This is the blog of Paul R. Boudreau and Lloyd M. Dickie on the use of myths in support of personal development and self-study.
This summer Peter Kingsley is coming out with a followup to his incredible book "Reality" (https://peterkingsley.org/books/):
The "A Book of Life" will not be advertised in the general media but should be an incredible read: https://peterkingsley.org/product/a-book-of-life-2021/.
Over three thousand copies sold! It has been out for six years and continues to sell: Awakening Higher Consciousness: Guidance from Ancient Egypt and Sumer - https://www.innertraditions.com/.../awakening-higher...
To check in on our latest work, check out our website: http://www.awhico.com
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04-creative-genes-gave-homo-sapiens.html
"Belief is the most prominent, promising, and dangerous capacity that humanity has evolved.
Belief is the ability to draw on our range of cognitive and social resources, our histories and experiences, and combine them with our imagination. It is the power to think beyond what is here and now and develop mental representations in order to see and feel and know something - an idea, a vision, a necessity, a possibility, a truth - that is not immediately present to the senses, and then to invest, wholly and authentically, in that "something" so that it becomes one's reality.
Beliefs and belief systems permeate human neurobiology's, bodies, and ecologies, acting as dynamic agents in evolutionary processes. The human capacity for belief, the specifics of belief and our diverse belief systems structure and shape our daily lives, our societies, and the world around us. we are human, therefore we believe."
in
Why we Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being
by Agustin Fuentes
Is it possible to visualise the evolution of the human appreciation for the night sky? From the setting sun to the precession of the equinox, can we imagine when and how humans developed their appreciation for the passage of time tracked in the sky – and its significance to our world view and higher spiritual natures.
At what point in history might humans first appreciated that the bright life-giving sun was an identifiable external object – one that could be predicted and expected from day to day. Having evolved near the equator the year’s seasonality would not have been much to notice but as humans moved north and south from their place of origin near the equator, changes in the sun’s strength and height would become more and more noticeable – longer summer days and shorter winter ones. Tracking these changes over twelve months would have them notice that their world was resetting back to its starting position. Spring equinox would signal the return of warm and plenty. Fall equinox would be good time to prepare for the coming winter.
Would early humans have noticed the phases of the moon before or after they noticed the changes in the sun. Although its shape and location changes drastically from night to night, the changing light is less important than the changing warmth of the sun. Nevertheless, the moon’s growth and shrinking would be easily observed in only 28 days rather than the months required for noticing seasonal changes in the sun.
The planets, aptly called the "wandering stars" by the Greeks, must have been a significant observation of early humans. The movement of just these five heavenly bodies was not like the other stars. These small dots of light zoomed around more or less independent of the sun, moon and stars. Two never wandered far from the sun, these are the two inner planets Mercury and Venus. The others wandered further, but never strayed too far up or down from the path of the sun.
Early humans in their developing appreciation of the stary world would have noted the paths of the sun, moon and planets travelling through a backdrop of the “fixed stars”. While these heavenly bodies would never wander too far north or south of the center, they could be found in any of the different zodiac constellations. As the months go by, the sun rises sequentially in Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Artistic impression of the zodiac constellations. Note the opposition between Taurus and Scorpio (https://www.amazon.ca/Hippolya-Tablecloth-Constellations-Astrology-Divination/dp/B082RVLNXC/ref=asc_df_B082RVLNXC/ ).
While the sun, moon and planets, seemed to restrict their movements to within the band of the zodiac constellations, the bright collection of the stars of the Milky Way was on its own at a noticeably different angle. Our Milky Way Galaxy, although invisible to the modern city-dweller, would have shone brightly as a across the sky separate from the zodiac. It would have been unmistakable to the hunter gathers spending their nights outside. In one night, it could go from straight up and down (Figure 2) to lying flat along the horizon several hours later (Figure 3 - corkscrewing across the night sky.
Figure 2. Sky chart of the Milky Way '“standing upright” near sunset on the Spring Equinox 2021 (https://starwalk.space/en).
Figure 3. Sky chart of the Milky Way “laying down” near midnight on the Spring Equinox 2021 (https://starwalk.space/en).
