jacob's inner circle

Genesis 49 is about Jacob on his deathbed prophesying about his sons. I compare his sons and daughter Dinah to the twelve constellations in the zodiac. While others have made this connection before, none who I know of have revealed the connections as much as I have here. These are original thoughts. I do owe a debt of gratitude to a book by C.M. Houck called "The Celestial Scriptures, Keys to the Suppressed Wisdom of the Ancients" which allowed me to gain insight into the teachings of the zodiac and how it applies to our soul.

Genesis 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

Jacob gathers together his twelve sons on his deathbed and shares his prophetic vision for them.

Genesis 49:2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

It is through the great Israel, the master of time, that the future is told. Israel as Orion, spins the great wheel of the zodiac and creates time.

Genesis 49:3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

The constitution of the firstborn detailed throughout Genesis is applied again here to Reuben. He is strong and mighty and well equipped as the life force that ensures survival in the material plane. He is the beginning of the birthright Jacob secured from Esau in exchange for some red lentil soup in Genesis 25:30.

Genesis 49:4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

Reuben, being the first born, is compared to water. As I have previously explained, Aquarius should properly be considered the first constellation of the zodiac. With this identification of Reuben to water and its association with Aquarius, plus his being Jacob's firstborn, it further corroborates my assertion concerning the zodiac and Jacob's twelve sons. The Hebrew word for water, mayim, is a word that has a dual connotation. Figuratively referring to juice, semen, and urine it also denotes a flood. Aquarius pours out wisdom and consciousness - the soul and the life force and it is Reuben who comes forth first. The firstborn is consciousness which is needed by wisdom in order to travel. Jacob complains that Reuben defiled one of his concubines, that being Bilhah, a representation of the material mother. Using what I have just explained as a guide we can now decipher the mythology behind Reuben sleeping with a concubine of Jacob. Reuben as the first son spreads his seed, the life force, over material form, Bilhah, in order to animate it. Jacob is the constellation of Orion and it is as Orion that he lays claims to the mother archetype as his own means of generation. However, it was Reuben's destiny to copulate with her. Though it may seem Jacob is punishing Reuben for this misdeed, he is in reality just revealing what is true of the firstborn - powerful and unstable.

Genesis 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

Since we already know all the brothers are brethren we must assume that by calling Simeon and Levi brethren it was to establish a close relationship between the two. They are cruel and quick to anger. They avenge the rape of Dinah. Though they are not technically twins, as a pair they seem to be an allusion to the Gemini constellation.

Genesis 49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

The translation of this passage is poor. Jacob is warning the nephesh, the life force translated here as soul, to be wary of these two. The men they slain in Shechem were representative of the nephesh. The last line should be translated "and in their delight they hamstrung a bull." The bull is the symbol of the this life force and hamstrung means they made this needed force lame.

Genesis 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

Because of what the two did, Jacob curses the pair. Jacob says he must separate and scatter them, referring to the descent into matter of the constellation which will separate them.

Genesis 49:8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.

Judah is destined to be a ruler. Zodiacal speaking he is representing the constellation of Leo.

Genesis 49:9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

Judah is described as a lion that is in his den and not on the prowl. Leo, as the seventh constellation of the zodiac starting from Aquarius, is to rule but also be true to the number seven. Seven denotes peace and rest.

Genesis 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Judah is described as a Moses figure who will give laws and rule until Shiloh (the messiah) comes. The meaning of this verse has been the subject of much commentary due to the mention of the messiah figure. I will be the first to explain its meaning in terms of the progression of the zodiac and the story it tells. The constellation of Leo is the royal kingship constellation and Judah assumes this role and the figure of the lion. He will rule until the next sign in the zodiac comes to rule and that sign is the Virgin, the eighth sign that births the re-born soul in the material plane. The coming of Shiloh will displace Judah as ruler and usher in the new kingdom; the new Jerusalem of Revelation.

