Written Word and Oral Tradition Enigmas
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
“A.D.
793. This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land
of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most
woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing
through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery, dragons
flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were
soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on
the sixth day before the ides of January in the same
year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made
lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by
rapine and slaughter. Siga died on the eighth day before
the calends of March. “
This text is from the famous Anglo Saxon Chronicles First
started by King Alfred of Wessex 890 AD. He later became
known as King Alfred the Great.
We interpret the translation of “great sheets of
light” as referring to a comet body passing high
overhead, but above the atmosphere. The dragon reference
would refer to a cometary passage within the atmosphere,
where it would produce a glowing head and a long black
tail.
- Book V of the SIBYLLINE ORACLES
and from heaven a great star shall fall on the dread
ocean and burn up the deep sea, with Babylon itself and
the land of Italy, by reason of which many of the Hebrews
perished,
. . . Be afraid, ye Indians and high-hearted Ethiopians:
for when the fiery wheel of the ecliptic(?) . . . and
Capricorn . . . and Taurus among the Twins encircles the
mid-heaven, when the Virgin ascending and the Sun
fastening the girdle round his forehead dominates the
whole firmament; there shall be a great conflagration
from the sky, falling on the earth;
(681-710 )
May all occur. For they shall overthrow The mighty temple
of the Egyptian land; And God shall rain down on the
earth dire wrath Among them, so that all the wicked ones
And all without sense perish. And no more Shall there be
any sparing in that land, Because they did not keep that
which God gave.
I saw the threatening of the shining Sun Among the stars,
and in the lightning flash
The dire wrath of the Moon; the stars travailed With
battle; and God gave them up to light. For long
fire-flames rebelled against the Sun; Lucifer treading
upon Leo's back Began the fight; and the Moon's double
horn
Changed its shape; Capricorn smote Taurus' neck; And
Taurus took away from Capricorn Returning day. Orion
would no more Abide his yoke; the lot of Gemini Did Virgo
change in Aries; no more shone
The Pleiads; Draco disavowed his zone; Down into Leo's
girdle Pisces went. Cancer remained not, for he feared
Orion; Scorpio down on dire Leo backwards moved; And from
the Sun's flame Sirius slipped away;
And the strength of the mighty Shining One Aquarius
kindled. Uranus himself Was roused, until he shook the
warring ones; And being incensed he hurled them down on
earth. Then swiftly smitten down upon the baths
Of Ocean they set all the earth on fire; And the high
heaven remained without a star.
Ragnarok
from Experience
Festival web site
Ragnarok (Icelandic) [from ragna plural of
regin ruler + rok sentence, judgment, reason, ground,
origin]
In Norse mythology, the time when the ruling powers
(gods) return to their ground, are reabsorbed in their
divine origin. The judgment is their evaluation of the
life that has just been completed. Ragnarok has commonly
been called the twilight of the gods, probably because of
confusion with rokkr (twilight). It has also been
interpreted as they age of fire and smoke, because in
Swedish rok means smoke. However, in Icelandic it has a
more sacred meaning referring to wonders and signs, and
the departure of the gods to their home ground, the
source of their being.
On the cosmic scale Ragnarok brings to a close a
universal cycle of activity. When a world dies the god
Heimdal, guardian of the rainbow bridge between the
realms of the gods and Midgard, domain of humanity, blows
the Gjallarhorn, summoning the gods of life to the final
battle against the forces of destruction. Lesser
judgments take place when single world systems reach
their term, as recorded in the "Lay of Odin's Corpse"
(Odins Korpgalder), which deals with a death of one
planet, and relates the deities' efforts to elicit from
the planetary soul an accounting of its past cycle of
activity.
The end of the world is vividly portrayed in the foremost
poem of the Elder Edda, Voluspa, which depicts horrors
presaging the departure of the gods from this sphere of
life. However, this is by no means the end for it is
followed by a new creation, when a reborn earth is seen
arising in serene beauty and contentment.
Ragnarok has sometimes been personified as a
world-destroying monster which is held in check until its
proper time. Its approach is heralded by an overwhelming
preponderance of evil which presages the end of the gods'
reign. This is another way of depicting the withdrawal of
the beneficent powers to their supernal realms, leaving
matter in a condition of entropy.
Ragnarok is succeeded by the Fimbulvetr or Fimbulvinter
-- the long winter of nonbeing, when nothing exists (in
the relevant portion of space) for their are no energies
(gods) to organize matter. At the appropriate time
Heimdal will once more summon the beneficent powers with
his Gjallarhorn for a new tour of duty.
- Demiurge
From: Wikipedia®
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demiurge
The
term Demiurge refers in some belief systems to a deity
responsible for the creation of the physical universe and
the physical aspect of humanity.