Like the band of the Zodiac, the Milky Way is always accompanied by its own constellations. For instance, Cygnus the Swan seems to be fly down the Milky Way near the Great Rift (Figure 4).
Figure 4. The constellation Cygnus the Swan and the Milky Way with the Great Rift opening up towards the upper right corner. (https://astrobackyard.com/cygnus-constellation/).
Also of great significance to a human view of the skies is that the Milky Way is varies greatly in width and brightest. Figure 5 displays the night sky of constellations with the Milky Way aligned across the centre of the view. The middle of the figure is the thickest, brightest section while the left and right edges of the ellipse are thinner and less distinct.
Figure 5. A sky chart with the Milky Way aligned horizontally through the centre of the chart. The widest, brighest section is in the middle of the figure with the constellation Scorpius. The thin, dimmer outer section is at extreme right of the figure just below the constellation Gemini (http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galchart.html). Cygnus is halfway between centre and the left edge of the figure.
The widest area of the Milky Way occurs in the area where it intersects the zodiac at the edge of the constellations Scorpio (Figure 6). The dimmest, thinnest area occurs opposite this in the area at the feet of the constellation Gemini (Figure 7). These are the areas where everything can come together: the sun, the Zodiac and the Milky Way. Early humans would be well aware of all of this.
Figure 6. The middle of the Milky Way running across the tail of the constellation Scorpius ((https://starwalk.space/en).
Figure 7. The thin outer edge of the Milky Way running at the foot of the constellation Gemini (https://starwalk.space/en).
The intersections of the Zodiac and the Milky Way are fixed: one in Scorpio and one in Gemini. But these points slide through time in relation to the sunrise. Presently the constellation Pisces rises helically, i.e. at the same time as the sun, on the Spring Equinox. Two thousand years ago the constellation Aries would have been the stars that would have risen at sunrise on the Spring Equinox.
Figure 8. Sunrise on the Spring Equinox, 2021 with the helical rise of the constellation Pisces (https://starwalk.space/en).
We need to go back in time to six thousand years ago for the Spring equinox to have had the helical rising with the thin edge of the Milky Way in the constellation Gemini. This would be about the time of the pre-dynastic Egypt when humans began using written symbols[1]. The Newgrange solar temple in Ireland was built around this time. The intersection of the Milky Way with Gemini is likely also very significant for the ancient observers of the sky. For about two thousand years in mid-March the sun, Zodiac and Milky Way would all occur together. Their spirits could intermingle unlike the times before or since. These times we will refer to as the times of the Obsidian Alignment to connect with the obsidian artifacts discovered at the Göbekli Tepe site.
But what might the special alignment, the Obsidian Alignment, have to do with the early stone circles of Göbekli Tepe with their massive pairs of standing stones? The pairs of T-shaped pillars in the centre of the Göbekli Tepe stone circles were created 9,000 years BCE when the constellation Leo rose in the Spring[2]. This was almost five thousand years after the previous Obsidian Alignment of the Milky Way and Zodiac in the constellation Scorpio and five thousand years before the following Obsidian alignment in Gemini.
The scorpions and snakes embossed on the stones of Göbekli Tepe may be referring to the previous time. The preceding time of the intersection between the Zodiac and the Milky Way, the Obsidian Alignment, would have been twenty-two thousand years ago. The thick bright centre of the Milky Way and the constellation Scorpio would have risen with the sun on the Spring equinox – everything would have been lined up. This would have been the time at the end of the last ice age towards the end of the Solutrean culture with their advanced flint tool-making and advanced cave art[3]. This is also around the time the great North American mound complexes began to be constructed[4] & [5].
But the predominant motif are the looming pillars at the center of the circles (Figure 9). Could they have been constructed as a reminder that the Obsidian alignment will reoccur in Gemini? Is it possible that the two main pillars of each circle of stones somehow relate to Gemini? Was it a recognition that the precession of the equinox had moved the helical rising on the Spring Equinox had moved away from Scorpio, 17,000 years ago at the end of the last Glacial Maximum and was hoped to return in when Gemini rose helically thousands of years later? Possibly they were built to encourage the Obsidian Alignment to return?