Genesis 49:11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

After binding his foal and ass's colt to the vine, figurative language for his essence, Judah will wash his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of the grape. In other words, a royal purple - the colour of the Lady of Byblos which is a reference to the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor. The lion constellation and Hathor are inseparable as a ruler does not rule without the consent of this Goddess. You will see this Goddess depicted controlling the lion in many depictions of her throughout the levant. I have written about this connection in this blog post and will also post an image of this Goddess controlling the lion.

Levantine forms of the goddess Hathor: Qadesh, Ishtar, and Asherah

Revelation chapter 17 describes this woman who rules over the kings of the earth.

Revelation 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

If we remember back to Genesis 38, it is a story of how this Goddess got the best of Judah.

Genesis 49:12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

In terms of Judah's relationship to the Goddess and how she gives him the authority to rule, we can make sense of this passage. He will be drunk on her intoxicating power and suckling at her breast for sustenance. Jerusalem gives Judah the power to rule over the world. Revelation chapter 18 reveals this exact scenario with the woman described as Babylon the Great.

Revelation 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

Genesis 49:13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

Zebulun is associated with water, ships, and fishing; the fishing part coming from Zidon, which means to catch fish and was an important city of the coastal maritime trading culture - the Phoenicians. The name Phoenicia is a Greek formulation which describes them as a purple nation. They are the biblical Canaanites. The idea here is that Zebulun is a haven for ships which means his port will house the soul and the life force. It is depicted in the zodiac as Pisces; the pair of fish representing this idea.

Genesis 49:14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
   15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

The name Issachar is from a root meaning "to carry." He is described as a strong ass, in other words a beast of burden. Ass in this case being derived from a Hebrew root meaning to be red and trouble. The connection here is to the Esau and Cain characters who are personifications of the serving life force that carries the soul. As a beast of burden you could equate Issachar with the bull constellation. He is then described as a stall for cattle, a sheepfold, which is an enclosure for sheep, with sheep being the idea of the soul. Verse 15 describes him as being content with serving, saying that rest is good. He is the life force that has been subdued such as in the story of Jacob greatly fearing Esau's approach in Genesis 32:7-11, wrestling all night with this force, and then subsequently being greeted the next day by a welcoming and reverent Esau in Genesis 33:4.

Genesis 49:16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

This passage is referring to Samson, a judge of the Israelites who is a descendant of Dan.

Genesis 49:17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

This verse is describing Dan as a serpent, a force that inflicts a poison on his victim causing them to fall away from the path. It is a warning to stay away from the serpent as the serpent will give you knowledge and cause you suffering as you are no longer blissfully ignorant of reality. In Judges 18, the descendants of Dan do just this as they captured the city of Laish and set up a graven image. In the zodiac the closest symbol would be the biting scorpion. Heel in Hebrew is aqeb, it can mean a lier in wait and is related to the Hebrew word for scorpion which is aqrab.

Genesis 49:18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

In the midst of his prophecy, Jacob exclaims his joy to Yahweh for his salvation. Salvation in this regard means a freeing or deliverance from his material bonds. Salvation is the translation of the Hebrew yeshua, the name for the Christian messiah. It is the feminine passive participle of yasha, a masculine word that means safety and deliverance. It brings to mind questions about why the saviour in Christianity has a feminine ending name. The short answer is the soul, the ruwach that comes from the Elohiym, is feminine and the life force, the nephesh that comes from Yahweh is masculine. So, in this context, Jacob is giving his thanks to Yahweh for freeing him so he can return to the Elohiym.

