Into the Duat
Something that does not appear to have been noticed yet concerns the official Torch Relay. This year the relay arrived from Greece to Britain and began its meandering course on May 19th, running for exactly 70 days. What else do we know that begins in mid-May and continues for 70 days? People interested in astronomy and ancient traditions will realize that this is the traditional period of the journey of Sirius through the Underworld, the Duat. This is the time of year when Sirius is invisible to the naked eye on Earth.
It may be that this is exactly what is being represented during the Torch Relay. The lighting of the Cauldron at the Opening Ceremony on the 27th is symbolic of the heliacal rising of Sirius.
We know, though, that the heliacal rising over London takes place in the second week of Aug. not on July 27th. Clearly, this appears to be a
symbolic alignment not simply a physical one.
However, as one great researcher, known as Monk, has calculated, Sirius sets with the Sun on May 17th/18th, when the Torch arrives at the southern most tip of Britain in Lands End, and the Torch is finally put out on Aug. 12th, the last day of the Olympics, when incredibly Sirius rises with the Sun.
So far, this is the first mention of Sirius on this blog, but it will be shown in the course of things that this star in particular plays a huge role in the shift of the Ages that may be occurring right now.
The 70 day period of the boat journey of Sirius through the Duat, or underworld, was significant in Egypt because the rising of Sirius with the Sun, later called the Dog Days (Sirius being the Dog Star), coincided with the inundation of the Nile River bringing with it needed nourishment to the Delta and its crops.
This 70-day journey of Sirius was honoured in Ancient Egypt in the mummification process. The following is taken from www.king-tut.org.uk :
Egyptian Mummification Process - The 70 Day Rule
The mummification process lasted for a period of 70 days. The 70 day period corresponded to the length of time during which Sirius, the 'Dog Star', appeared to die by dipping below the horizon. The 70 day rule applied to all classes of Egyptians - rich or poor. The 70 day mummification process for wealthy Egyptians was divided into the following activities:
Is this why the Torch Relay around Britain is exactly 70 days? Have we, collectively, during this time been traveling through the underworld? Again, this seems to be an outrageous suggestion. When we examine other aspects of the Torch Relay, including the Torch itself, perhaps this suggestion becomes a little more palatable (or even more absurd!)
Journey Through the Centre of the Earth
The three-sided Torch, among other things, represents the three London Olympics in 1908, 1948 and 2012. In a subsequent posting I will show how the two prior Olympics of 104 years ago and 64 years ago connect with this year's Venus Transit. A fascinating fact, though, is that 8000 holes perforate the Torch.
Why 8000? We are told that this symbolizes the 8000 torch-bearers involved in the relay. But why 8000 torch-bearers? Again, we are told these correspond with the 8000 miles of the relay. This begs the question -- why 8000 miles? It is clear from looking at the map showing the route of the relay that several crisscrosses of Britain are required to total 8000 miles.
So why 8000? A possible answer is that the diameter of the Earth is roughly 8000 miles. The relay around the UK could be intended as a microcosmic journey through the Earth. It is also interesting that the Earth's diameter, being variable depending on location, is often rounded off to 8000 miles or 13000 kilometers. This ratio of 8:13 will turn up significantly in examination of the Venus transit.
The 12800 km equivalent given for the Torch Relay is an even more accurate estimate of the Earth's diameter in kilometers, but 13000 km is cited often. Here we have the number 13000 yet again.
8000 miles would be the rough distance from one side of the Earth, through the core, to the opposite side. This is exactly the journey that Dante took, led by Virgil, in the underworld of the Inferno. In her book on Dante's Divine Comedy scholar Kathryn Lindskoog points out that while Dante's estimate of the Earth's circumference was wrong, we know today that he would have travelled this distance:
To get to the center and out the other side would be a trip of about 8000 miles.
8000 miles, then, is another very strong clue, along with its 70 day duration, that the Torch Relay represents a trip through the underworld.
