mind games

Sometimes, looking at a problem from a different perspective can be quite illuminating. For instance, there is the idea that the brain generates the consciousness within our body and as a result we have a mind. How about the opposite? Our mind has a body and the brain within that body is generating our particular conscious reality. To ponder that is quite an eye opener and it is an invitation to think even more deeply about the implications. Ultimately, it's an institutional way of thinking about this situation and that would leave out any intuitive or spiritual aspects of what constitutes occluded reality. When I was presented with the idea of the mind having a body, it appealed to me because during altered states of consciousness experienced I have either viewed myself in the third person or was aware of my presence as light in the vision. This is a concept where this "mind" has an avatar, which is the body, and much like in a video game, the mind can control the actions of the player. The brain of the avatar acts as a reducing valve that limits the consciousness expression within the life form, allowing and limiting the avatar to acting on what it can perceive. As many have noted with psychedelics, especially Aldous Huxley in his book The Doors of Perception, these reducing filters are bypassed and one becomes conscious of much more than had been previously experienced.

Consequently, the avatar can become more aware of the environment it is in. Why would this mode of exploration of consciousness originally have been made available to the avatar to discover? Well, combining what I have learned with this new way of thinking I have my own ideas.

The "mind" in question controlling the avatar is what I would describe as the mind's reduction into consciousness now being the combination of the right and left half of the brain. To further elucidate what I mean, it has to do with what I call the soul or heart space which is the right hemisphere of the brain in addition to the analytical and no-nonsense left half. Furthermore, I have been able to separate my modes of cognition into what I call the ego-mind and the heart space. The left brained ego-mind is very judgmental and competitive. It is interested in establishing a separate identity and it views the self as autonomous. Conversely, when taking in life through the heart space we feel very connected. We can experience a deep feeling of love for oneself and each other and we wish to help one another. So, in essence, a byproduct of the brain acting as a reducing filter which has divided cognition into two halves, is the production of an autonomous entity called an ego which is created by an over reliance on the critical left-brained thinking. The ego has in turn usurped local control of the avatar by shunting the right half aside. The ego consequently becomes prey to malevolent forces within its psychic sphere. The malevolent forces within culture then use the ego to control the avatar and along with that control the attached soul is essentially buried. The ego-mind has done such a good job at obscuring the heart space that we have pretty much forgotten our true origins. There are faint echoes of the heart when we peer back into history or if we are very perceptive we can see it in our mythology and fairy tales. Echoes in history do remain of this lost nature of ourselves in our religious stories.

The abduction and rescue of Helen of Troy in the Iliad.
Persephone and her descent into Hades, from which she returns to life.
The descent of Orpheus into the underworld to rescue his wife, Eurydice.
The return of Odysseus to his kingdom, Ithaca, to reclaim his wife, Penelope in the Odyssey.
The rescue of Andromeda by Perseus.
Sleeping Beauty and her need to be wakened by Prince Charming.
Cinderella being the treasure hidden away waiting to be discovered.
Rapunzel trapped in the castle and discovered by a prince.
Ishtar's descent to the Underworld in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
St. George's slaying of the Dragon to rescue the Princess.
The rescue of the kidnapped Sita by her husband, the god-king Rama, with the help of Hanuman in the Ramayana.
Dorothy and her longing to return home in the Wizard of Oz.

Our prized left-brained way of analytical thinking has further alienated any chance of recovering the lost piece of who we completely are. The pinnacle of intellectual inquiry is now firmly materialistic. The soul is the fount of wisdom to which we need to reconnect. It's the imperishable "mind" which lies dormant within all of us.

Taking this further is the idea of all of consciousness being a "mind at large" - a sum total of everything. Through the use of psychedelics, you can enter into a conversation with such an entity who seems distinct from your conscious self. I believe this is where in some cultures the phenomenon has been interpreted as being the spirit of the substance used to enter into this state. Examples would be the Aztecs use of psilocybin mushrooms known as "Teonanácatl" which means god mushroom. Also popular psychonaut Terence McKenna in his lectures would refer to the mushroom speaking to him during his altered state and there are the numerous examples in history of the veneration of the mushroom. To me, this mind at large is the Logos, the spirit, the Christ who is the origin of all knowledge and understanding. This access to spirit is also continually under attack. This is the attack on the divine masculine which is found in traditions throughout the world.