Genesis 49:19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

The name Gad means a troop. He will be subjected to the dominance of another troop but will eventually in the end win out. This is very obscure and difficult to make sense of. The last word in the verse, last, is from the Hebrew aqeb. Starting with this clue we can connect Gad back to Dan as Dan was said to biteth the horse heels. Because of this proximity to Dan's story, I think it is fair to say Gad is the rider who is bit by the sting of Dan. I have to believe that the idea of a horse means a journeying soul through the zodiac. Gad is a troop of fools that have embarked on this journey not realizing what is in store for them. They (in this regard I mean the soul) are sent to their material death by the sting of the serpent Dan. In Genesis 3:15 the serpent was said to be cursed to bite the heel of the seed of the woman. The woman who is the goddess Eve, is the one who will produce the souls to be bitten. It is the metaphor of acquiring the knowledge from the serpent and because of it you will die as explained in Genesis 3:3. Gad will be dominated by the beasts of the material world. This verse is giving the positive outcome of the journey in that eventually the soul will overcome its affliction. On trying to place Gad in the zodiac it is tempting to connect him to Sagittarius, the half man and half horse. However there is no mention of archery so I would tend to connect Gad to the idea of the sea goat Capricorn because of his journey into the waters and out of them as Capricorn has its feet in both worlds. Being the last sign, it is fitting the verse describes Gad overcoming his predicament in the end.

Genesis 49:20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

The name Asher means happy and comes from a root word that means to lead and go forth. The idea of Asher is describing the rewards of the journey. Along the way, you will be nourished and if you stay on the journey your reward will be akin to royalty. Royal is from the Hebrew word melek which means a king. Interestingly, it is related to malak which is a ruler - king or queen. This in turn reminds us of the Angel who Jacob had bless Joseph's two sons. The angel is from mal'ak which means angel, king, or messenger. In terms of the zodiac, Asher is the sixth sign of the crab which is symbolizing the journey. In ancient Egypt, this idea was present in the scarab which journeyed eastward towards the rising sun so that its offspring would hatch and fly up out of their material bonds, symbolizing a resurrection.

Genesis 49:21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

Naphtali gets a short description, but it contains much meaning. Naphtali means my wrestling and it is directly referencing Jacob's struggle in Genesis 32. Hind is from the Hebrew ayalah. Ayal is the masculine form and is a ram. The ah ending feminizes the word and from this we can gather that Naphtali is a soul, the female ruwach. Goodly is from the Hebrew shepher which means beauty and words is from emer which means word. The ruwach, represented here as Naphtali, is the shining, beautiful word. It is represented in the zodiac as Aries.

Genesis 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

Joseph's name means to add which corresponds to being fruitful. He is the son of Israel, the resurrected soul, which is possible for all. He is fruitful even by a well, which is alluding to the material plane. The soul can prosper even in conditions that are not favourable to its growth. Branches run over the wall: branches is from the Hebrew bath which means in this instance daughters. Run is from the Hebrew tsa'ad which means to march and wall from the Hebrew shuwr has the meaning of a wall, but with the sense of scaling the wall as this word also means to travel about as a harlot or a merchant. It is essentially describing the soul, the feminine ruwach, as reaching out towards all.

Genesis 49:23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

Great passage here: archers is from ba'al which in this case has the meaning of adversaries. The first "him" in this verse, using a concordance, comes from marar, the Hebrew word for to be bitter and connects back to the Goddess and myrrh. The symbolism here is the trickling out of myrrh when the tree that produces it is injured by an incision in the bark, in other words a strike. I can't help of thinking of Jesus being struck in the side by a roman soldier's sword while on the cross.

Genesis 49:24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

Joseph is described as an archer with strength, giving a meaning of permanence. The soul is emphasized as permanent as opposed to a life force that needs to be regenerated as part of the cyclical laws of the material plane. The power in his arms and hand to stay strong are said to come from the mighty God of Jacob. God is an interpolation here. The passage should read Joseph gets his strength from Jacob. If you remember Israel means he will rule as God then the passage reads as referring to mighty Jacob. The idea of a demigod archer in the zodiac is obviously Sagittarius.

