oil-soaked fibers from the pericarp of the oil palm, which is used in making torches and starting fires. In a state of possession it is said that a Shango worshiper may eat fire, possibly using itufu, carry a pot of live coals on his head, or put his hand into live coals without apparent harm. 44.

Shango is a formidable deity or Orisha -- but so is his favorite consort, the goddess Oya. William Bascom describes her thusly:

Oya is the favorite wife of Shango, the only wife who remained true to him until the end, leaving Oyo with him and becoming a deity when he did. She is Goddess of the Niger River, which is called the River Oya (odo Oya), but she anifests herself as the strong wind that precedes a thunderstorm. When Shango wishes to fight with lightning, he sends his wife ahead of him to fight with wind. She blows roofs off houses, knocks down large trees, and fans the fires set by Shango's thunderbolts into a high blaze. When Oya comes, people know that Shango is not far behind, and it is said that without her, Shango cannot fight. The verses tell that Oya is the wife of Shango, "The wife who is fiercer than the husband." Her town is Ira, which is said to be near Ofa. 45.

Bascom also notes that Oya is associated with buffalo's horns, and that a set of buffalo horns will be rubbed with cam wood to make them red and placed on Oya's shrine. In another book discussing the mythology of the Yoruba, Yoruba Myths by Ulli and Georgina Beier (1980), we learn that one time, when Shango and Oya were having a fight, 

she charged him with mighty horns. But Shango appeased her by placing a big dish of akara (bean cakes) in front of her. Pleased by the offering of her favourite food, Oya made peace with Shango and gave him her two horns. When he was in need, he only had to beat these horns one against the other and she would come to his aid. 32 - 33.

Based on these details from the different sacred traditions involving Shango and Oya, I believe we can very confidently identify Shango and Oya with the constellations Hercules and Virgo. Below is a star-chart showing some of the features of these constellations which correspond to aspects of the mythology of Shango and Oya:

The details of the stories may have already tipped you off to this conclusion, if you have worked your way through previous Star Myth examinations presented on this blog or in the "Myths" section of the Star Myth World website, as well as some of the "Videos" on the same website, and especially if you have worked your way through any of the volumes of the Star Myths of the World series of books.

In nearly every ancient myth-system, the powerful figure who wields a thunderbolt weapon will be associated with the figure of Hercules in the sky, whether that thunderbolt weapons is wielded by a god in the Maya account contained in the Popol Vuh, or by a god in the myths of ancient Greece and Rome, or in the myths of the Norse.

Images of Shango and symbolic scepters sacred to Shango usually feature a double-axe motif, a potent symbol which is also found around the world. The carved wooden image of Shango shown at top features a wide double-axe above the figure's head, as well as two more smaller double-axes placed in front of the image in the carving.

It is possible that the great weapon held menacingly aloft by the constellation Hercules in the sky, which in some myths becomes a club or a sword, can also be seen as an enormous double-axe shape, especially if the "blade-shaped" outline of Lyra the Lyre nearby is also envisioned as being part of the same weapon (see star-chart above).

There are other details in the myths which give added certainty to the identification of Shango with the constellation Hercules, which we will examine in a moment. First, however, let's look at the identity of the goddess Oya, who is so powerful that Shango cannot fight without her, and who is described as going ahead of Shango in everything.

I am convinced that Oya is associated with the constellation Virgo: can you see how this arrangement gives rise to the tradition that Oya always precedes Shango? The motion of the stars each night is from east to west (just like the motion of the sun each day -- both are caused by the rotation of the earth towards the east on its daily rotation). In the star chart above, which looks towards the south, east is on the left and west is on the right, and the constellations move from left-to-right in the diagrams.

The definitive clue that Oya is associated with Virgo is the fact that she is sometimes called the "Mother of Nine" (Iyansan, or 'Yansan) in Yoruba tradition (Bascom, 45). The constellation Virgo, as we have seen in many myths from around the world, is often envisioned as a mother about to give birth, due to her posture in the sky, lying on her back with feet elevated. 