Osiris' dismemberment at the hands of Set.
Dionysos ripped apart by the Titans.
Jesus Christ's crucifixion by the collaboration of the Jews and Romans.
Abel's slaying by his brother Cain in Genesis.
The yearly ritual slaughter and holocaust perpetrated on the lamb in the Torah.

By now you may see where I am going with this - the sleeping soul, Wisdom, must awaken and reconnect with the Knowledge found at the feet of the master, who is the Logos. It's the heavenly sacred marriage of Sophia and the Christos or the earthy conjugation of Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ. The placement upon the earth and the intent for the use of psychedelics is a bridge to lead us back to this union if we use them wisely.

follow the yellow brick road

In the movie The Wizard of Oz, the main character Dorothy is on a journey of the soul. The entry into matter of the soul involves the metaphorical death of the soul, a forgetfulness, with the object being an eventual reawakening if the journey is successful. A great example of this theme is in the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty; Beauty being the soul. The wicked witch of the west harangues Dorothy into embarking upon this journey, much like the witch in Hansel and Gretel, which I have written about previously in this blog post. Similarly, it is the journey the Fool is about to undertake in the Tarot. Notice in the cards the dog who is with him.

The dog in the Fool's card and as well as in The Wizard of Oz, Toto, is the guide of the soul, the archetypal psychopomp, whom the ancient Egyptians called the opener of the ways.

Pharaoh Seti I receiving the gift of life

from the jackal Ophois while Isis looks on

Dorothy follows the yellow brick road and meets the characters, aspects of her inner self, who represent her need to develop her brain (wisdom) from the scarecrow, her heart from the tin man, and the need for courage represented by the cowardly lion.

Fear of the unknown has derailed many a seeker in their quest for truth and knowledge. Personally, after my initial forays into the visionary realm, I felt like the cowardly lion and didn't want to do that again. It wasn't until summoning the requisite courage that I was able to resume the journey. Wisdom is the result of seeking knowledge on this road to discovery and it is through this process you learn the path with heart is the only true path to follow.

"For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And there I travel—looking, looking, breathlessly" 

Don Juan Matus

The munchkins are something that seem to be related to the visionary realm and the journey of the soul. In the the myth of Snow White, this concept is represented by the seven dwarfs.

The ancient Egyptians have descriptions of these little people, the apotropaic Bes being the most striking of these strange dancing elf people.

Bes at the temple of Philae in Upper Egypt

And there are also the stories that modern users of the highly psychoactive drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT) bring back of these elf people.

Terence McKenna's encounters with the Elves

The trip through the forest by Dorothy and her friends is the perilous part of the journey, the wilderness is the visionary realm, and the eventual death of the wicked witch frees you from fearing death. The good witch Glinda helps you with the inner struggle and whether you are to continue on in this journey. Later on the way to the Emerald City, the characters in this adventure amusingly lay down in a poppy field and fall asleep.

This seems to be relating to drug use and the hypnotic state used to discover an alternative reality which shows you another way out of your predicament. I think the Emerald City is referring to the alchemical wisdom of Hermes Trismegistus and the Emerald Tablets and also implying another connection to the Tarot. The journey culminates in an entrance into this city, with the surprising result that the necessary wisdom needed to complete the journey lies within. In the Emerald City, they do find the wizard who supposedly will magically solve all their problems; Dorothy of course desperately wants to return home. The wizard is a fraud, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, and he is representing religions of man. Toto is tellingly the one who pulls back the curtain and reveals the truth. Dorothy eventually finds out she has it within her to return to the place for which her soul longs.