Figure 9. Twin pillars in the centre of a Göbekli Tepe stone circle (https://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/Gobekli.htm).
Stone circles built over the past 10,000 years evidence human awareness of the movement in the sky[6]. The sun, moon, planets and Milky Way are easily observed over days, months and years of the lives of early humans. But their awareness of the movement of the Obsidian Alignment of the Zodiac and the Milky Way over 1,000s of years is almost impossible for modern western humans to appreciate. Yet there is great evidence for it in the art, myths and incredible constructions. It is critical to note that the cultures that built the famous stone circles aligned to the changing sky didn’t need the circles to guide them through the seasons in support of food production, they obviously had plenty of food – sufficient for them to amass the effort to construct the stone circles. The circles, such as the earliest known at Göbekli Tepe, served other non-practical, powerful creative irrational, purposes. Following the obscure changes in the Spring Equinox helical rising would have no benefit to the practicalities of human life but may have been core to the emotional and spiritual understanding of their lives – thus essential for their existence as human.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt#Predynastic_period
[2] https://www.ancient.eu/article/234/gobekli-tepe---the-worlds-first-temple/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solutrean
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_Builders
[5] https://grahamhancock.com/america-before/
If Osiris and Horus were Ancient Egyptian representations of stars and constellations and their movements[1], then what or where did they see Seth, the shadowy, often evil brother of Osiris? Is it possible to identify Seth as a representation of the sky and its changes?
Sellers suggest on page 224 of her book that “It could also be that Seth is here indicated as a zodiacal constellation rising with the sun. The most likely candidate in that case would be Scorpius, the classical world’s slayer of Orion.[2]” The constellation Scorpio is opposite of the constellation Taurus in the zodiac (Figure 1). Such opposition fits well with the conflict that is recorded in the myths about Seth and Horus battling for supremacy following the death of Osiris. But it doesn’t easily support the theme of Seth killing Osiris. Where could this have arisen?
Figure 1. Artistic impression of the zodiac constellations showing the opposition between Taurus and Scorpio (https://www.amazon.ca/Hippolya-Tablecloth-Constellations-Astrology-Divination/dp/B082RVLNXC/ref=asc_df_B082RVLNXC/).
Recognizing that there is no point in searching for a single one-to-one mapping of the sky to the myths, we look here for another view of Seth. Returning to the basic premise that the precession of the equinox is the basis of ancient myths proposed in Hamlet’s Mill[3], and that Osiris and Horus are representations of the constellations Gemini and Taurus, it makes sense to continue our search for Seth in the zodiac around the time of the Spring Equinox. With precession constantly changing the location of the location of the constellations, the time of a “living” Gemini/Osiris would have been from 8,000 to 6,000 years ago. Preceding it in the precession was the constellation that we presently call Cancer the crab. It would have risen with the sun on the Spring Equinox from 10,000 to 8,000 years ago. Could the theme of “brother killing brother” that was highlighted in Hamlet’s Mill be at play here? Could the precession of the constellation Cancer/Set have been seen as resulting in Osiris/Gemini’s ultimately “death”?
As an initial step in the speculation we can ask about any characteristics of the constellation, presently known as Cancer (Figure 2A), that line up with what has been recorded about the god Set (Figure 2B). To start, the constellation is made up of dimmest stars of the zodiac constellations[4]. It is not nearly as noticeable as the other constellations. This corresponds with Set as a “dark and moody god”[5]. It contains two stars that are presently called for the animal “donkey”. Although the representations of Set took many forms throughout the history of Ancient Egypt, and no animal has all of the physical characteristics of Set images, Set is strongly connected to a donkey or ass[6]. Finally, the brightest star the Cancer constellation has an orange-coloured hue. The god Set was known as the lord of the Red Land. He is often represented with the colour red: hair, eyes, mantle. The image of the Christian “red devil” comes to mind. Could this be Seth? Although not obvious in the photos presented here, the typically forked tail of Seth, and/or the bottom of the Was scepter that he often holds, may be related to the present day view of the claws that one would expect in a crab constellation.
