451. At the time of rongorongo the right
ascension day of Bharani was *41.4 according to my
manner of notation. But presumably this number was perceived as
414 - i.e. with no star for marking number of days
beyond day 80 counted from the first day of the year and
with no decimal point.
The bare digits were enough, because
knowledge procured the insight of the dimension, here
the insight of 414 being greater than the number for the
Sun year (365, 364, 360, 354, 350, or whatever).
414 was one more than 14 * 29˝, i.e. one
more than 14 lunar synodic months. One more than 413 (a
mirror image of 314).
The decimal system was (formally regarded)
not present and 41.4 should simply be expressed as 414 -
given that knowledge provided the insight that the
dimension was less than a Sun year.
The Babylonians counted with 60 expressed by 1 in the same manner as we with our 10 are
expressing the sum of our fingers, and 11 as one more.
The Babylonians counted with our number 11 expressed as
a single 'digit'. The Babylonian sign for 1 could be
understood also as 60, 600, 6000 etc.
The bare digits were fundamentals
throughout the dimensions and calculations with them
demanded no decimal point (or similar), for the
dimension of the result would be obvious.
One might therefore speculate how the
structure of these fundamentals was perceived. One clue
is provided by Betelgeuze (*88):
te hokohuki |
te moko |
te hokohuki |
Moko
1. Lizard; moko
manu uru, figurine of a lizard (made of
wood). 2. To throw oneself on something, to
take quickly, to snatch; to flee into the
depths (of fish); tagata moko,
interloper, intruder, someone who seizes
something quickly and swiftly, or cleverly
intrudes somewhere; ka-moko ki te kai,
ka-moko, ka-aaru, quickly grab some
food, grab and catch. 3. To throw oneself
upon someone, to attack: he-moko,
he-reirei, to attack and kick. 4.
Moko roa: to make a long line (of
plantation); moko poto, to make a
short line. 5. Ihu moko; to die out
(a family of which remains only one male
without sons); koro hakamao te mate o te
mahigo, he-toe e-tahi tagata nó, ina aana
hakaara, koîa te me'e e-kî-nei: ku-moko-á te
ihu o te mahigo. when the members of
family have died and there remains only one
man who has no offspring, we say:
ku-moko-á te ihu o te mahigo; to
disappear (of a tradition, a custom),
me'e ihu moko o te tagata o te kaiga nei, he
ęi, the ęi is a custom no longer
in use among the people of this island.
Vanaga. 1. Lizard. P Pau., Mgv., Mq.:
moko, id. Ta. moó, id. 2. To
stun, to be dizzy. PS Sa.: mo'o, to
be surprised. Hakamoko, to
accomplish. Mokohi, grain, full-grown
berry (mokoi); mokohi haraoa,
grain. Mgv.: mokohe, food.
Mokoimokoi, heart T, kidney. Mokomoko,
sharp, pointed, slender, cape, headland;
gutu mokomoko, pointed lips. Churchill.
Mgv.: mokora, a duck. Ta.: moora,
id. Churchill. MO'O, s. Haw.,
general name for all kinds of lizards. Tah.:
mo'o, lizard. Sam.: mo'o,
lizard; v. to be surprised. Sanskr.,
mush, to steal, rob, plunder;
muçalî, a
house-lizard; műsha,
rat, mouse; mosha,
robbing.
Zend,
műska;
Pers. and Bokhara,
műsh;
Kurd., meshk;
Afghan, mukhak;
Arm., mugn;
Osset, misht,
rat, mouse. Greek,
μυς,
a mouse. Lat., mus,
mouse, rat, marten, sable. A.-Sax., O. H.
Germ., Scand., műs,
mouse. Anc. Slav.,
myshi;
Illur., misc,
mouse. (Fornander)
... Kepelino wrote: 'Lalani or
stars of heaven are the stars close to the
heavens, called ruling stars. There is a
vast number of these stars and they shine
with a tiny, twinkling light because of
their great height.' Lalani, in the
Kumulipo or Hawaiian Chant of
Creation, was translated 'row of stars' by
Queen Liliuokalani. The Hawaiians
also called the Milky Way Kuamoo,
Backbone of the Lizard. Many Polynesian
names for the Milky Way may be reminiscent
of the crocodiles of Western Melanesia, the
moko-roa, 'long lizards' of legend,
for the same motif is found in various parts
of the Pacific. The Tuamotuans termed the
Milky Way Vaero-o-te-moko, Tail of
the Lizard, and Mango-roa, Long
Shark. The Mangaian name Moko-roa-i-ata,
Long-lizard-of-morning, not only sounds the
lizard or crocodile note but also refers to
the method of determining the small hours of
the night before the rising of the morning
star. The Maori used the same term
contracted to Mokoroiata. Again they
called the Galaxy Mango-roa,
Long Shark, and Mangoroiata,
Long-shark-of-dawn ...