Dorothy clicks her heels three times in order to return home

The theme of this journey of the soul, which we can lift out of this fantastic movie, I begin this blog post with is intended as a starting point in order to segue into a discussion on the meaning of life. Why does the soul enter into the limiting material world and subject itself to suffering and a fundamental lack of knowledge concerning its origins and destiny? In fact, for the most part we have no idea why we are here and what is the purpose of this existence we have been presented with; unsure if we even had a choice in the matter? Without accessing any of the modalities available to alter consciousness, then to ponder this question becomes a dead end. Speculation centres on whether we live on past bodily death and that remains the insurmountable barrier in which our thoughts are consumed by the bugaboo of what is beyond the grave, if anything. But if you can bypass this barrier then the question has the possibility of being answered. Our western conditioning leads us down the path that our consciousness is generated by our brain and in conjunction with that assertion, it stands to reason that without the body we cannot exist. Upon the ceasing of conscious awareness, we are left with a dissolution of self and that is a finality. Our concept of life begins, is tied to, and ends with bodily death. Another way to view consciousness is the metaphor of the television set that is a receiver of a signal. Our brains are tuned to the particular consciousness signal which makes us who we are and defines our reality. I would posit then that it is the ego who generates the self and this fear of finality. The death of our physical self and the persona we have crafted throughout our appearance in the material plane at this moment in time is for the ego the absolute end of the drama. Think of it as a musical composition or a play that eventually comes to an end. It can be recalled and remembered but when the band ceases playing then the music is but a memory. From this we get our first answer to the question of the meaning of life and that is in essence we are here in this temporality to play. We perform a metaphorical symphony of life while here on earth. Just as a piece of music can move us, inspire us, bring out emotion, cause us to reflect and act upon our thoughts or say a movie can bring us to tears, uplift us, excite us, and depress us, it is our lives that though taken as a snapshot in time may seem to be inconsequential, it does in fact affect cumulatively those around us and on a collectively larger scale, the whole of humanity and the planet. As the drama of our lives unfolds, we touch others in more ways than we realize. The sum of the movie of our lives, as it reaches its crescendo and final dissolution, is a marvellous construction. But we should take a step back here and examine life. It is not the ego and thus it is not perishable. The ego is just an expression; one of many expressions. Life changes and manifests in different forms when subject to the great multiplier, which is time. Our consciousness is a wave vibrating throughout the sum of existence and it just so happens it has settled for the moment in the physical plane which is governed by time. So, life does not carry death within it; instead it contains within it the catalyst for change. We are blessed with free will to affect the path we follow at all times. The meaning of life is to play, and through this marvellous experience which is sprinkled with free will, we are on a trajectory of becoming. The act of becoming leads to transformation as our soul vibrates into a higher plane and becomes pure luminous light in a state of non-organic awareness. Staying inert and not participating in the play or getting lost in this grand musical composition, just means you do not increase the frequency of your vibration and become greater; greater being a state of transfiguration that allows you to throw off the material bonds that tie you down. Instead, you remain in this plane repeating the class until you dance to the beat of the cosmic dance and transcend this existence at the cessation of physical life. So you see, the meaning of life involves participation and through this playing we are to transcend the mundane and the profane as our actions touch those around us and the greater whole. The love we share lightens the soul and allows for growth. The heavy heart, still filled with desire and unfulfilled longings, remains in the cycle of life and death.

The heart space is where you find the divine within you and all around you. The secret is in shifting your consciousness into a heart based path, Love, that's all. Once you show the universe that's your intention then you can do it. The labyrinth we call life is complicated but it is a maze of our own making. The minotaur we empower and then one day courageously we just side step this monster and never look back.

The meaning of life is an active journey towards self-realization which in spiritual terms is to head for the light. The ultimate purpose of our lives is to lead others to the light. Even if you are still searching for this light yourself, just the act of encouraging others to search is the noblest thing you can do. The tin man, scarecrow, and cowardly lion are our magi. Traveling on a path guided by the wisdom of the heart, imbued with courage, that are the sum total of the yellow brick road friends of Dorothy, will ♫Guide us to thy perfect light♫.

creative spark

Intuition is a bit of a mystery but without embracing the mystery it's a concept impossible to grasp.

In our world of duality intuition stands in sharp contrast to the left brained logic and reductionism that holds authoritative sway in our society. We live in the age of reason; the seeds which go back to the patriarchal Greeks and their particular brand of philosophy. This has led to fantastic technological achievements for humankind but at the cost of the suppression of our intuitive capacity - the right brained, feminine, and creative side of us, and it has in turn led to challenges in integrating our marvellous technological achievements into society as a whole.