Figure 2. A) On the bottom the constellation Cancer with named stars ( https://www.space.com/16970-cancer-constellation.html). Note the two stars named Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australis, Latin for “"northern donkey" and "southern donkey" respectfully (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_(constellation)). The star Asellus Australis has an orange hued colour. B) On the top is an image of Seth from Karnak, Egypt.
In regard to the timeline of the precession of the equinox, it may also be important to note that Set was one of the earliest, original family members of the gods along with Osiris, Isis and Nephthys. A Set constellation would have been seen rising helically on the Spring Equinox between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. There are strong suggestions that Set was represented in the very earliest pre-dynastic culture. There is evidence that the Ancient Egyptians were creating art objects reflecting Set 6,000 years ago long before the Pyramids were built[7]. Perhaps their earliest art was an act of remembering the earlier age of Set just before the pre-dynastic time of Ancient Egypt that began 8,000 years ago[8].
The first Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt is referred to as Narmer. He is believed to have reigned about 5,000 years ago. By this time the Set constellation would have been seen to have “descended” below the horizon on the Spring equinox and have been replaced by Gemini/Osiris constellation. Set’s descent may be reflected in the Pyramid Texts suggestion that Osiris “kicked” Set – maybe this action having sent him down below the horizon[9]. In any event, later Set is said to have killed his brother Osiris. One version relates that Osiris is drowned in water. Is this a representation to the fact that Set would have been below the horizon and have dragged Gemini/Osiris with him to his death below the horizon?
What the speculation comes down to is a rather straight forward interpretation of the Osiris myth based on the precession of the equinox. Using the zodiac constellations as the basic framework, going back through time, the timeline of the myth starts with Set/Cancer, followed by Osiris/Gemini before the time that Horus/Taurus ruled the unified Egypt (Figure 3).
Figure 3. A starchart with images of the Ancient Egyptian gods overlaid on constellations from left to right: Cancer, Gemini and Taurus. https://skyandtelescope.org/interactive-sky-chart/.
There are many representations of Set and Horus standing on each side of the Pharaoh such as seen in Figure 4A. With Horus/Taurus on the right, Osiris/Gemini as the king in the middle, it stands to reason that Cancer/Seth stand on the left! This is a common theme dating to with the early Pyramid Texts and the Pharaoh Unis[10]. Figure 4B shows a theme from Hamlet’s Mill relating the two gods in a similar arrangement with the Axis Mundi[11]. Figure 4C shows the theme from around the Pharaoh Seti I.
Figure 4. A) Sketch of relief from Gebel Adda - Rock Temple; Horemheb depicted between Seth and Horus (from Lepsius 1849: iii; 122a) https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:180305&datastreamId=FULL-TEXT.PDF. B) https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mqr/2015/05/lettuce-and-kings-the-power-struggle-between-horus-and-set-2/. C) https://www.thenotsoinnocentsabroad.com/blog/horus-vs-seth-homosexuality-hippos-and-familial-violence
“There is also evidence identifying Seth with the pillar that supported the sky. In the Ramesseum Dramatic Papyrus, Seth is identified as a sacred pillar beneath Osiris, while according to G.A. Wainwright the djed-pillar at Busiris (Djedu) belonged originally to Seth prior to its reassignment to Osiris." (Alan F. Alford, _The Midnight Sun_, page 294)”[12]. This is another possible statement regarding the effect of the precession of the ages. The Djed column is tied to the great Axis Mundi of the world that is at a tilt from the north pole. At one point in time Seth would have been in control, but that would be passed to Osiris when the constellations were seen to shift. By the time of Seti I images represent Horus erecting the Djed Column (Figure 5).
Figure 5 The pharaoh Seti I, as Horus, on the right erects the djed column with the help of Isis on the left. The small kneeling figure on the left is likely another representation of Seti I as Osiris. From the Temple of Osiris in Abydos.
There is evidence for the suggestion that Seth is a representation of the constellation presently called Cancer. The precession of the equinox that would have slowly moved this constellation below the horizon on the Spring equinox 8000 years ago and leading to the age of the living Osiris. But Seth’s pre-descent may be been seen as connected with the falling of Osiris – essential accusing Seth with the death of his brother at the end of the age of Osiris. Not that the Ancient Egyptians were so literal as to simply imagine a story in the sky, they frequently expressed subtle and complex levels of thought that expressing multi-levels of existence[13].