... A une certaine saison, on amassait des
vivres, on faisait fęte On emmaillotait un
corail, pierre de défunt lezard, on
l'enterrait, tanu. Cette cérémonie
était un point de départ pour beacoup
d'affaires, notamment de vacances pour le
chant des tablettes ou de la priére, tanu
i te tau moko o tana pure, enterrer la
pierre sépulcrale de lézard de sa pričre
...
... On condition that, if he rescued her,
she should be his wife and return to Greece
with him, Perseus took to the air again,
grasped his sickle and, diving murderously
from above, beheaded the approaching
monster, which was deceived by his shadow on
the sea. He had drawn the Gorgon's head from
the wallet, lest the Monster might look up,
and now laid it face downwards on a bed of
leaves and sea-weed (which immediately
turned to coral), while he cleansed his
hands of blood, raised three altars and
sacrificed a calf, a cow, and
a
bull to Hermes, Athene, and Zeus
respectively ... |
|
|
|
Ca4-10 |
Ca4-11 |
Ca4-12 (80 + 8) |
CLOSE TO
THE FULL MOON: |
June 15 (166)
μ
Columbae,
SAIPH (Sword) =
κ
Orionis
(86.5),
τ
Aurigae,
ζ
Leporis (86.6) |
16
υ
Aurigae (87.1),
ν
Aurigae (87.2),
WEZN (Weight) =
β
Columbae,
δ
Leporis (87.7),
TZE (Son) =
λ
Columbae
(87.9) |
17
Ardra-6 (The Moist One) /
ANA-VARU-8 (Pillar to sit by)
χą
Orionis,
ξ
Aurigae (88.1),
BETELGEUZE =
α
Orionis
(88.3),
ξ
Columbae (88.5),
σ
Columbae (88.7)
ZUBEN
ELGENUBI (α Librae) |
"May 5 (*45 = *86 - *41) |
6 |
7 (127 = 168 - 41) |
FEBR 14
→ 214 = 2 * 107 |
15 |
16 → 216 |
... Once upon a time there was an old woman
who owned a great potato field (mara)
where she planted her potatoes in spring and
harvested them in autumn. She was famous all
around for her many varieties of wonderful
potatoes, and she had enough of them to sell
at the market place. She planted her
potatoes 7 in a row, placing her foot in
front of her as a measure from one potato to
the next. Then she marked the place with a
bean - which would also give nourishment to
the surrounding potatoes. Next she changed
variety and planted 7 more followed by
another bean, and this was the pattern she
followed until all her 214 varieties had
been put down in their proper places. She
had drawn a map which she followed and from
where each sort of potato could be located
at the proper time for its harvest ...
214 * 7 (potatoes) + 213 (beans) = 29 * 59.
And *88 (Betelgeuze) = *29 + *59. |
... The earliest depiction
that has been linked to the constellation of
Orion is a prehistoric (Aurignacian) mammoth
ivory carving found in a cave in the Ach
valley in Germany in 1979. Archaeologists
have estimated it to have been fashioned
approximately 32,000 to 38,000 years ago ...
The
artist cut, smoothed and carved one side (A)
and finely notched the other side (B)
and the edges. Side A contains the
half-relief of an anthropoidal figure,
either human or a human-feline hybrid, known
as the 'adorant' because its arms are raised
as if in an act of worship. On side
B together with the four edges is a
series of notches that are clearly set in an
intentional pattern. The edges contain a
total of 39 notches in groups of 6, 13, 7
and 13. A further 49 notches on side B
are arranged in four vertical lines of 13,
10, 12 and 13 respectively plus a further
notch that could be in either of the middle
two lines ... The grouping of the notches on
the plate suggests a time-related sequence.