The word derives from the ancient Greek
δημιουργός
(dēmiourgós, Latinized demiurgus). In Classical
Greek, the word means “artisan” or
“craftsman” (literally in the service of the
people: δήμιος
(dēmios) “official” +
ἔργον (ergon) “(piece
of) work”). It is used metaphorically of a creator
(of the laws or the heaven) or even the Creator (of the
World) in Plato.
The term occurs in a number of different religious and
philosophical systems, most notably Platonism and
Gnosticism. The precise nature and character of the
Demiurge however varies considerably from system to
system, being the benign architect of matter in some, to
the personification of evil in others. Frequently,
alternative titles are used for the Demiurge in these
systems, including Yaldabaoth, Yao or Iao, Ialdabaoth and
several other variants, such as Ptahil, used in
Mandaeanism.
- Apocalyptic literature
From:Wikipedia®
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptic_literature
Apocalyptic literature was a
new genre of prophetical writing that developed in
post-Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among
millennialist early Christians. "Apocalypse" is from the
Greek word for "revelation" which means "an unveiling or
unfolding of things not previously known and which could
not be known apart from the unveiling" (Goswiller 1987 p.
3). The flaming poetry of the Book of Revelation that is
traditionally ascribed to John is well known to many
Christians who are otherwise unaware of the literary
genre it represents.
The apocalyptic literature of Judaism and Christianity
embraces a considerable period, from the centuries
following the exile down to the close of the middle ages.
In the present survey we shall limit ourselves to the
great formative periods in this literature--in Judaism to
200 BC to AD 100, and in Christianity to AD 50 to 350 or
thereabouts.
An apocalypse is a literary report of a fearful, often
violent, vision that reveals truths about past, present
and future times in highly symbolic and poetical terms.
The poet may represent himself as transported into a
heavenly realm, or the vision may be unveiled— and
even interpreted— by an angelic messenger.
Apocalyptic exhortations are aimed at chastening and
reforming their hearers with threats of punishment and
rewards in the coming "end times."
- Turkic Mythology
From: Wikipedia®
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai-Ulgan
Ulgen is
the enemy of Erlik who is the god of evil and darkness.
Ulgen protects humankind against him.
In addition he controls the athmospher events, movements
of stars. He creates land for people to live, humans and
animals’ head and rainbow.
Ulgen has seven sons named “Karaku, Karıt,
Pura Kan, Burça Kan, Yaıl Kan, Er Kanım”
and nine daughters named Akkızlar and Kıyanlar.
His daughters are source of inspiraiton for shamans.
Bay Ulgen is living at the 16th floor of the sky above
the stars, sun and moon in a golden house.
- Cerinthus
From: Wikipedia®
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demiurge
According to the heresy of Cerinthus (who shows
Ebionite influence), the ancient Hebrew term Elohim, the
“uni-plural name,” often used for God
througout Genesis 1, can be interpreted as indicating
that a hierarchy of ancient spirits (“angels or
gods”) were co-creators with a Supreme Being, and
were partially responsible for creation within the
context of a “master plan” exemplified
theologically by the Greek word Logos. Psalm 82.1
describes a plurality of gods (ʔelōhim), which
an older version in the Septuagint calls the
“assembly of the gods”; however, it does not
indicate that these gods were co-actors in creation.
(Unless one translates Genesis 1:1 literally as “in
the beginning the gods [elohim] created the heaven and
the earth.”) Also according to this theory, an
abstract similarity can be found between the Logos (as
applied to Jesus in the Gospel according to St John) and
Plato’s Demiurge. However, in John 1:1, which
reads: “in the beginning was the Word (Logos), and
the Word was with God and the Word was God,” the
Logos is clearly one single being, not an assembly or
group. Further, typical Christian theology identifies
Jesus as the second person in the holy and undivided
Trinity, thus rejecting the notion that the world was
created by an ignorant or even malevolent demiurge
(“uni-plural” or not) in co-action with a
separate, higher and unknowable god.
- Kabbalah
From: Wikipedia®
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah
According to
Apocalyptic literature, esoteric knowledge, such as
magic, divination, and astrology, was transmitted to
humans in the mythic past by the two angels, Aza and
Azaz'el (in other places, Azaz'el and Uzaz'el) who 'fell'
from heaven (see Genesis 6:4).
- Epic of Gilgamesh
-
From Space.Com
"...and the seven judges of hell ... raised their
torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. A
stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the
storm turned daylight into darkness, when he smashed
the land like a cup."
-- An account of the Deluge from the Epic of Gilgamesh,
circa 2200 B.C.
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