[1] http://www.awhico.com/2021/2/12/blog-20-gemini-as-osiris-and-taurus-as-horus-egyptian-myths-in-the-stars
[2] Sellers, J.B., 2003. The Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt, a study of the threshold of myth and the frame of time.
[3] de Santillana, G., and H. von Dechend. 1977. Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge and Its Transmission through Myth. David Godine, Boston.
[4] https://www.space.com/16970-cancer-constellation.html.
[5] http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/set.htm
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(deity)
[7] http://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/3200bce.html
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_Egypt
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris_myth
[10] http://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/seti1.html
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_mundi
[12] http://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/laterwas.html
[13] www.awhico.com/…/chapter-5-the-egyptiannbspbodies-of-a-human
Since the beginning of Ancient Egyptian culture, the sky has provided a palette for their myths, religion and world view. We don’t know much about how exactly the Ancient Egyptians perceived the night sky. There are certainly a number of dominant features that are easily recognized such as references to Orion which they associated with the ancient Egyptian god Osiris. Sirius, the bright star used to track the beginning of summer flooding of the Nile is well represented in their recorded texts as Sopdet. The higher spiritual bodies of a person were encouraged to find their place in the “Imperishable Stars”, i.e., those surrounding the “North Pole”. Nut is likely their representation of the Milky Way arching over the earth. But there may be more to see in their view of the stars and their myths – especially as we accept the importance of the precession of the equinox. This blog explores the strong connections between what they were observing in the sky and the primary core Ancient Egyptian myths associated with death and resurrection of Osiris.
In the earliest Ancient Egyptian written text, the Pyramid Texts, Osiris is said to have died and been reborn[1]. It is said that Seth killed him. Horus, the son of the reborn Osiris, avenges his father’s death by winning the battle with Seth. Horus thus reigns as the primary god of a unified Egypt. It has not exactly been clear how all this relates to the stars, but it is becoming more and more likely that this is a record of the precession of the equinox observed between 9,000 and 5,000 years ago.
Readers are likely familiar with the concept that we are presently living in the Age of Pisces. This reflects that the constellation Pisces rises above the horizon with the sun on the Spring equinox (https://www.awhico.com/blog/2021/1/24/blog-19-a-return-to-hamlets-mill-and-the-milky-way). It has done so for 2,000 years since the time of Christ. In a few hundred more years the precession of the equinox will have the constellation Aquarius rising helically on the Spring equinox and we will enter the Age of Aquarius.
Hamlet’s Mill makes a convincing case that ancient myths were attempts by humans to capture the changes they were observing in the sky over very long time periods. They found common themes in myths in many different cultures around the world suggesting very ancient origins to the myths. Early humans were capable of seeing, tracking and recording the slow precession of the equinox[2]. The precession of the equinox through time can be observed in two ways: 1) the movement of the north pole and 2) the changes in the zodiac constellation that rises with sun on Spring Equinox. Figure 1 shows the circular movement of the “North Pole”. In present day we have a North Star in the Little Dipper constellation but for most of time there is no “North Star”. Although slowly, it is always seen to be circling around true north. Figure 1 also labels the constellation that rises with the sun associated with the differing locations of the north pole going back through time. Through 25,920 years the earth wobbles and the sun marches through the full zodiac and back again.
Figure 1. The circular locations of the earth's north pole through time. Presently it is aligned with the "North Star" in the handle of the Little Dipper constellation at the top of the circle at +2,000. Moving clockwise around the circle shows the location going back in time through its location during the different ages.
While Hamlet’s Mill explored the precession of the equinoxes in many cultures, Jane B. Sellers extends and expands this model by focusing solely on Ancient Egypt. Specifically, she explores the death and resurrection of Osiris[3].