The total number of notches (88) not only
coincides with the number of days in 3
lunations (88.5) but also approximately with
the number of days when the star Betelgeuse
(α Ori) disappeared from view each year
between its heliacal set (about 14 days
before the spring equinox around 33,000 BP)
and its heliacal rise (approximately 19 days
before the summer solstice).
Conversely, the nine-month
period when Orion was visible in the sky
approximately matched the duration of human
pregnancy, and the timing of the heliacal
rise in early summer would have facilitated
a ‘rule of thumb’ whereby, by timing
conception close to the reappearance of the
constellation, it could be ensured that a
birth would take place after the severe
winter half-year, but leaving enough time
for sufficient nutrition of the baby before
the beginning of the next winter. There is a
resemblance between the anthropoid on side A
and the constellation Orion. None of these
factors is convincing when taken in
isolation, because of the high probability
that apparently significant structural and
numerical coincidences might have arisen
fortuitously. However, taken together they
suggest that the anthropoid represented an
asterism equivalent to today’s constellation
of Orion, and that the ivory plate as a
whole related to a system of time reckoning
linked to the moon and to human pregnancy.
If so, then ethnographic comparisons would
suggest that the Geißenklösterle
culture related their ‘anthropoid’ asterism
to perceived cycles of cosmic power and
fertility ... |
... Maui
at first assumed the form of a kiore, or rat, to
enter the body of Hine. But tataeko, the
little whitehead, said he would never succeed in that
form. So he took the form of a toke, or
earth-worm. But tiwaiwaka the fantail, who did
not like worms, was against this. So Maui turned
himself into a moko huruhuru, a kind of
caterpillar that glistens. It was agreed that this
looked best, and so Maui started forth, with
comical movements. The little
birds now did their best to comply with Maui's
wish. They sat as still as they could, and held their
beaks shut tight, and tried not to laugh. But it was
impossible. It was the way Maui went in that gave
them the giggles, and in a moment little tiwaiwaka
the fantail could no longer contain himself. He laughed
out loud, with his merry, cheeky note, and danced about
with delight, his tail flickering and his beak snapping.
Hine nui awoke with a start. She realised what was
happening, and in a moment it was all over with Maui.
By the way of rebirth he met his end.
Thus died this Maui
we have spoken of, who was formed in the topknot of
Taranga and cast in the sea, but was saved and
nurtured to lead a life of mischief. And thus did the
laughter of his companions at the last and most
scandalous of his exploits deprive mankind of
immortality. For Hine nui always knew what
Maui had it in mind to do to her. But she knew that
it was best that man should die, and return to the
darkness from which he comes, down that path which she
made to Rarohenga. Wherefore our people have the
saying: 'Death came to the mighty when Maui was
strangled by Hine nui te Po, and so it has
remained in the world' ...
Flanking the moko glyph (Ca4-11)
were ihe tau glyphs, tau meaning season
(period) and ihe a point in time-space
determing such a season.
... The glyph type
ihe tau appears at the close of calendars, or at
the end of main sections of calendars. The picture is
that of a moon crescent broken in half, which conveys
suggestions of a time when growing no longer continues -
i.e. a state of death. If ihe tau is reversed, it
becomes a sign of birth, as at right in Ab1-37:
Beyond the point where the Sun reached Betelgeuze, after 3 lunar synodic months, its
time of darkness was over and its red light of dawn (mea)
was born in the east.
Allen defined the colour of Betelgeuze as orange, but
all different shades of red were probably indicators of greatness, because I have read somewhere
that anciently red implied such a meaning.
Number 413 (as in Ca4-13) could
have expressed, in our notation, 1 + 413 = 414. Day zero
was there but could not be counted until this day had
been completed in full, only then could a finger be
raised up from the closed fist.
... The practice of turning down the
fingers, contrary to our practice, deserves notice, as
perhaps explaining why sometimes savages are reported to
be unable to count above four. The European holds up one
finger, which he counts, the native counts those that
are down and says 'four'. Two fingers held up, the
native counting those that are down, calls 'three'; and
so on until the white man, holding up five fingers,
gives the native none turned down to count. The native
is nunplussed, and the enquirer reports that savages can
not count above four ...
... Time in the night runs like water,
sand (or treacle) - whereas the days in the light from
the Sun instead fly by quickly
...
kua tuu tona mea |
te henua |
te hau tea |
mauga hua - te henua |
Mea. 1.