There could also be a relation between Dante's trip through the underworld and the voyage of Sirius through the Duat. Dante's journey is set to exactly match the three days that Christ visited and conquered Hell. It also takes place from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. According to the Bible, Christ compared the time he would soon spend in the underworld with the three days that Jonah spent in the belly of the whale. Each of these involves an underworld ordeal lasting three days.
Many Christians reckon this three day period as being 72 hours. Other Christian scholars point out that the period was likely slightly less than this. They speculate that it was 70 hours that Christ spent in Hell, matching the 70 years the Israelites were held captive in Babylon, the 70 week prophecy of Daniel, etc. Is 70 hours in the underworld resonant with 70 days in the underworld?
On the other hand, Sirius also has connections to 72. Traditionally Sirius is the leader of the 36 decan stars, which are often doubled to 72 dodecan stars.
The World Mountain
When Dante and Virgil finally surface on the opposite side of the Earth they reach the foot of the Mountain of Purgatory (the antipodes of Jerusalem or Zion). Here's what Dante's cosmology looks like:
Notice that the Earthly Paradise, or Eden, is on the summit of Mount Purgatory. From here there is an angelic ladder into the seven Heavens and beyond. Here is a closer view of the Mountain of Purgatory with its seven spiraling terraces:
This is where everything meshes perfectly with Danny Boyle's plans for the Opening Ceremony on July 27th. After passing for 70 days on an 8000 mile journey, equivalent to passing through the Earth and its underworld, the Flame lights the Cauldron towards the base of the Mountain of Purgatory -- the Gastonbury Tor.
The myths and legends surrounding the Glastonbury Tor are abundant; it is where Joseph of Arimathea brought his young nephew Jesus, it is the location of the Holy Grail, it is the Isle of Avalon, it is where King Arthur is buried, it is a portal to the underworld, etc. A more modern mythology has it as the centre of the Glastonbury Zodiac -- this also matches the circle of 120 animals at the opening ceremony.
The monks at Glastonbury Abbey themselves believed that the Tor was the Mountain of Purgatory. Like the mountain represented by Dante, the Glastonbury Tor also has a spiraling path of seven terraces.
The other curious feature about the Glastonbury Tor that concerns us is the alignment it makes every year on the Winter Solstice:
The Winter Solstice Sun will remain close to the Galactic Core for the next few decades. Thus an observer on the Mound at the Winter Solstice is aligned through Glastonbury Tor with the heart of the Milky Way.
In a symbolic sense, the two and a half weeks of the Games is the ascent of Purgatory. Both Mount Purgatory and Mount Olympus are different depictions of the same archetype -- the World Mountain. The Olympic motto of "Citius, Altius, Fortius" or "Faster, Higher, Stronger" is a pledge to humanity to use all possible excellence to conquer this Mountain. The Olympian athletes strive to reach the great halls of the gods. Dante's own mythology is Christian instead of pagan but the archetypal imagery is identical.
Is this, then, the greater message of the London Olympics? That after passing through the underworld of the Torch Relay, and scaling up the seven terraces of the Mountain of Purgatory during the Games themselves, we finally, like Dante, reach the Garden of the Earthly Paradise at the summit, and from here is the imminent ascent up the ladder of the celestial Spheres. Is this where 2012 leads to?
Oaken Door to the Stars
A final clue is that in the Opening Ceremony set the Glastonbury Tor is not capped with St. Michael's Tower, as it is in reality, but with a massive oak tree. This is the World Tree atop of the World Mountain -- the centre of the mandala.
St. Michael himself is appropriate because he is the Cherub with the flaming Sword who guards the gates of Paradise. It is fitting that St. Michael's Tower should guard the summit of Purgatory.
The Oak takes us back to a deeper and older set of symbolism. It is no coincidence that the oak is
also the tree most associated with the Door -- doors being most commonly
constructed from oak wood. In the ancient
Celtic Tree Language, the Ogham, the equivalent of our letter D is
"Dair/Duir" which means oak. This exactly corresponds with Delta in
Greek and Daleth in Hebrew. This latter is the D of Da'ath, the "hidden" sephiroth representing Knowledge on the Tree of Life (this will be discussed in depth in a later blog entry).