Sellers notes that between 4,000 to 2,000 BCE the god Horus was predominant in Ancient Egyptian culture. This was the Age of Taurus when that constellation rose on the Spring Equinox. Although the image of a bull has been applied to the stars of the constellation since Sumerian and Babylonian times, possibly due to image of two horns extending upwards, this may not be how the Egyptians envisaged their sky 1000s of years earlier. Remember that we don’t know exactly how the Egyptians envisaged their sky. For them, it is possible that they imagined the head of a falcon, Horus the hawk, in this star grouping (Figure 2A) or the all-important Eye of Horus (Figure 2B).
Figure 2. The Constellation Taurus as seen with the naked eye with A) a Horus head is overlayed and B) Eye of Horus overlayed.
There are strong links between the Horus falcon and the bull in Ancient Egypt. For example, all of the New Kingdom Pharaohs had Horus names that contained bull references such as “The strong bull, high of plumes”[4] (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Hieroglyphs for Pharaoh Amenhotep-IV/Akhenaten Horus name, “The strong bull, high of plumes” that includes images of both the hawk and bull.
Going back to the Age that preceded Taurus/Horus, it was the constellation Gemini that rose helically on the Spring Equinox. The Age of Gemini ranged from 6,000 to 4,000 BCE that corresponds to the time of pre-dynastic Egypt. Seller explores the observed movements of the constellation Orion, in particular, the loss of Orion rising at sunrise on the Spring Equinox. She invests quite a few words constructing a framework where the constellation Orion represents Osiris and is seen to “die” by being drawn down below the “watery” Milky Way by Seth. The challenge she faced with this imagery results from the fact that modern-day Orion is off of the main pathway in the sky: the ecliptic. This was easily observed and well recognized by the ancients. So, unlike other important heavenly bodies such as the sun, moon, planets and zodiac constellations, Orion is somewhat isolated. In spite of this separation from the ecliptic, Sellers puts forth the idea that Orion was seen as a precursor to the sunrise for a time – and then precession moved it below the horizon at the Spring Equinox – and so was seen to die. She sees this “death” of Osiris/Orion resulting from its failure to rise helically on the Spring equinox heralding the change of an age.
But we see the possibility of a simpler and clearer connection between the observed sky and the enduring myths of Osiris and Horus. This can be accomplished by maintaining focus on solely the constellations of the zodiac. Such an approach would remain true to Hamlet’s Mill and the importance of the march of ages associated with the precession of the equinox. To do so requires only a bit of additional conjecture and speculation on how the Ancient Egyptians would have imagined the zodiac constellations. Sellers herself provides the key when she states on page 145 that “In Arabia, Orion/Osiris shared the name ‘Al Jauzah’ with the stars of Gemini”2!
While it is obvious that it this was the Age of Gemini, with her focus on the modern-day constellation Orion, Sellers barely mentions the constellation Gemini. But it is an easy extension of the modern-day view of the constellation Orion/Osiris up to include the stars of Gemini (Figure 4). If envisaged this way, then the death of Osiris would also be observed on the ecliptic - which the precession of the equinox would embody. The failure of Gemini to rise with the sun on the Spring Equinox would be recorded as the death of Osiris. Gemini would now be down in the underworld to be replaced by his son Horus/Taurus next in line in the precession.
Figure 4. The modern day constellations of Gemini and Orion overlayed with an image of Osiris and Taurus by the falcon head of Horus.
As we will see in the next blog post, drawing in the constellation Gemini into the Osiris myth plays an important role in explaining the interactions between Seth and Horus over the ages.
So yes the constellation Osiris was seen to have “died”, as the constellation Orion moved below the horizon, but concurrent with it, just above it on the ecliptic the constellation Gemini was also evolving in the precession. The proposition that the stars were providing early humans with a framework for very complex human world views began seems to hold true. Most importantly it must be remembered that this was not an effort to “identify” images in the sky, but rather a human-based effort to find stories and myths that captured their higher experiences.
[1] https://www.pyramidtextsonline.com/HorusPT.pdf
[2] de Santillana, G., and H. von Dechend. 1977. Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge and Its Transmission through Myth. David Godine, Boston.
[3] Sellers, J.B., 2003. The Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt, a study of the threshold of myth and the frame of time - https://books.google.ca/books?id=jDKTAgAAQBAJ.