Genesis 49:25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

This verse's opening seems to be referencing two different Gods. The second one referred to is Yahweh as the provider El Shadday whom Jacob bestowed his blessings on Joseph in Genesis 48:15. Joseph will be blessed with blessings from heaven above, above is from the Hebrew al which means the highest. The Hebrew word for up is alah which refers to a journey towards the heavens. The idea here is that El Shadday is the most high God. In Genesis 28:13 when Jacob had his vision of the ladder it was Yahweh who stood upon the highest point of the ladder. This is denoting a recognition and respect for what Joseph has been through. He will be blessed in the heavens, in the deepest cisterns, he will be provided for, and his offspring will be provided for.

Genesis 49:26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

The blessings of Joseph are great and everlasting. Joseph was special from birth and stood out from his brethren immediately. It is Joseph who is the model all souls should try to become. I can't help feeling it is a goal which seemed to be lost on subsequent generations in that they became followers waiting for a messiah to come to deliver them as opposed to becoming one themselves. Christianity has the literal Jesus to rectify this conundrum and Judaism is still following the path of Judah waiting for Shiloh.

Genesis 49:27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

Benjamin - the name means son of the right hand. Think back to Ephraim and Manasseh where Jacob insists on blessing Ephraim with his right hand in Genesis 48. The right hand denotes the soul. You have to look again at this passage to figure out what is referred to by Benjamin being the son of the right hand. It is telling us the right hand, the soul, has a son. When the soul is re-born and enters into a relationship once again with the Goddess in a sacred marriage the result of this relationship is a son. This son will be the impetus that allows the soul to then travel back to the spiritual realm. In ancient Egypt, this is the son of Horus (the born again soul) and the goddess Hathor.

The son of Hathor and Horus

His name is Ihy and he comes forth at dawn like a jackal of light. Benjamin is described as a wolf. He is Orion's Canus Major, Osiris' Ophois, and Joshua's Caleb. Jacob was despondent without his son Joseph, in essence the aspect of himself who is his soul. When he was threatened with the loss of Benjamin, he was adamant that without Benjamin he would surely die in shoal. Benjamin is the aspect of him who is his ticket out of the material plane. This information is revealing Joseph and Benjamin as being the essence of Jacob. The jackal is a well known psychopomp which mediates between the spiritual and material planes. In this verse, it is esoterically coded in the mention of morning and night. At dawn, he delivers the soul into the heavens; in the evening time he takes the soul into the depths of the material plane. He lives on the balance and divides the planes. His sign is the judgment sign of Libra. It's telling that the wolf survived as a symbol of the judge as I explain in this blog post. In the ancient Egyptian judgment scene, the jackal Anubis delivers the aspirant to the scales of justice. Of note is that on the left hand of Orion sits Taurus the bull. Taurus represents the antagonistic life force that is the essence of Cain, Ishmael, Esau, and Manasseh. The right hand of Jacob/Orion is the son of the right hand - Benjamin.

Genesis 49:29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

Jacob implores his sons to return him to the place out of Egypt where his forefathers were buried. Cave is from the Hebrew m'arah which is a dwelling place with a connection to the womb of the Goddess. It is the place where the soul awaits its re-entry into the spiritual plane. In Jacob's case, using the power of Benjamin to deliver him from the womb.

Genesis 49:31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

Do you find it curious that Jacob did not make the effort to bury his much beloved wife Rachel in this family plot? She was buried in Bethlehem. The reason is because Rachel will stay in the material plane as the womb responsible for birthing the born again soul in this world.

Genesis 49:33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

Jacob relinquishes his worldly life force, which we call giving up the ghost, and passed away.

Recap of Genesis 49

Jacob's sons are detailed in this chapter. We learn of their essence and their future. This is the culmination of the birthright that Esau sold to Jacob. The firstborn had control of the zodiac until the clever Jacob, the Orion of the sky, took it away and created the great nation of Israel. Jacob's daughter, Dinah, is not mentioned in this chapter but she completes the zodiac circle as the Virgin. 

charisma

I generally do not read a great deal of fiction but earlier this year I picked up a copy of Paulo Coelho's book "The Alchemist". I forget the reasons I decided to read this book though it must have involved the plot of the book being connected to the Egyptian great pyramids. I can't recommend this book highly enough. The messages within it are very motivating, strike deep into your psyche, and touch on the journey that we are all on called life. 