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift. (Albert Einstein)

Intuition finds a home in art and the more art a culture creates the healthier it is. Art is the attempt to capture the essence of intuition. In creating we are encapsulating our feelings and the mystery they encompass within an expression that takes on a life of its own through the very mystery it projects. Expressed in language intuition can become meaningless; some would take it as fanciful speculation and at times drivel. But cloaked in the ineffable, of which art excels in capturing, intuition comes alive. There is no pressure to explain intuition within art therefore it remains up to the perspective of the one sharing in the majesty of the art form.

Intuition is the remedy for society's tunnel vision focus on the linear and rational. It is the antithesis for the grandiose claims of science and progress. All we have to do is listen to her. At this junction, I'd like to relate a personal story to try and illustrate this latest point. 

The first time I ever drank Ayahuasca the Goddess appeared to me in three different manifestations. The were successive waves where I experienced her in one form, returned to my body, experienced her in a different form, and then once more in a third form. They were in order as a lover, as the embodiment of wisdom, and then as the world mother. The last time she appeared at the end when I was entering back into my body for good that evening my finger was tapping on the wooden floor of the maloca in a very rapid fashion. As this was happening she was repeatedly telling me all is vibration. As I have come to understand this I see that everything is energy and it is the way we perceive the energy that forms our worldview and ultimately our world. The senses we have evolved give shape and make sense of the energy around us ultimately excluding the majority of sensory input, which creates a narrow spectrum of human perception and understanding but ultimately serves us in a way that makes it possible to function in this world. This got me to thinking about the 'god' particle. I'm referring to the theorized Higgs boson particle that was postulated a while back.

artist rendering of Higgs boson particle - CERN/AP

Western scientists have spent billions of dollars investigating the nature of matter and have found it gets weirder and weirder the more we peer into it. Physics' original impetus and foundations lie in the pursuit of the material world by measuring and defining it. We have been very successful at that and we went beyond even the atom and defined what makes up that unit. But we have never got to the core 'god' particle though it was postulated and theorized to exist. In the standard model there are Quarks and Leptons that are theorized as being indivisible particles. Then to give these particles mass it was postulated that a force called a Boson energized them but only when it passed through a transient field that activated the Boson, which is called the Higgs field, hence the Higgs boson that was popularized in the press a few years ago. Billions were spent on a Large Hadron Collider to smash particles together so we could detect the influence of this Higgs boson particle and scientists think they detected it. Anyway this thought came into my head about the reductionist methods of science. We take an object and probe into it to find out how it works. For instance in the brain we have discovered neural pathways and neurotransmitters that activate receptors that are converted into sounds, sights, images and so forth and as a result we have what is called consciousness. But it occurred to me we need to look at whatever the opposite of reductionism is. Instead of going into matter to try and find the underlying particle that everything is structured on, it is actually the opposite action we need to investigate. Turn the instruments around and probe the other way and you'll find the underlying unity at the head of the universal construct. It's the unity I have called Love and Love is what our minds want to call god. After my latest experience with Ayahuasca last year I got the intuitive feeling that the origins of the created world lie within a sexual metaphor. To be brief about it, the god we are looking for is encapsulated in the divine sexual embrace of the cosmic feminine and masculine energies that pervades the known universe. Creation comes forth from this orgasmically or what we call the big bang! This metaphor plays out in our lives in the exact same way that we create our children. Sexual union becomes one of the ultimate expressions of the divine. Another way then to visualize god is as unity in the form of a hermaphrodite. The 'god' particle we are looking for comes from not peering into the atom which just feedbacks fractally on itself but instead it is found by looking up into the heavens way into the deep past and finding the original unity.

The impetus behind my thoughts on this matter go back to a week and a half ago. As I was wandering through the forest I saw two coyotes approaching me across a frozen pond. They stopped in their tracks, we stared at each other, and then they retreated back into the woods. I took this as an omen; an omen being an act of a knowing faith in the power of intuition. I researched the coyote and this resonated with me:

Coyote animal speaks of the path less traveled, of the path that is hidden from plain view ~ as this is where you will find your way to the answers you seek. Solutions many times come in unexpected ways and the Coyote is the trusted guide on this mysterious path. 

