working theories

I have two working theories to explain existence. I have labelled one of them the "Chicken or Egg" theory, and the other one I call "Pandora's Box." In the chicken or egg scenario, I surmise that we have dreamt this world into existence. I compare our world to the nighttime dreaming activity where conjured is a universe with a shady backstory. Elements appear in your dream and don't need an explanation. The same is true with the question, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" Of course in a dream, it's the chicken. The chicken is just present, and there's no need to try and solve the riddle. Trying to solve the riddle is preposterous in a dream as there is no answer. We are led to believe that through evolution a chicken developed and at a certain point the female half could lay eggs and then there happened to be a co-developed male partner who could fertilize the eggs. I guess there's a chance it could have happened. My idea of having dreamt the world into existence and just magically made everything appear is more plausible. I mean I can do it in dreams, so the only buy in to make this an acceptable theory is to consider our existence a dream. That's it. Occam's Razor. No need for some convoluted evolution story. In addition, it explains the Great Pyramids on the Giza plateau in Egypt. I have been there and looked up at these majestic wonders and wondered how they did it. The blocks are precision cut and stacked. Just one block dwarfs a human. The plateau's bed has precision cut stone laid out beside each other. Inside the pyramid, there are megaton stones used as beams. How do you lift and move those monoliths? Egypt is worth a trip just to be amazed in person regarding these unfathomable structures. Anyway, in this first scenario these pyramids are easily explained. They just appeared and the act of trying to figure out how they were built is so confounding that it should be the case that it would lead you to believe this world is an illusion. The mystery can't be solved, so what is the probable answer? The rational response would be the pyramids were dreamt into existence.

My other theory, Pandora's Box, is also intriguing. Earth is a vortex that will suck the cosmic vagabond into its gravitational field through curiosity and desire. Earth is the great abyss of the universe. It's the big blue internment camp and the manifestation of hell. From a distance, hell looks like a nice place and the siren call of adventure calls out to the Odysseus in all of us. Humans develop a personality which plays into the whole game. We become hypnotized by the Earth game. It's like we are all Odysseus trapped on the mythical island of Ogygia with Calypso. Deep down in the subconscious we know it's a trap and that we are not free. When awakened and we get the chance to leave, some of us are like Odysseus who's longing for home was too great and eventually Calypso had to let him go.

Earth has had many come to experience its physical delights with the result always the eventual destruction of civilization. This goes back millions and millions of years. The spirit comes to earth and inhabits the material form of a species whether it be lizard, primate, or something else. The inherent intelligence of the new hybrid in time takes over the world and builds a civilization. Check out the mysterious antediluvian Nephilim in the Book of Genesis chapter 6 (New American Standard Version):

1 Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,

2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.”

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of mankind, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Then an event destroys civilization and leaves a scant trace of their memory. In this case, it was the flood of Noah's time; however, a few survived this catastrophe.

5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.

6 So the Lord was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

7 Then the Lord said, “I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.”

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

In my theory when Earth's inhabitants are laid waste to, a universal warning is sent out to keep Pandora's Box closed. Leave it alone, but always someone is enticed, opens her box, and the cycle begins again until once again it is destroyed. I look at where we are now in our current predicament here on Earth. We are destroying the environment in the name of progress, and we have developed a means to destroy ourselves. I think that eventually someone will do it. Someone will drop that nuclear bomb and kaboom, it's done. Hell is laid waste to once again and a big galactic sign is placed in front of Earth. Do not enter. Eventually, the fall out of the blast will dissipate over millions of years and some poor soul will come back to this beautiful world.

This theory explains the unexplainable remnants of previous civilizations that would have built the pyramids. The act of building the pyramids out of stone which could survive the Earth's destruction was on purpose. They are meant to warn us of how this cycle is repeating. The destruction is baked into the cards. We know this from geological history where we can see it. We also know this from the great precession of the earth through the solar system which takes approximately 26,000 years. The astrological signs of the bull, man, lion, and eagle, warn us of the impending quarterly cyclical doom and they tie in with the planet moving through fields of space debris. You can even find the reference in the Book of Revelation chapter 4 in the New Testament (New American Standard Version):

6 and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.

7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like a calf, the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.

The throne of God is encircled by the destructive tendencies of the zodiacal waypoints of Earth's journey through time.