Tonsil, gill (of fish). 2. Red (probably
because it is the colour of gills);
light red, rose; also meamea. 3.
To grow or to exist in abundance in a
place or around a place: ku-mea-á te
maîka, bananas grow in abundance (in
this place); ku-mea-á te ka,
there is plenty of fish (in a stretch of
the coast or the sea); ku-mea-á te
tai, the tide is low and the sea
completely calm (good for fishing);
mau mea, abundance. Vanaga. 1. Red;
ata mea,
the dawn.
Meamea,
red, ruddy, rubricund, scarlet,
vermilion, yellow;
ariga
meamea, florid;
kahu meamea
purple;
moni meamea, gold;
hanuanua
meamea, rainbow;
pua ei
meamea, to make yellow.
Hakameamea,
to redden, to make yellow. PS Ta.:
mea,
red. Sa.:
memea, yellowish brown,
sere. To.:
memea, drab. Fu.:
mea,
blond, yellowish, red, chestnut. 2. A
thing, an object, elements (mee);
e mea,
circumstance;
mea ke,
differently, excepted, save, but;
ra mea,
to belong;
mea
rakerake, assault;
ko mea,
such a one;
a mea nei,
this; a
mea ka, during;
a mea,
then; no
te mea, because, since,
seeing that;
na te mea,
since; a
mea era, that;
ko mea tera,
however, but.
Hakamea,
to prepare, to make ready. P Pau., Mgv.,
Mq., Ta.:
mea, a thing. 3. In order
that, for. Mgv.:
mea,
because, on account of, seeing that,
since. Mq.:
mea, for. 4. An
individual;
tagata mea,
tagata
mee, an individual. Mgv.:
mea,
an individual, such a one. Mq., Ta.:
mea,
such a one. 5. Necessary, urgent;
e mea ka,
must needs be, necessary;
e mea,
urgent. 6. Manners, customs. 7. Mgv.:
ako-mea,
a red fish. 8. Ta.:
mea,
to do. Mq.:
mea, id. Sa.:
mea,
id. Mao.:
mea, id. Churchill. |
|
|
|
|
Ca4-13 → 14 * 29˝ |
Ca4-14 (90) |
Ca4-15 (364 / 4) |
Ca4-16 (92) |
CLOSE TO THE FULL MOON: |
June 18
η
Leporis (89.0),
PRAJA-PĀTI (Lord of Created Beings) =
δ
Aurigae,
MENKALINAN (Shoulder of the Rein-holder)
=
β
Aurigae, MAHASHIM (Wrist) =
θ
Aurigae,
and
γ
Columbae (89.3),
π
Aurigae (89.4),
η
Columbae (89.7)
*48 = *89.4 - *41.4 |
19
μ Orionis (90.3), χ˛ Orionis (90.5) |
20
(171)
6h
(91.3)
ν Orionis (91.4), θ Columbae (91.5), π
Columbae (91.6)
*50 = *91.4 - *41.4 |
SOLSTICE
ξ Orionis (92.5) |
"May 8 (128 = 80 + 48) |
9 |
10 (130 = 50 + 80) |
11 |
FEBR 17 (89 - 41) |
18 |
19 (50) |
20 |
|
88 (3 lunar synodic months) would
leave 325 days to the rest of a year which
measured 413 days.
Respect for the elders and their
ancestors would surely have created a situation
which meant not only 88 but also 325 were bound
to be remembered throughout all ages. These
numbers must certainly be there in the rongorongo
texts, text which were documenting the calendar
facts
ultimately reflecting the positions of the
fundamental stars (including the Sun, the
planets, the Moon etc).
Therefore day 325 (November 21 in
the Gregorian calendar) should express the idea
of a dark fruitful season ahead. 325 + 88 = 413.
Or in a solar calendar: 365 - 325 = 40.
...
Under Mosaic law, a mother who had given birth
to a man-child was considered unclean for seven
days; moreover she was to remain for three and
thirty days 'in the blood of her purification',
which makes
a total of 40 days ...
In the C text we can count 325 -
80 = 245 glyphs from the beginning and here
there was
a very special glyph:
kotia |
kua rere |
ki te marama |
e moa |
haati kava |
e moa |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ca9-9 (236 + 1) |
Ca9-10 |
Ca9-11 |
Ca9-12 |
Ca9-13 |
Ca9-14 (242) |
Koti.