[4] https://pharaoh.se/pharaoh/Amenhotep-IV
The great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter on December 21, 2020 had many eyes turned skyward (Figure 1). The press had been talking about it for days as the “star of Bethlehem”, last seen in 1623 and not to be seen this close again for 800 years! All of this was very engaging for the public. But what was missing from the public eye may have been much more important, as the event was a present-day connection to the distant past when modern man was first becoming conscious - a connection to the time of the birth of myth.
Figure 1. The Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in December 2020. On the top the two planets are just above the crescent moon, on the bottom they are just above the tree line on the right.
“Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge and Its Transmission through Myth” by de Santillana, and von Dechend[1] was a tour de force in presenting early myths as a technical language describing the changes observed in the sky. While they begin their exploration with the Hamlet of Shakespeare, they go far beyond this to find astrological references in the myths of many ancient cultures: Sumerian, Babylonian, Persian, East Indian, Greek, Iceland, Finland, Polynesian and North and South American cultures. They allude to the likelihood that all of the myths share a very ancient common single source. A source that likely originated over 8,000 years ago – long before the building of the Great Pyramids of Egypt, long before writing was employed. The primary motivation for their work is to challenge a general belief that early humans were not sophisticated nor organised enough to observe and track movements of the stars and constellations so as to appreciate the slow, subtle precession of the equinoxes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_precession).
In brief summary, the precession of the equinox is the result of the slow wobble in the rotation of the earth. The earth is spinning like a top. But it is not spinning straight up and down, but at an angle of 23 degrees (Figure 2). This tilt is what gives us the change in the season from summer to winter and back. But the movement is a bit complicated. While it rotates at an angle, the axis of the spin also changes. It moves in a circle. The axis moves in a “backwards” direction relative to the spin of the sphere. You can see this with toy spinning tops in the video linked here: https://youtu.be/ODA9qAsRB80?t=85.
Figure 2. A spinning top at an angle from a YouTube video: https://youtu.be/lWTnOrqqYU0?t=167.
So, what does this mean for the earth, and in particular, for humans living on the earth observing and tracking the movements in the sky? The result of this retrograde movement is that the “North Pole” as observed from earth moves over time. While we presently sight the North Pole as the end of the handle on the Little Dipper, Figure 3 shows the position of the North Pole going back through millennium. Present day is represented in the Figure at +2,000 at the end of the Little Dipper. Circling clockwise in the figure, going back 5,000 years ago, the North Pole would be the star in the constellation Draco. 16,000 years ago, the pole star would have been in the constellation Cygnus the Swan at the bottom left. The pole makes a complete cycle every 26,000 years or so. Over the lifespan of a 70-year-old a human, the pole moves only 1 degree out of the full 360-degree movement. Hardly much to notice.
Figure 3. The circle of the "North Pole" over time as a result of the precession of the equinox (based on https://www.wwu.edu/planetarium/a101/a101_precession.shtml). The constellation names refer to those which rose with the sun on the Spring Equinox. Thus this shows the associated precession of the equinox over time from 8,000-years-ago in Cancer, to 6,000 years-ago in Gemini, etc., etc.
But more than just the pole was moving, this movement is also reflected in changes in the location of the constellations in which the sun appears – and these changes are much more obvious to earthbound observers. There is a band of constellations through which the sun travels. These are the constellations associated with astrology – the zodiac. Throughout the year the sun rises in each of the 12 zodiac constellations. Presently, Spring begins each March, as the sun rises above the horizon at the same time as the constellation Pisces, i.e., in the constellation Pisces. This is called the helical rising of Pisces. But as a result of the precession of the equinox, 2000 years ago on the Spring equinox in March, the constellation rising with the sun was Aries. The helical rising constellations are labeled on Figure 3. This change in helical rising of constellations on the Spring equinox would be much more noticeable than the movement of the North Pole.
Again it would take longer than a single lifetime for the movement/change to be easily notice these changes, but a long-lasting culture with the sufficient memory would hace no problem noticing and tracking it. Cultures such as Sumer and Egypt survived for thousands of years. Over these time periods the precession of the equinox would be easy to track – if there was a reliable way of recording positions of the sky. Santillana and von Dechend convincingly put forward the case that this was the role of myth in early civilizations. We will not attempt to summarize the wealth of evidence they present, but a single example should be enough to introduce their approach – that of the Golden Age.