I think this ability of the author to connect with our yearning souls is what makes his books popular. This book talks about everyone having a Personal Legend and when you are serious about discovering this legend Coelho tells us "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it". The protagonist goes off on his journey to find his treasure located on the Giza plateau near the great pyramids in Egypt and eventually learns that the greatest treasure is the journey in search of the treasure. It's an idea that is an enduring nugget of wisdom, even Miley Cyrus has a song called "The Climb" which is speaking of the same thing. The title of the book is a great choice as it alludes not only to the alchemist in the story but points us to another understanding of the ancient practice of alchemy. I think those in the middle ages that pursued it as a way to change base metals into gold missed the point of the exercise. Esoterically the practice of alchemy concerns your soul and how the process of material incarnation is designed to change your soul into something greater. It is the ultimate form of magic. Anyway because of my enjoyment of that book I decided to read another of Coelho's books. After doing a little research on the other books he has written I chose "By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: A Novel of Forgiveness". 

The descriptions of the book left no doubt that it was a book that was greatly influenced by religion and Coelho's Catholic beliefs. The negative reviews of the book were generally people turned off by the religious aspect of it and how it predominated the story. However I thought to myself it might be refreshing and interesting to read about the author's views on religion and how he incorporates it into this story. I have my own strong beliefs but I am tolerant of other views. I thought I knew enough about the Catholic religion but it turns out I should have long looked into what they believe and what practices they follow. I do realize that what Coelho delves into in this book does go further than mainstream Catholicism would ever care to go though I have been curious for a while concerning its deep Mary reverence and worship. The group that Coelho focuses on are called Charismatics. It is a renewal of faith through the Holy Spirit. This Catholic form of Charismatic renewal features faith healing, glossolalia (speaking in tongues), and prophesy. These attributes figure prominently in the story. It wasn't long into this book that I was struck dumbfounded.

Turns out this book is about Goddess acknowledgement and worship. The male lead in the story has received a gift of healing, a grace from the Lady of Graces and he must reconcile his calling against a woman from his childhood whose love he has never forgotten. I'll stop here as I don't want to give away the story. I was dumbfounded because I have met enough Christians in my life that attribute things that happen to them to God; usually they are all positive. I am sure you know the type and might even be one yourself. Well I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe I was drawn to this book because of the Goddess. Normally I wouldn't read a work of fiction that is a love story intermingled with Christianity. Not really my cup of tea. The reverence shown for the Virgin Mary in Catholicism I started to look into. I had done a little bit of research before and had known about their Mariolatry and Martin Luther's polemics against it. Little did I know the Ave Maria, the Rosary, the Assumption, the Festival of the Madonna, Notre Dame etc. were expressions of this deep devotion to her. From the research I did it seems the history of the Roman Church and its related entities - the Eastern Orthodox and Anglican Church share in this Mary worship with it being very predominant in the Eastern Orthodox beliefs. The Anglican Church, while recognizing the role of Mary, play it down to a degree. The reformers that broke away from the Catholic Church and still splinter today all seem to denounce this form of worship as idolatrous. I guess in a way it is if you have systemically eliminated any role of the divine feminine in what you are preaching. If the female is as divine as the male then it stands that it would not be idolatry at all instead it would be honouring the role of the Goddess in this form of worship. However years and years of persecution of the Goddess by paternalistic misogynists have led Christians to believe there is no room for the feminine in the godhead. 