Kotikoti. To cut with scissors
(since this is an old word and
scissors do not seem to have
existed, it must mean something of
the kind). Vanaga. Kotikoti.
To tear; kokoti, to cut, to
chop, to hew, to cleave, to
assassinate, to amputate, to scar,
to notch, to carve, to use a knife,
to cut off, to lop, to gash, to mow,
to saw; kokotiga kore,
indivisible; kokotihaga,
cutting, gash furrow. P Pau.:
koti, to chop. Mgv.: kotikoti,
to cut, to cut into bands or slices;
kokoti, to cut, to saw;
akakotikoti, a ray, a streak, a
stripe, to make bars. Mq.: koti,
oti, to cut, to divide. Ta.:
oóti, to cut, to carve;
otióti, to cut fine. Churchill.
Pau.: Koti, to gush, to
spout. Ta.: oti, to rebound,
to fall back. Kotika, cape,
headland. Ta.: otiá,
boundary, limit. Churchill. |
JULY 15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 (200) |
20 |
i te mauga pu hia |
E rima ki te henua |
koia ku honui |
erua maitaki |
ko koe ra |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CLOSE TO THE FULL MOON: |
16h (243.5) |
Ca9-16 |
Yed Prior (Hand in Front) |
Ca9-18
(246) |
Ca9-19 |
Kajam (Club) |
Nov 19 |
20 |
21 (325) |
22 |
23 |
24 |
'Oct 23 |
24 |
25 (298
= 325 - 27) |
26 |
27 |
28 |
"Oct 9 |
10 |
11 (284
= 325 - 41) |
12 |
13 |
14 |
SEPT 16 |
17 |
18 (261
= 325 - 64) |
19 |
20 |
21 |
JULY 21 |
22 → π |
23 (325 - 121 = 204) |
24 |
25 |
26 |
*245 (Ca9-17) + *40 (= 7 + 33) = *285 = December 31
(365 = 80 + 285).
The pattern 325 (November 21) + 88
(3 lunar synodic months) = 365 + 48 = 413
(Ca4-13) could have originated from the
time-frame of Virgin (Spica) and in my notation
this would would have corresponded to JULY 23
(204) + 161 + 48 = FEBRUARY 17 (365 + 48 =
413).
The corresponding terminal date
of the year at the
time of Bharani could then easily have been
derived as 48 + 80 = 128 ("May 8), where the
associations might have been twice 64 and twice 29.
And at the time of rongorongo the
ancient day
FEBRUARY 17 (365 + 48 = 413) would have
corresponded to day 48 + 121 = 169 (June 18) =
128 + 41.
The
position of Yed Prior (the
Hand in Front, δ Ophiuchi, *245.5, Ca9-17,
at the beginning of the Serpent Carrier)
had
been pushed later and later ahead in the Sun calendar
due to the precession.
Similarly the position of day 200
had been pushed earlier and earlier among the
heliacal stars due to the precession:
DAY 200: |
JULY 19 (200 = 321 - 121) |
JULY 19 (200 = 364 - 64) |
"July 19 (200 = 241 - 41) |
'July 19 (200 = 227 - 27) |
July 19 (200)
ω Cancri (*120.2)
|
Nov 17 (321 = 241 + 80)
Iklīl al Jabhah-15 (Crown of the
Forehead) /
Anuradha-17 (Following Rādhā) /
Room-4 (Hare)
ξ
Lupi,
λ
Cor. Bor.(241.1),
ZHENG =
γ
Serpentis,
θ
Librae (241.2),
VRISCHIKA =
π
Scorpii
(241.3),
ε
Cor.
Borealis (241.5),
DSCHUBBA (Front of Forehead) = δ
Scorpii (241.7),
η Lupi (241.9) |
Sept 21 (264 = 200 + 64)
PÁLIDA (Pale) =
δ
Crucis
(184.6),
MEGREZ (Root of the Tail) = δ Ursae
Majoris
(184.9) |
Aug 29 (241 = 227 + 14)
no star listed (*161)
ALTAIR (α
Aquilae)
|
Aug 15 (227 → π)
VATHORZ PRIOR = υ Carinae
(*147.9) |
July 19 (*120) was where (at the
time of rongongo) the Sun had reached
ω Cancri (*120.2)
and 27 right ascension days ahead in the
year was
Vathorz Prior (υ Carinae (*147.9), which in
Roman times (*27 precessional days earlier)
had been in 'July 19, etc.