Virgo is sometimes envisioned as giving birth to the multi-headed figure of Scorpio, which follows Virgo in the sky. Scorpio, as seen in many of the discussions in the Star Myths of the World books, is sometimes envisioned as having nine heads.  The fact that Oya is called "Mother of Nine" pretty much seals her association with the constellation Virgo in the heavens.

You can also see the "buffalo horns" which Oya gave to Shango, almost certainly identified with the beautiful arc of stars known as the Northern Crown (or Corona Borealis), very close to Shango-Hercules in the sky and included in the diagram above.

What about the details of the story in which Shango breathes fire out of his mouth? The star chart below shows that the "lower arm" of the constellation Hercules (the arm not holding a club or weapon) can be envisioned as proceeding out of the mouth of the constellation. I believe this is very likely the source of the association of "breathing fire" with this particular Orisha. 

There is also a "torch" in the sky not far from Hercules and Virgo, in the form of the constellation Coma Berenices, which actually plays the role of a torch in many other Star Myths (some of them discussed in the Star Myths of the World books). This may be the itufa torch that appears in the myths of Shango:

The aspect of the myth in which Shango is described as killing a leopard by crushing it beneath "an inverted mortar" no doubt have to do with the constellation Ophiucus, directly beneath the constellation Hercules. The body of Ophiucus has a distinctive oblong shape with triangle at top (as outlined by the ingenious outlining system proposed by H. A. Rey). This almost certainly represents the inverted mortar (a mortar and pestle are tools for crushing up grains and spices: the mortar usually a stone bowl with a depression or hole in the center, and this shape also gives its name to the later weapon known as a mortar, which shoots shells out of a tube -- Ophiucus could be envisioned as a tall mortar, turned upside down so that its conical base is at the top).

Note that the head and tail of the unfortunate leopard can be seen protruding from either side of the upturned mortar of Ophiucus!

Note also that Shango is sometimes described as defeating his enemies with a cudgel, which is another weapon very closely associated with the outline of the constellation Hercules (and Hercules-figures throughout the world will often carry a club or cudgel as their favorite weapon). William Bascom cites Yoruba verses in which Shango uses a cudgel in the verse labeled "L1" in Sixteen Cowries, and he mentions this fact on page 44 as well. This cudgel is yet another clue that Shango corresponds to the constellation Hercules -- in addition to all the other clues, I believe we can be quite confident in associating Shango with Hercules, and Oya with Virgo.

In another set of verses cited by William Bascom, we learn of Shango that: "He drove away the hartebeeste that had been eating the children of the people of Ijagba, and became the deity that all the people of Ijagba worshipped" (45).

A hartebeeste is a large African ungulate, with majestic curving horns. As you can see in the image below, it is very possible that this hartebeest which Shango drives away might be associated with the outline of the horned figure of Taurus the Bull, which can also be said to resemble a hartebeeste:

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

As the constellations Virgo and Hercules rise over the horizon in the east, the constellation Taurus can be seen to be sinking down into the west. This perfectly describes the situation in which Shango (Hercules) "drives away" the hartebeest (Taurus). There are other Star Myths from around the world in which the arrival of a god or goddess associated with Hercules or Virgo signifies the demise of a figure associated with Taurus (for instance, the traditions associated with the goddess Durga -- see here and here).

Below is a star-chart showing Hercules rising in the east, as Taurus sinks down in the west:

Note that in the diagram, the planetarium app distorts the size of constellations along the east and west, in order to simulate the "wraparound" effect you would see outside (the left and right of the image represent turning towards the eastern and western horizons, respectively; looking to the center of the image represents looking towards the southern horizon: the planetarium app from Stellarium.org makes constellations look smaller when they are in the middle of the diagram, and larger when they are near the east or the west to your left and right).