A challenge has presented itself to you and the old rules no longer apply, the challenge before you is to do things in a new way, in doing this alone new solutions and options will appear to you, seemingly out of thin air, seemingly "as if by magic". 

http://www.universeofsymbolism.com/coyote-symbolism.html

This was the impetus behind approaching the problem of an underlying 'god' particle, something that didn't add up to my understanding of all being vibration, in a different light. By watching for signs, listening for guidance, and being open to the secrets revealed by intuition our lives become much richer for the experience.

that fucking cross

Marys and the light

Marys and the light

two ladies

with serpent coils.

rainbow patch visions

transposing my soul.

death and rebirth.

whirling energy

locked inside

a golden castle.

symbol and ritual.

ineffable love.

opened my heart,

revealed the light.

teacher, lover

queen of heaven.

magdala revelation

of the light within.

conversations with myself

Taking stock of myself with the intimate knowledge of what it is that exerted control over me for so long, I came to the realization towards the end of this year that I could easily manifest this destructive entity if I chose to do so. I knew the thought patterns and behaviours I could use to surface this thing and I got it in my head I could perform an exorcism of sorts. I made plans to one night engage in activities I had long ago abandoned, get this thing to manifest, and then use a spell to vanquish him. I remembered advice about postponing war only benefits your enemy and since the enemy and myself knew this was coming, I rushed my plan into action. I didn't get a warm and fuzzy feeling in my gut about doing this. There was not resistance, but there was not a positive feeling that yes this seems like a good thing to do. I went ahead anyways, if nothing else I thought it would be a good affirmation of my strength. So one night I planned a ceremony, addressed my spirit helpers about what I was going to do, asked for their support, and then prepared to meet my adversary.

It didn't go exactly as planned but it was not a disaster. I filled my mind with the thoughts and stimulation that I knew would bring out the dark energy that is present in me. Out it came and it enjoyed the stroll down memory lane. I ended it after about an hour - I repeated three times an incantation I had written in an attempt to get rid of this thing. I'm not sure it would be proper to say I underestimated my opponent, no far from that, I knew his power. What I did underestimate was the power he had to infect the mind. What I mean is that how the darkness works is by planting thoughts into the mind that then cycle in an endless loop until you're trapped. After I ended this ceremony I went to bed but as I lay there these thoughts remained with me and they became feelings which then become very hard to ignore once they reach that stage. Mantras can work to dispel these thoughts but when these thoughts run unchecked for a full hour it is very difficult to excise these from the mind.

The next day these thoughts were recurring in my mind at a frequent interval. A tinge of resignation came over me as I wondered how I could ever get rid of this thing and not have it hanging off me for the rest of my life. I had to use some mantras to get this back under wraps as I sensed its presence and potential to multiply into being out of control once again in my life. I had plans for later in the day that would get my mind off this situation for 24 hours which was good as it allowed me to step back from what was happening. When I revisited this problem the next day I was surprised by what I learned from this whole episode.

I went for my morning walk with my dog in the woods and started processing the experience. I specifically questioned the nature of this entity and the black magic it can wield that casts a spell on your mind which promulgates this feedback loop. You allow these initial thoughts into your head and from this I was able to sense this is how you create feelings. Your thoughts create feelings and this begins a cycle where the outcome is that you eventually act on these feelings. So I began to see the power inherent in an individual to manifest their own reality. I had heard of that saying before but I'd never been clear on it. I started to see how it works and taking it the next logical step further you see how exponentially it affects us on a collective basis. If the consciousness' of human beings are constantly bombarded with messages of fear then these thoughts that are implanted in your head cause the feelings of anxiety, hatred, and intolerance towards others. It softens up your mind so that someone else's agenda can be implanted within you and then as a society we act upon this. In the same way it can be shown how advertising plays upon people's insecurities or need to keep up appearances when they use these techniques to sell their products.