The cosmic spirit didn't necessarily inhabit the body of a primate. Say for instance, the intelligence of consciousness was housed in a large reptile then the construction of the unfathomable becomes more explainable as opposed to trying to figure out how a human did it. My chicken or egg theory becomes a casualty of this scenario. But maybe not - it is possible that this cyclical dream and billions of year adventure I dreamt into existence as a pitstop on the road of eternity. I'm always existing in perpetuity, so why not make the most fantabulous dream, the greatest jigsaw puzzle ever made, and then insert myself into the puzzle. In addition, having this fantabulous adventure span an unfathomable amount of time. I'll really out do myself this time. Eventually, the timeline I have created will reach the end and all will dissolve back into the one eternal self of no self.

Oh Pandora! What a ride.

the migdal

A few blog posts back I hinted at revealing more of the secrets of the Book of Revelation that have been locked away for two thousand years. It is through my connection with the feminine divine and her graces of intelligence (nous) and wisdom (sophia) that I have understood the meanings of these riddles. Without these gifts from the Goddess, it would be futile to try and interpret the mysteries that lie within the mystery of this apocalyptic enigma.

I'd like to then highlight chapter 12 in the Book of Revelation and then reveal its source and from doing so it will lead us to further understand the identity of the dragon. First, I will go through and comment on each verse in the chapter.

Revelation 12 (King James Version)

   1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

St. John of Patmos sees a great vision of a woman in the heavens. There is mention of the sun and the moon. The twelve stars that make up her crown are the constellations of the zodiac. She is the Queen of Heaven.

A great wonder in heaven

   2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

The Queen of Heaven is about to give birth.

   3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

Red is from the Greek 'purrhos' and means fiery red, so a great flaming red dragon appeared in the sky.

Great red dragon - Woodcut from Luther Bible 1534

In the following chapter 13 in the Book of Revelation the first beast that rises up out of the sea has seven heads, ten horns, and ten crowns around the horns as opposed to seven crowns on the seven heads. Though these fantastical creatures are related to each other, they are distinctly different.

   4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

The tail of the dragon scatters a third of the stars in heaven to earth and then waits to devour the child immediately after delivery. The Greek word 'gune' is used in this verse for woman as it has the connotation of wife. It seems to be establishing a relationship between the dragon and the Queen of Heaven. This first brings to mind the story of the Titan Cronus/Saturn in Greek/Roman mythology who devours his children to prevent them from usurping him.

Peter Paul Rubens - Saturn Devouring His Son (detail) (1636)

Another interesting angle of this verse is the casting down of the stars to earth. I interpret this as the march of time that results in the disappearance of stars below the horizon and in conjunction with this I believe the stars here are symbolizing mankind as the progeny of the Queen of Heaven. This will become clearer later on.

   5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

This verse gives us an idea of the identity of the child. Child is translated from the Greek 'huios' which in the synoptic gospels is often translated Son as in 'Son of man' hence why this newborn is curiously called a 'man child'. With this imagery and the rehabilitation of the translation to refer to Son of man we can now see the Queen of Heaven is to give birth to a cosmic Christ principle. This spiritual principle is being shown as having a birth in the heavens along with the more referenced birth of Jesus from a virgin in the synoptic gospels. Further to this it is representative of the axiom that what happens in the heavens also occurs on earth. This motif is what is used by the writer to connect this imagery back to the Old Testament.

   6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

This verse contains the puzzling reference to 1260 days which occurs earlier in the Book of Revelation. My take on it is that it shouldn't be taken literally as an amount of days but instead as a symbolic herald of a multiple of time to pass before its reappearance in the story. In this respect then this would seem to be pointing towards the precession of the equinoxes which is about double that amount x 10. The dragon representing time, turns the heavens and the zodiacal signs change from heaven based signs to earth and water signs which would correspond to half the amount of the full precessional cycle. This is why the stars are cast down and the Queen of Heaven finds herself on earth and is forced to retreat into the wilderness in hiding for this length of time until the zodiac wheel turns sufficiently to allow for an ascension back up into the heavens. Additionally, the 1260 could refer to three and a half years which would be hinting at a resurrection of some sort as we see in the behaviour of the birth of the new moon or the sun's rebirth after three days of figurative death at the winter solstice. This also ties in with the cyclical procession of the zodiac constellations and the events they cause to occur and reoccur and the 1260 days represents this change and reascension of the wisdom principle.

   7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

These events then precipitate a mighty battle between the martial archangel Michael and the dragon.

   8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

The dragon lost the great battle in the heavens. Perhaps an attempt to transgress the laws of time and stay in heaven?

   9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Unfortunately for mankind the dragon and his angels get tossed down onto the earth. Here the dragon is definitively identified with the Devil who is called Satan.