It is the Door to
and from the Abyss, and it is crafted with oak. Will this Door to the stars open up at the end of
the Games?
Midsummer of Ice
Several significant events have happened during this 70 day "underworld" period as the Torch made its way back and forth across the UK. We have looked at Christ's journey to Hell, but significantly thirty is the age when Jesus took up his ministry and it is also the age that Prince William turned, following his birthday on the Solstice. Appropriately, this coincides with the Games of the XXXth Olympiad.
On the net it is possible to come across many theories
equating Prince William with the Antichrist. I
don't take these things literally, and this blog will later explore the idea that Christ and
Antichrist act as mutually dependent Hero Twins, but these
theories provide interesting background.
It's interesting, though, that halfway through the 70-day Torch Relay, presumably the darkest point of the Underworld, was the Summer Solstice and Prince William's thirtieth birthday. The brightest day of the year in the upper world is also the darkest night in the Duat.
In Dante's trip to hell the lowest point, at the core of the Earth where the gravest sins are punished, the Pilgrim finds the horrid form of Lucifer frozen in ice below his waist. The Devil's penis is situated at the exact gravitational centre of the Earth and therefore of the entire medieval universe.
A noteworthy aside is that the oak rules midsummer (June 21st), and Prince William's full name is William Arthur Philip Louis -- King Arthur's connection with the oak and Glastonbury Tor have already been alluded to.
The Vajra Jubilee
William turns 30 and it is the 30th Olympics. 30 doubled is 60 and 2012 also happens to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's reign. This year is her Diamond Jubilee and the celebrations of this are intimately tied up with the Olympics. The Olympic park will later be named the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in honour of the Diamond Jubilee.
There is a bunch of interesting symbolism involved in the Diamond Jubilee, but the diamond itself seems most relevant. In the East, the diamond is symbolized by the vajra which is also the thunderbolt.
In Buddhism and Hinduism the vajra is a symbol of cutting through the illusion of the world, but originally it was wielded by the thunder god, Indra. Indra is the equivalent to the thunder gods of the various other Indo-European pantheons. Zeus, Jupiter, Thor and others all held the power of the thunderbolt/vajra. Along with the thunderbolt, the oak tree is a closely aligned symbol for these same gods.
We notice that in Zeus' most sacred shrine and oracle at Dodona that the
oak tree was the central symbol. In the below images, we see Zeus wielding his thunderbolt and Indra holding the vajra. The symbology of the two is identical.
That this cluster of symbolism -- Diamond/Thunderbolt/Vajra/Oak/Door -- is very consciously connected with the Queen and her Jubilee is shown by the fact that the first official event of the Jubilee was the Queen's planting of an oak tree on Feb. 6. Here's an article describing the ceremony and comparing the Queen herself to a sturdy oak:
Just as the ancient thunder gods, with Zeus the Olympian most prominently, acted as guardians of the threshold to higher realms, so the British monarchs as the successors to the gods also guard the Door. The Queen symbolizes the Guardian and during this year of her Diamond Jubilee this symbolism is more resonant than ever. Both the Diamond and the Thunderbolt have the power to burst through the Door.
The crystal she uses to light the Palace beacon of her Jubilee recalls another event that happened more recently during the 70-day period.
The opening of the crystalline Shard, on July 5th, is another representation of the diamond or vajra. But where is the bell? Oh yeah, at the Olympics -- the biggest in Europe.
Bearers of the Torch
The official mythology of the Olympic Torch counts the Titan Prometheus as the first torch bearer. It was Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity.
It should come as no surprise that the new Ridley Scott movie, Prometheus -- with its ancient
astronaut theme, was released during the end of May and early June, well into the 70-day Torch Relay.
The first modern Olympic Torch bearers are not now as revered as Prometheus, although they too had Promethean aspirations. The modern tradition of the Olympic Torch Relay began with the 1936 Berlin Olympics -- the so-called Nazi Games. Monk has brought this photo, a statue of a torch bearer at an athletic training centre at Ordensburg Vogelsang, to my attention. The statue has the following inscription, translated from German:
You are the torch bearers of the nation. You carry forward the spirit of light in the fight for Adolf Hitler.