... A very detailed myth comes from the
island of Nauru. In the beginning
there was nothing but the sea, and above
soared the Old-Spider. One day the
Old-Spider found a giant clam, took it up,
and tried to find if this object had any
opening, but could find none. She tapped on
it, and as it sounded hollow, she decided it
was empty. By repeating a charm, she opened
the two shells and slipped inside. She could
see nothing, because the sun and the moon
did not then exist; and then, she could not
stand up because there was not enough room
in the shellfish. Constantly hunting about
she at last found a snail. To endow it with
power she placed it under her arm, lay down
and slept for three days. Then she let it
free, and still hunting about she found
another snail bigger than the first one, and
treated it in the same way. Then she said to
the first snail: 'Can you open this room a
little, so that we can sit down?' The snail
said it could, and opened the shell a
little. Old-Spider then took the snail,
placed it in the west of the shell, and made
it into the moon. Then there was a little
light, which allowed Old-Spider to see a big
worm. At her request he opened the shell a
little wider, and from the body of the worm
flowed a salted sweat which collected in the
lower half-shell and became the sea. Then he
raised the upper half-shell very high, and
it became the sky. Rigi, the worm,
exhausted by this great effort, then died.
Old-Spider then
made the sun from the second snail, and
placed it beside the lower half-shell, which
became the earth ...
|
|
Full Moon |
Sun |
In
JULY 19 (200 = 172 + 28) the Hand of
Ophiuchus took over from the Club of
Hercules (Hammer of Thor), for 4 days earlier (in day 196 =
28 weeks) the Old Tree had been lopped off (koti).
The seventh tree is the oak, the
tree of Zeus, Juppiter,
Hercules, The Dagda (the chief
of the elder Irish gods), Thor,
and all the other Thundergods,
Jehovah in so far as he was
'El', and Allah. The royalty of
the oak-tree needs no enlarging
upon: most people are familiar
with the argument of Sir James
Frazer's Golden Bough,
which concerns the human
sacrifice of the oak-king of
Nemi on Midsummer Day. The fuel
of the midsummer fires is always
oak, the fire of Vesta at Rome
was fed with oak, and the
need-fire is always kindled in
an oak-log.
When Gwion writes in the Câd
Goddeu, 'Stout Guardian of
the door, His name in every
tongue', he is saying that doors
are customarily made of oak as
the strongest and toughest wood
and that 'Duir', the
Beth-Luis-Nion name for 'Oak',
means 'door' in many European
languages including Old Goidelic
dorus, Latin foris,
Greek thura, and German
tür, all derived from the
Sanskrit Dwr, and that
Daleth, the Hebrew letter D,
means 'Door' - the 'l' being
originally an 'r'.
Midsummer is the flowering
season of the oak, which is the
tree of endurance and triumph,
and like the ash is said to
'court the lightning flash'. Its
roots are believed to extend as
deep underground as its branches
rise in the air - Virgil
mentions this - which makes it
emblematic of a god whose law
runs both in Heaven and in the
Underworld ... The month, which
takes its name from Juppiter the
oak-god, begins on June 10th and
ends of July 7th. Midway comes
St. John's Day, June 24th, the
day on which the oak-king was
sacrificially burned alive. The
Celtic year was divided into two
halves with the second half
beginning in July, apparently
after a seven-day wake, or
funeral feast, in the oak-king's
honour.
Sir James Frazer, like Gwion,
has pointed out the similarity
of 'door' words in all
Indo-European languages and
shown Janus to be a 'stout
guardian of the door' with his
head pointing in both
directions. As usual, however,
he does not press his argument
far enough. Duir as the god of
the oak month looks both ways
because his post is at the turn
of the year; which identifies
him with the Oak-god Hercules
who became the door-keeper of
the Gods after his death. He is
probably also to be identified
with the British god Llyr of
Lludd or Nudd, a god of the sea
- i.e. a god of a sea-faring
Bronze Age people - who was the
'father' of Creiddylad
(Cordelia) an aspect of the
White Goddess; for according to
Geoffrey of Monmouth the grave
of Llyr at Leicester was in a
vault built in honour of Janus.