The dragon is cast to earth

   10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

This Satan character was not well liked in heaven. The language used here is the more familiar appeal to Salvationist Christianity. 

   11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

These last two verses go out of their way to conflate the imagery of Christ with the victors remaining in heaven. The use of words and phrases like 'salvation', 'kingdom of our God', and 'blood of the Lamb' appeal to the orthodox Christian ideal of Jesus as the saviour of mankind.

   12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

There is the cyclical progression of time at work here. Those in the heavens rejoice while those of the earth should be wary of the wrathful one.

   13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

Persecuted in this sense means pursue so the dragon is chasing the Queen of Heaven.

   14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

The fleeing woman goes deeper into the wilderness thanks to two wings of an eagle. The time, and times, and half a time refers to the mysterious 1260 days. At this point we should consider that the entrance of this woman onto the earth and her hiding away is referring to wisdom, known as Sophia in Greek. This wisdom is hidden, protected, and nourished from the clutches of the Devil. The eagle wings are a bit of a mystery. I believe the writer here was using the zodiac as a guide to advance his story. The Queen of Heaven appears in the heavens in her time as Virgo and after that would be a fall to earth of sorts represented by Libra at the autumnal equinox. Following Libra is Scorpio which maintains a connection to the eagle as one of its symbols.

   15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

The dragon in his fury floods the earth in order to try and drown this wisdom. Water comes from the Greek word hudor which refers to rainwater. As well in keeping with the zodiacal theme, the water signs follow the earth signs giving credence to the idea that the zodiac is being used as a storytelling device. The dragon can then be thought of as a controller of the zodiac's movement through the force of time.

   16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

The earth, the Greek 'Ge,' Gaia, helps her sister out by swallowing up the waters unleashed by the dragon and subsequently abates the flood.

   17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The dragon vows to take out his anger on the righteous children of Sophia, who is wisdom.

In chapter 12 from the Book of Revelation the ideas that I want you to take from it are first the appearance of the woman in the heavens, second the scattering of the stars by the dragon's tail, and third the flood that was the result of the anger that the dragon felt towards the woman. What I'm going to show you is how these connect to Old Testament stories of Yahweh and his attempts at destroying the seeds of wisdom that keep re-emerging. The Gnostics of the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation considered the Old Testament god Yahweh the 'demiurge' - the false god and demented creator of the physical world who imprisoned the spark of the light that is resident in the human condition. It is my contention that Gnostic sects that had different views of these Genesis stories somehow disguised these retorts into the Book of Revelation by cloaking them in phrases that were acceptable to the orthodox faction of Christianity so that they would include this Book in their canon of acceptable material. It would be tempting for sure to want to include a Christian apocalypse modelled along the lines of Jewish apocalyptic literature that would provide a vision of the victorious followers of Christ and the coming of a new Jerusalem however lying in wait in this literature is a Trojan Horse that will eventually spell the doom for the orthodox Christian victors whom the Gnostics were trying to warn future humanity against. Reading between the lines we see the Gnostics hiding this wisdom away in the wilderness while the wrath of the dragon is directed at them and will eventually culminate in their annihilation by the dragon and his accomplices.

Now, I'm going to direct you to where these ideas came from in the Old Testament. The Gnostics, being very knowledgeable of these texts, cast Yahweh in the role of the dragon in the Book of Revelation and we will see in the Old Testament text Yahweh as 'God' who is similarly displeased and angered at humanity. I'll start with the woman in the heavens and scattering of the stars motif and direct you to Genesis 11. I will go through the first nine verses of this chapter and comment on them so we have a base and perspective to go on and then I'll comment on its meaning at the conclusion.

Genesis 11 (King James Version)

   1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

This verse follows the recounting of the genealogy of Noah and the generations of his three sons following the ark and flood narrative. Being of one language and speech gives the idea of mankind united and in this condition knowledge and wisdom increases exponentially.

   2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

Shinar is a plain in Babylonia and sets the stage for what is to come.

   3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

From this verse the important take away is the 'make brick' as examining the original Hebrew suggests the translation should be 'make white brick', the white hinting at creating something symbolically luminous.