Is this also Prometheus? Is this the spirit of the Olympics?
Iacchus, usually identified as the god Dionysus, was the torch-bearing attendant of Demeter to Hades to rescue Demeter's daughter Persephone. In the ritualized reenactment of this myth during the Mysteries a dual torch-bearing youth led the procession of initiates from Eleusis. Along the way people shout out in joy to him, "O Iakkhos! O Iakkhos!"
Iacchus was called "the light-bringing star of our nocturnal rite" by Aristophanes in his play The Frogs. The star mentioned was most certainly Sirius and, if so, this takes us back to the theme of the 70-day journey of Sirius through the Duat. Are the same mythological themes being repeated in Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, and Modern Olympian ritual settings?
The Epic Underworld
Demeter's journey to the underworld is of course not the only in classical literature. In Homer's Odyssey, the Greek hero of the Trojan War, Odysseus, finds it necessary to visit Hades to speak to Tiresias in order to attain knowledge about his return home to Ithaca. Here he is shown harangued by the "shades":
Eight hundred years later the story continues with Virgil's Aeneid, although the Roman poet takes the side of the Trojan hero, Aeneas, and often calls Odysseus deceptive and cruel. Aeneas himself is led through the underworld by the Cumaean Sibyl, a prophetess of Apollo. The Sibyl will play a major role in history elsewhere, as we'll find out. In Hades, Aeneas is allowed to see the future leaders of the Roman Empire.
It's fascinating that 1300 years after Virgil the story still continues. In Dante's Divine Comedy, it is now Virgil who is leading the Pilgrim through the underworld. From Homer to Virgil to Dante this story, told in epic verse, has continued for more than two thousand years. But the underworld journey is much older than even Homer. We can find this same ordeal in the Epic of Gilgamesh, dating from the 18th century BC.
Is the story continuing even now with the 70-day Torch Relay through the underworld for London 2012? Could it be reaching some sort of a climax?
Maybe the biggest error researchers can make is to assume that one event will change everything. There are huge events -- certainly 9/11 was one of them -- but mostly the events/rituals that we've been tracing take on more meaning when looked at as a process or a sequence.
The Shadow Surfaces
Much has already happened already during this 70-day period, and plenty that is "underworld" in character. There have been reports of zombies, vampires and giant mutant spider attacks. Several sinister international meetings have been held. There have been wars and rumours of wars. There have been huge demonstrations. There have been multiple attempts to stave off total economic collapse. Massive obelisk-like towers have been erected. Things appear to be on the boil.
In addition to the spectacles held on Earth surrounding the Queen's Jubilee and, to a much lesser extent, Prince William's coming of age birthday, there have also been signs in the Heavens. There was a relatively rare annular eclipse of the Sun on 5/20 (its ring perhaps reflecting the Olympic rings), and the biggest astronomical event of 2012 -- the return transit of Venus. These will be the subject of the next post.
The intent here is not to cause fear and alarm -- quite the opposite, as awareness is strength. This blog is also open to the criticism that it is finding patterns where none really exist. The point, though, is that many others are finding the same patterns. This phenomenon in itself -- call it collective delusion if you want -- is worthy of close study. Why is it happening?
If the pattern does exist, though, if the 70-day, 8000 mile Olympic Torch Relay does represent a journey through the underworld, a kind of mass initiation, then what happens next? What happens when Sirius, both symbolically and physically, rises with the Sun? What happens when the Torch appears in the Stadium and the great Cauldron is lit at the base of the World Mountain? If this is collective delusion it is far more entertaining than anything out of Hollywood. Hold onto yer hats!
Prayer
To banish all fear, here's William Blake at the end of Jerusalem with what I hope will be the real outcome of London 2012:
Awake! Awake Jerusalem! O lovely Emanation of Albion
Awake and overspread all Nations as in Ancient Time;
For lo! the Night of Death is past and the Eternal Day
Appears upon our Hills: Awake Jerusalem, and come away!