Geoffrey writes:
Cordelia obtaining the
government of the Kingdom buried
her father in a certain vault
which she ordered to be made for
him under the river Sore in
Leicester (Leircester) and which
had been built originally under
the ground in honour of the god
Janus. And here all the
workmen of the city, upon the
anniversary solemnity of that
festival, used to begin their
yearly labours.
Since Llyr was a pre-Roman God
this amounts to saying that he
was two-headed, like Janus, and
the patron of the New Year; but
the Celtic year began in the
summer, not in the winter.
Geoffrey does not date the
mourning festival but it is
likely to have originally taken
place at the end of June ...
What I take for a reference to
Llyr as Janus occurs in the
closing paragraph of Merlin's
prophecy to the heathen King
Vortigern and his Druids,
recorded by Geoffrey of
Monmouth:
After this Janus shall never
have priests again. His door
will be shut and remain
concealed in Ariadne's crannies.
In other words, the ancient
Druidic religion based on the
oak-cult will be swept away by
Christianity and the door - the
god Llyr - will languish
forgotten in the Castle of
Arianrhod, the Corona
Borealis. This helps us to
understand the relationship at
Rome of Janus and the White
Goddess Cardea who is ... the
Goddess of Hinges who came to
Rome from Alba Longa. She was
the hinge on which the year
swung - the ancient Latin, not
the Etruscan year - and her
importance as such is recorded
in the Latin adjective
cardinalis - as we say in
English 'of cardinal importance
- which was also applied to the
four main winds; for winds were
considered as under the sole
direction of the Great Goddess
until Classical times.
As Cardea she ruled over the
Celestial Hinge at the back of
the North Wind around which, as
Varro explains in his De Re
Rustica, the mill-stone of
the Universe revolves. This
conception appears most plainly
in the Norse Edda, where
the giantesses Fenja and Menja,
who turn the monstrous
mill-stone Grotte in the cold
polar night, stand for the White
Goddess in her complementary
moods of creation and
destruction. Elsewhere in Norse
mythology the Goddess is
nine-fold: the nine giantesses
who were joint-mothers of the
hero Rig, alias Heimdall, the
inventor of the Norse social
system, similarly turned the
cosmic mill.
Janus was perhaps not originally
double-headed: he may have
borrowed this peculiarity from
the Goddess herself who at the
Carmentalia, the Carmenta
Festival in early January, was
addressed by her celebrants as
'Postvorta' and 'Antevorta' -
'she who looks both back and
forward'. However, a Janus with
long hair and wings appear on an
early stater of Mellos, a Cretan
colony at Cilicia. He is
identified with the solar hero
Talus, and a bull's head appears
on the same coin. In similar
coins of the late fifth century
B.C. he holds an eight-rayed
disc in his hand and has a
spiral of immortality sprouting
from his double head.
Here at last I can complete my
argument about Arianrhod's
Castle and the 'whirling round
without motion between three
elements'. The sacred oak-king
was killed at midsummer and
translated to the Corona
Borealis, presided over by the
White Goddess, which was then
just dipping over the Northern
horizon. But from the song
ascribed by Apollonius Rhodius
to Orpheus, we know that the
Queen of the Circling Universe,
Eurynome, alias Cardea,
was identical with Rhea of
Crete; thus Rhea lived at the
axle of the mill, whirling
around without motion, as well
as on the Galaxy. This suggests
that in a later mythological
tradition the sacred king went
to serve her at the Mill, not in
the Castle, for Samson after his
blinding and enervation turned a
mill in Delilah's prison-house.
Another name for the Goddess of
the Mill was Artemis Calliste,
or Callisto ('Most Beautiful'),
to whom the she-bear was sacred
in Arcadia; and in Athens at the
festival of Artemis Brauronia, a
girl of ten years old and a girl
of five, dressed in
saffron-yellow robes in honour
of the moon, played the part of
sacred bears. The Great She-bear
and Little She-bear are still
the names of the two
constellations that turn the
mill around. In Greek the Great
Bear Callisto was also called
Helice, which means both
'that which turns' and
'willow-branch' - a reminder
that the willow was sacred to
the same Goddess ...