   4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

A tower in Hebrew is called a 'migdal' which of course brings to mind the migdalah whom in the Hebrew Talmud is referred to as a hairdresser - "hamegadela se'ar nasha", "Miriam the plaiter of women's hair" (Hagigah 4b; cf. Shabbat 104b). This idea finds its flowering in the character of Mary Magdalene in the New Testament gospels and in the 'heretical' Gospel of Phillip we find Christ kissing Mary Magdalene on the lips, a symbolic gesture of the initiates that transfers wisdom and knowledge between acolytes. The 'gdal' part of this word also means to twist in addition to the tower inference and the twisting aspect is where the hairdresser connection comes in. So you can now start to see the beginnings of a connection here with a feminine tower that is reaching up to the heavens. The other word of note here is 'top' which is from the Hebrew 'ro'sh' which also means 'head.' In essence the head of a woman is reaching up to the heavens.

Tower of Babel from Athanasius Kircher’s 1679 Latin book Turris Babel

   5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

Yahweh comes down to Shinar (the dragon appears from Revelation 12:3) to witness this activity which the 'Son of man' built which is translated 'children of men' and this translation steers people away from making a connection here. It's the spark of the Son of man in humanity that gives them the know how to build the wisdom tower.

   6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

This passage presents to us the potential of mankind to build great things when united. Much like the fit Yahweh threw in the Garden of Eden after Eve tempted Adam with the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it seems Yahweh is forever interfering in the progress of humanity.

   7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

Yahweh is truly the author and begetter of confusion.

   8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Yahweh scatters mankind throughout the earth. By dividing them up they ceased symbolically building a tower of wisdom and finished building the city. With these acts we can now establish the connection with Revelation 12.

   9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Babel which is Babylon, means confusion. It is the signature of Yahweh and where you find the confusion and ignorance of mankind from his true nature you'll find this god.

In these verses from Genesis 11, I have pointed out the tower known as a migdal which was made up of white brick that reached up to the heavens and the subsequent scattering of mankind. If we go back to Revelation 12 we see the woman that appears in the heavens and then a scattering of stars down to earth. This chapter in Revelation is designed by the writer as a prequel to the same actions that will then occur on earth as they did in the heavens. It is the Gnostic interpretation of the events and the role played by Yahweh identified as a fiery red dragon. The Gnostic author did this to craftily hide it away in the Book of Revelation so that one day it could be decoded. Here's how it the full story would be reconstructed in chronological order:
The woman as wisdom appears in heaven.
The dragon as Yahweh appears in the heavens intent on devouring her child.
The dragon scatters a third of the stars, the stars symbolizing the woman's seed, to earth.
The dragon is cast down to earth.
Genesis 11 continues the story with the location now on earth.
The stars as humanity come together as one to build a tower that represents the wisdom goddess who on earth becomes Mary Magdalene.
Yahweh comes down to see the tower. (Revelation 12 describes him being forcefully cast down.)
Yahweh scatters humanity.

By making this connection we can now proceed to the flood unleashed by the dragon in Revelation 12 and see how this was another event taken from the Old Testament, indicative of the rage of Yahweh, by the Gnostic author.

Here are the beginning verses of the flood story from Genesis 6 (King James Version):

   5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

This passage in establishing some sort of perverse justification that will allow Yahweh to drown mankind.

   6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

   7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

In order to make up for his 'mistake', Yahweh will double down and compound the problem with mass pre-meditated murder. And then a little farther down in chapter 6: 

   17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

Returning to Revelation 12, here are the verses once again that refer to the flood story:

   15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

   16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

What we have here is the Gnostic version of the flood as perpetrated by Yahweh. He attempted to drown that spark of wisdom that when received allows mankind to reach its fullest potential which I believe spells the end for Yahweh and the yoke he has placed over humanity. In addition, going back to the scattering motif we can see now how it is possible for Yahweh to say that he created mankind as the rageful act of sweeping a third of the stars in the heavens to the earth is the supposed act of creation.

In the Book of Revelation time and time again we find connections to stories in the Old Testament that are inverted and told with a different point of view. Yahweh is identified as a dragon and the religious authorities and offshoots of his worship are designated as beasts. It's fascinating to go through the Book of Revelation in this manner and find the connections. It's a carefully constructed work that treads a fine line that remains true to the orthodox Christian conception of God and his sacrificed saviour son Jesus with references to touchstone ideas such as the blood of the lamb, bloody revenge on your enemies, and the dawning of a new Jerusalem but the real genius of this book is how it hid a separate storyline that implicates this dragon god, the fake Jesus, and the orthodox religions of Judaism and Christianity conspiring in a devious plot to subjugate and rule over mankind by denying them the wisdom that will allow mankind to progress into their spiritual destiny and heritage. The seals of this fabulous book are indeed becoming unlocked and wisdom is pouring out once again into the world. The time to reclaim our destiny from the dragon is now.