In Yoruba Myths, we read that the goddess Oya was originally an antelope who periodically took off her antelope skin to reveal a beautiful woman:

Oya was an antelope who transformed herself into a woman. Every five days, when she came to the market in town, she took off her skin in the forest and hid it under a shrub. 

One day Shango met her in the market, was struck by her beauty, and followed her into the forest. Then he watched, as she donned the skin and turned back into an antelope.

The following day Shango hid himself in the forest, and when Oya had changed into a woman and gone to market he picked up the skin, took it home and hid it in the rafters. 33.

We learn that Shango's other two wives become jealous of Oya, who bears Shango twins, and they tell Oya where to find her skin, hanging in the rafters. She dons the antelope form again and disappears into the forest.

I believe that this story is also based upon the same celestial mechanics shown in the star-chart above. When Virgo takes off her antelope skin and hides it beneath a bush, Taurus is sinking down into the horizon (into the bushes of the horizon, you might say). 

The part about hanging the skin up in the rafters resonates with a very common theme in Star Myths around the world -- for instance, in the Maui myths of the Pacific, Maui's grandfather hangs Maui up in the rafters when he is a baby! In that case, the grandfather is undoubtedly Hercules, and Maui the infant is almost certainly Corona Borealis (the Northern Crown). This identification is discussed in greater detail in Star Myths Volume One. The Northern Crown, oddly enough, plays a baby in many other Star Myths.

In the story of Shango and Oya and the hanging of Oya's skin in the rafters, I believe the constellation Coma Berenices fits the identification of the skin better than the nearby Northern Crown. There are other Star Myths we could look at which make this identification the likely answer to the celestial source of this sacred Yoruba story.

When the other wives tell Oya where her skin is hanging (they do this using a chant, in which they sing about its location), she resumes her antelope form and bounds away into the forest so that Shango cannot find her. Again, this detail probably stems from the fact that, when Hercules rises in the east, Taurus sinks down out of sight in the west.

For those who wonder whether Taurus could play the role of the female antelope which is one of the shapes of the goddess Oya, note that in Africa the female of the many species of antelope often has horns, in addition to the horns of the male antelope. 

Below is an illustration of the female Hirola, an antelope found in the areas where the Yoruba cultures traditionally have lived for thousands of years:

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

There are still more stories of Oya and Shango which point to a celestial foundation associated with the constellations Virgo and Hercules. One of the stories involves the mother of Shango, the goddess of the River Yemoja (odo Yemoja), which flows through Yoruba lands. In one version of the story, Yemoja was pursued by her husband Okere (who is not the father of Shango) and he knocks her down, causing her to turn into a river which flows out of pots of water she was also carrying (Bascom, 46). 

This story may also involve the constellation Virgo, which is located in the sky adjacent to the constellations Crater the Cub and Hydra the Snake (see star-chart above). When Shango's mother Yemoja falls down (and note that Virgo is recumbent), she may become the river which is associated with the flowing form of Hydra, directly beneath Virgo and beneath the water-cup-like outline of the constellation Crater.

Shango and Oya are very important deities in the Yoruba mythology, with many devotees around the world to this day. Their clear celestial parallels provide still more evidence which argues that the system of celestial metaphor which we can see operating in the stories of the Bible and in the other myths of the world, is in fact a common system which somehow provides the underlying bedrock upon which all the world's ancient traditions have their foundation.

Shango is a god of fire. I believe that the world's Star Myths convey powerful truths regarding the Invisible World -- the realm of spirit, the realm of the gods, the Infinite Realm. 

One of the lessons that they teach is that, just as the stars themselves can be seen to rotate down to sink into the western horizon, so also we ourselves came down to this incarnate realm from a spirit realm -- and that we all contain a divine spark, an internal divine fire, through which we have immediate access to that Invisible Realm at all times, if we learn how to become re-acquainted with that aspect of our nature.

I am convinced that the ancient myths, scriptures and sacred stories which were entrusted to humanity the world over are here to help show us how to do that.