A common theme in myths is the coming of a new age, humans having experienced a number of ages through myth history. Most recently the spread of Christianity began 2,000 years ago at the beginning of the age of Pisces with the helical rising of the constellation in Spring. This is the present age. Going back in time the Bible signposts several ages by the associated themes: the age of Aries by the ram, the age of Taurus by the bull. The story of Moses coming down from the mountain and overthrowing the false idol of the bull is likely a record of the transition from Aries to Taurus.
Going back one more 2000-year-long age from Taurus we find the age of Gemini – the twins. Digging into Hamlet’s Mill there are numerous references to two male characters in myth: the close friends (Gilgamesh and Enkidu), the brothers (Osiris and Seth), twins (Romulus and Remus). Many others are mention in Hamlet’s Mill. By only a slight stretch of imagination Christians can picture the siblings (Adam and Eve) in the Garden of Eden.
What might make the age of Twins, of Gemini, such a recurrent theme, so tied to a Golden Age when “[Men] lived like gods”[2]? At this time, 7,000 years ago the sun rose between the constellations Gemini and Taurus on the Spring Equinox. This area of the sky is where the Milky Way crosses the ecliptic where the sun “travels” (Figure 4). At this period, the sun and planets could be “seen” in the midst of the Milky Way band of stars – all nicely lined up together.
Figure 4. Star chart with the Milky Way Galaxy lined up through the centre (http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galchart.html). Gemini/Taurus is on the far right 180 degrees from and Sagittarius/Scorpio that are in the centre of the figure.
This area of the sky is opposite, that is 180 degrees, from the area between Sagittarius and Scorpio (Figure 4) where the brightest area of the Milky Way galaxy is seen. This means that at this time period, six months after the helical rising of Gemini in the Spring, the Fall Equinox would be lined up with the thickest portion of the Milky Way – essential looking towards the centre of our galaxy.
In both Spring and Fall equinox, the sun, moon, planets and galaxy could be observed together.
As captured in myth this would be a very orderly and pleasant age with everything together in time and space. But as the precession moved the Spring equinox constellation out of Gemini and into Taurus the sun and planetary orbits would no longer cross the Milky Way. Bad things are recorded in the myths: floods ravaged the world, the great mill became un-hinged, gods departed, humans were kicked out of the Garden – all because the Milky Way was no longer connected with the rest of the sky.
Getting back to the Great Conjunction of 2020. While the public was made well aware of the close encounter of Saturn and Jupiter as a rare event, they missed the bigger picture that this is just another observation of the planet Saturn’s continued marking of time on the 26,000-precesional scale. According to Hamlet’s Mill, Saturn has been used to track the motion of the sky for millennium. It was named by the Sumerians as Enki, by the Akkadian and Babylonian as Ea by the Egyptian as Ptah and by the Greeks as Kronos. Just as the Great Conjunction of 6 AD may have heralded the coming of the age of Pisces, soon a Great Conjunction will herald the beginning of the age of Aquarius.
Outstanding Questions:
Ø Was Sirius Hamlet’s mother? Sirius/Sopdet helically rose at the summer Solstice in Egypt for 3,000 years announcing the floods thus outliving the transitions from Hamlet’s father to his uncle to himself[3]?
Ø Sellers speaks of Osiris/Orion “death” resulting from its failure to rise helically on the Spring equinox heralding the change of an age. But it is more likely that the constellation that was lost was Gemini – especially as she states on page 145 that “In Arabia, Orion/Osiris shared the name ‘Al Jauzah’ with the stars of Gemini”3.
Ø Going back further in time, were the pairs of T-shaped pillars in the centre of the Göbekli Tepe stone circles 9,000 years BCE related to Gemini? Possibly they were built to encourage the Golden Age of Gemini to remain in place?
[1] de Santillana, G., and H. von Dechend. 1977. Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge and Its Transmission through Myth. David Godine, Boston.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age
[3] Sellers, J., 2003. The Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt, a study of the threshold of myth and the frame of time. Jane B. Sellers.