Nowadays there is no obvious heliacal shell-fish (kea) asterism late in April, and the Gate of Cancer was far back in time: ... Men's spirits were thought to dwell in the Milky Way between incarnations. This conception has been handed down as an Orphic and Pythagorean tradition fitting into the frame of the migration of the soul. Macrobius, who has provided the broadest report on the matter, has it that souls ascend by way of Capricorn, and then, in order to be reborn, descend again through the 'Gate of Cancer'. Macrobius talks of signs; the constellations rising at the solstices in his time (and still in ours) were Gemini and Sagittarius: the 'Gate of Cancer' means Gemini. In fact, he states explicitly (I,12.5) that this 'Gate' is 'where the Zodiac and the Milky Way intersect'. Far away, the Mangaians of old (Austral Islands, Polynesia), who kept the precessional clock running instead of switching over to 'signs', claim that only at the evening of the solstitial days can spirits enter heaven, the inhabitants of the northern parts of the island at one solstice, the dwellers in the south at the other ... Below the midline, south of the equator (like how ancient Egypt was south of the Mediterranean), the focus of interest was primarily not on Sun (and the solstices) but rather on Moon and the changing seasons. Everyone could experience and follow the different garments of Mother Nature. In spring the living spirits in form of migrating birds returned after the still and quiet months of winter. In the night and at the other end of the sky, representing autumn, we have the non-migrating Raven who indeed is connected with a shell-fish:
... After the great flood had at long last receded, Raven had gorged himself on the delicacies left by the receding water, so for once, perhaps the first time in his life, he wasn't hungry. But his other appetites, his curiosity and the unquenchable itch to meddle and provoke things, to play tricks on the world and its creatures, these remained unsatisfied. Raven gazed up and down the beach. It was pretty, but lifeless. There was no one about to upset, or play tricks upon. Raven sighed. He crossed his wings behind him and strutted up and down the sand, his shiny head cocked, his sharp eyes and ears alert for any unusual sight or sound. The mountains and the sea, the sky now ablaze with the sun by day and the moon and stars he had placed there, it was all pretty, but lifeless. Finally Raven cried out to the empty sky with a loud exasperated cry. And before the echoes of his cry faded from the shore, he heard a muffled squeak. He looked up and down the beach for its source and saw nothing. He strutted back and and forth, once, twice, three times and still saw nothing. Then he spied a flash of white in the sand. There, half buried in the sand was a giant clamshell. As his shadow fell upon it, he heard another muffled squeak. Peering down into the opening between the halves of the shell, he saw it was full of tiny creatures, cowering in fear at his shadow. Raven was delighted. Here was a break in the monotony of the day. But how was he to get the creatures to come out of their shell and play with him? Nothing would happen as long as they stayed inside the giant clamshell. They were not going to come out as long as they were so afraid of him. So Raven leaned over his head, close to the shell, and with all the cunning and skill of that smooth trickster's tongue, that had so often gotten him in and out of so many misadventures during his troubled and troublesome existence, he coaxed and cajoled and coerced the little creatures to come out and play in his wonderful shiny new world. As you know the Raven has two voices, one harsh and strident, and the other which he used now, a seductive, bell-like croon which seems to come from the depth of the sea, or out of the cave where winds are born. It is an irresistable sound, one of the loveliest in the world. It wasn't long before first one and then another of the little shell-dwellers emerged from the shell. Some scurried back when they saw the Raven, but eventually curiosity overcame their caution and all of them had crept or scrambled out ...
The first star in the Raven constellation is Alchita (α Corvi) which rose in RA day 183 or 33 days earlier than υ Virginis. April 26 (116) - 33 = 83 (March 24).
Raven first had to eat and arrange the stars, planets etc in their right places. This must have taken him some time. He found the giant clamshell only later. Metoro as usual identified the glyph type in Ca2-15 with vai. His ki te vai can be contrasted with ki te tai 15 glyphs earlier:
Perhaps once May 1 was regarded as the time when Sun returned (north of the equator) and the nice spring rains began. There is a contrast between how the left head of kea disappears changing the creature to a dead shell and the apperance of a last and 4th 'horn' on vai.
Possibly pure represents a evacuated clamshell and vai a living bivalve.
Tagata in Ca2-14 could represent the last day in 50 weeks (350 days) - not counting the first day, of course. Al Muakhar 13 is manzil day 350. The rule of Pollux began with Al Muakhar 1 in April 19. This is where Metoro started to use oho - in contrast to noho - the evil season is going away (oho) and the good times are staying (noho). Metoro here seems to think of the situation north of the equator (maybe because line Ca2 has its figures upside down):
Possibly the giant clamshell full of tiny living creatures - in kea glyphs the legs which are sticking out do not belong to the central figure - corresponds to the beginning of May, when The Fly constellation rose heliacally as a sign of the returning manu rere of life energies:
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