So because of this I entered into a conversation with my higher self during this time of solitude in the woods. The first topic that was very concerning to me was the question of will I ever get rid of this entity that inhabits part of my psyche and is forever trying to implant these messages within me? The answer was to simply not think the thoughts that cause this dark entity to manifest. Yes well I have gotten good at that and I can use mantras to quell any aberrant thoughts that make their way past my defences. However am I only just suppressing these thoughts? Doesn't Freud say repressing these thoughts will lead to the expressing of these deep desires in another way which will be even worse? I want to get rid of the enemy. The answer came in the form of explaining to me what attachment is. If you still have the desire to entertain these thoughts then you will remain attached to them. When you transcend that desire then you do not need to suppress these thoughts anymore because they mean nothing to you. If you can't do that then you are stuck and you might as well get yourself mired knee deep again in that muck and filth. You have already experienced it and you were shown the result of that behaviour in a vision. Thoughts > Feelings > Actions > Consequences. Is that what you want to revisit? Do you still feel that pull? Attachments are very injurious to the soul. It will mean the death of the soul in this incarnation and you'll have to repeat the class. You have come this far and you now have the keys to unlock the doors to immortality and transcend this world of illusion. Would you like to give the keys back so you can partake in fleeting sensory pleasure once again? Haven't we been down this road before? How long did it take and what were the challenges presented to you in order to extricate yourself from the mess you had gotten yourself into? Are you seriously entertaining these thoughts? Well yes, they are tempting me I must admit to myself. It's sorcery and quite devious and I had hoped to have moved past this. You have moved past it and there is no need to revisit it unless you want to throw everything away. You have been taught many things which I know you now understand. Your journeys into altered forms of consciousness and the subsequent processing of the experiences have taught you many lessons. You know the importance of making yourself a holy vessel both physically and mentally that allows you to vibrate into a higher plane and you have experienced this. You know how this is possible and these things are no longer mysteries to you. The first time you entered into this strange world of spirits you were told all is vibration.

There was a specific reason you were told that so that years down the road when you really start to put together all the pieces of the puzzle you would use the knowledge of all being vibration to lead you to shed all your attachments to this material plane in order to raise the frequency of your vibration and transcend the physical plane. Attachments weigh you down and your adversary is operating the store that carries the heavy weights. He is literally attaching stuff onto who you are so that you have to haul this shit around. If you get weighed down by these attachments you never raise your vibration to a level that will allow you to break free of the prison that holds your soul captive. Remember now the weighing of the heart scene and the many depictions of it in ancient Egypt from the Book of the Dead.

What were they saying pictorially? Your heart needs to be as light as a feather. It's the weight, not the size. What do the Gnostics say is sin? It is attaching your soul to material pursuits. You have to shed your attachments. The adversary will always be there to give you the opportunity to indulge your senses and get attached once again. He's not going anywhere but you know well enough to not listen to him. There's no need to fear him. Have an awareness he will always be there looking for an in. When you are not at your best; when you slip from an ideal of purity then he will be there offering you drink and respite so he can get his hooks back into you. We all took part in creating the adversary and this world is essentially an academy for souls. We have to transcend what are called the seven deadly sins through multiple incarnations and trials. The seven heads of the beast; the seven hills of Babylon. Cut off the heads, climb all seven hills, find your way through the labyrinth of life, subdue the Minotaur, and head to the light. Find the pearl guarded by the dragon and then get out! It's quite the fool's journey. These symbols are expressions for this journey that we all undertake. It is by no means easy but when you reach the point where you understand all this and you have seen the light then it's time to shed the baggage, hit the accelerator, and get out of here! Trust me, you're almost home; you have been gone so long you don't even know where or what home is.

I do know this; I've just never put it all together or taken stock of where I stand. But in terms of attachment and desire I am curious about my thoughts and how these manifest into feelings that I then act upon. How can I, in this world, remain free of desire? You already know the answer though you have never put it all together. You see if you turn your thoughts towards your heart then you manifest feelings of love. You then express this love. It works both ways, the light or the dark, so it becomes a choice of what you want your thoughts to manifest. You are not suppressing anything, you just choose love. Love is the highest vibration you can attain and this is why you want to create a vessel of physical and mental purity in order to allow as much of this love into your being as possible. So the answers and this quest of yours boil down to one simple word. Love. Everybody already knows this. For something so simple it's very hard to choose isn't it? This goes back to the beginning of our discussion. Yes you will always have to contend with negative thoughts, these will never go away. Choose love, it's the only answer.

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.