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Hercules first appears in legend
as a pastoral sacred king and,
perhaps because shepherds
welcome the birth of twin lambs,
is a twin himself. His
characteristics and history can
be deduced from a mass of
legends, folk-customs and
megalithic monuments. He is the
rain-maker of his tribe and a
sort of human thunder-storm.
Legends connect him with Libya
and the Atlas Mountains; he may
well have originated thereabouts
in Palaeolithic times. The
priests of Egyptian Thebes, who
called him Shu, dated his
origin as '17,000 years before
the reign of King Amasis'.
He carries an oak-club, because
the oak provides his beasts and
his people with mast and because
it attracts lightning more than
any other tree. His symbols are
the acorn; the rock-dove, which
nests in oaks as well as in
clefts of rocks; the mistletoe,
or Loranthus; and the
serpent. All these are sexual
emblems. The dove was sacred to
the Love-goddess of Greece and
Syria; the serpent was the most
ancient of phallic totem-beasts;
the cupped acorn stood for the
glans penis in both Greek
and Latin; the mistletoe was an
all-heal and its names viscus
(Latin) and ixias (Greek)
are connected with vis
and ischus (strength) -
probably because of the spermal
viscosity of its berries, sperm
being the vehicle of life.
This Hercules is male leader of
all orgiastic rites and has
twelve archer companions,
including his spear-armed twin,
who is his tanist or
deputy. He performs an annual
green-wood marriage with a queen
of the woods, a sort of Maid
Marian. He is a mighty hunter
and makes rain, when it is
needed, by rattling an oak-club
thunderously in a hollow oak and
stirring a pool with an oak
branch - alternatively, by
rattling pebbles inside a sacred
colocinth-gourd or, later, by
rolling black meteoric stones
inside a wooden chest - and so
attracting thunderstorms by
sympathetic magic.
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The manner of his death can be
reconstructed from a variety of
legends, folk-customs and other
religious survivals. At
mid-summer, at the end of a
half-year reign, Hercules is
made drunk with mead and led
into the middle of a circle of
twelve stones arranged around an
oak, in front of which stands an
altar-stone; the oak has been
lopped until it is T-shaped.
He is bound to it with willow
thongs in the 'five-fold bond'
which joins wrists, neck, and
ankles together, beaten by his
comrades till he faints, then
flayed, blinded, castrated,
impaled with a mistletoe stake,
and finally hacked into joints
on the altar-stone. His blood is
caught in a basin and used for
sprinkling the whole tribe to
make them vigorous and fruitful.
The joints are roasted at twin
fires of oak-loppings, kindled
with sacred fire preserved from
a lightning-blasted oak or made
by twirling an alder- or
cornel-wood fire-drill in an oak
log.
The trunk is then uprooted and
split into faggots which are
added to the flames. The twelve
merry-men rush in a wild
figure-of-eight dance around the
fires, singing ecstatically and
tearing at the flesh with their
teeth. The bloody remains are
burnt in the fire, all except
the genitals and the head. These
are put into an alder-wood boat
and floated down the river to an
islet; though the head is
sometimes cured with smoke and
preserved for oracular use. His
tanist succeeds him and reigns
for the remainder of the year,
when he is sacrificially killed
by a new Hercules.
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The divine names Bran, Saturn,
Cronos ... are applied to the
ghost of Hercules that floats
off in the alder-wood boat after
his midsummer sacrifice.
His tanist, or other self,
appearing in Greek legend as
Poeas who lighted Hercules' pyre
and inherited his arrows,
succeeds him for the second half
of the year; having acquired
royal virtue by marriage with
the queen, the representative of
the White Goddess, and by eating
some royal part of the dead
man's body - heart, shoulder or
thigh-flesh.
He is in turn succeeded by the
New Year Hercules, a
reincarnation of the murdered
man, who beheads him and,
apparently, eats his head. This
alternate eucharistic sacrifice
made royalty continous, each
king in turn the Sun-god beloved
of the reigning Moon-goddess.
But when these cannibalistic
rites were abandoned and the
system was gradually modified
until a single king reigned for
a term of years,
Saturn-Cronos-Bran became a mere
Old Year ghost, permanently
overthrown by
Juppiter-Zeus-Belin though
yearly conjured up for placation
at the Saturnalia or Yule feast.
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