I investigated further the name used for this form of worship, Charismatic, which is describing a revival of faith guided by the Holy Spirit. This confirmed my suspicions. Charismatic comes from the the idea of charisma. A person with charisma is someone who is very compelling and has a gift of being able to persuade and guide another person or group. A successful politician would have this attribute. This word comes from the Greek kharisma which has a meaning of a favour, a divine gift. This is getting pretty close to the idea of the Holy Spirit granting these graces to those asking for favours. The root of kharisma, which is kharis, means grace, beauty, and kindness. Where this gets really interesting from my standpoint is the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite, the Greek iteration of the ancient Egyptian Goddess Hathor, had three attendants called the Kharites who were the most important of the female attendants of Aphrodite and were known as the three goddesses of the graces, graces meaning gifts.   

Three Kharite attendants of Aphrodite

Here is a floor mosaic of Aphrodite, Adonis, and the Kharites from Imperial Roman times found in ruins beneath the Church of the Virgin Mary in Madaba, Jordan.

According to Nonnus, who wrote the ancient epic poem called the Dionysiaca, these Kharites were said to have their home in Byblos:

"The soil of Byblos where the Kharites(Graces) have their home, where Assyrian Kythereia [Aphrodite] dances."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3. 110 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.)

This Nonnus hails from Akhmim (the Greek Panopolis) in Upper Egypt around the time of the end of the 4th century AD. About this time there was still a great pagan influence in the area and the city had a reputation for being home to the greatest magicians and alchemists in Egypt so suffice to say Nonnus would have grown up around much knowledge of the gods and goddesses. I highlight his mention of Byblos because of the Lady of Byblos, the Phoenician goddess Ba'alat.

Ba'alat Gebal

Byblos, the modern Jebeil in Lebanon, is the city where the body of Osiris, in the coffin Set had prepared for him and nailed him shut in, floated to after Set and his compatriots dumped it in the Mediterranean, giving us an idea of the relationship between the Egyptians and Phoenicians and their gods and goddesses at the time. Ba'alat is also shown on a cylinder seal in Egyptian style with the trademark Hathor hair-do and in one inscription she is said to be "beloved of Hathor".

Okay so it is fair to say there is a connection with the ancient idea of the Greek kharisma, the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the Phoenician goddess Ba'alat, and the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor. Remember it is said that Hathor had her own retinue of followers called the seven Hathors that were announcers of the fate of a child at the time of his birth and protected the child from evil spirits. 

Seven Hathors with the Bull of the West - the Lord of Eternity

Not to step on anyone's religious toes, but I don't see Christianity in its original form as being much different from what was already well known, believed, and worshipped by Pagans. It was repackaged into a new brand that celebrated the divine son and the Goddess while kicking the father upstairs thus minimizing his psychotic tendencies through the intercession of his son. 

This deep reverence of Catholics that is shown to Mary really got me thinking about the roles of the two main Mary characters in the New Testament. There is the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and also the female companion of Jesus that he loved more than his disciples - that being Mary Magdalene. The first Mary is representing the pure female who in this state of heavenly purity is tasked with giving birth to the saviour of the world. The second Mary, who Jesus loved so very much, has derogatorily been called a whore and a secret lover of Jesus. Among the disciples of Jesus she is among the most prominently mentioned and in the "Gnostic Gospels" a large cache of which was found at Nag Hammadi, Upper Egypt in 1945, there is much revealed about her importance to Jesus and his story that was left out of the accepted canonized gospels. She was present at the crucifixion and was the first to witness the resurrection of Jesus. Also Jesus had driven seven demons out of Mary Magdalene as told in Luke 8:2 and Mark 16:9. She was known as the "Myrrh Bearer". Magdalene comes from the Hebrew Magdala which is a tower and may refer to the town in which she was born but curiously it is a euphemism in the Talmud for braiding/curling women's hair which in those times designated an adulteress. It is claimed that she is one of the same as Mary of Bethany (the sister of Lazarus and Martha). I'd like to address these attributes that I have detailed above about these two Marys. It is pretty much impossible to prove any of the assertions I'll make so take them or leave them with the understanding they are my beliefs and beliefs that are important to me.

The Virgin is the Goddess that births the latent soul of all men into this world. She is our spiritual mother in the material plane that is to give birth to our soul once awakened. In the Old Testament this idea was in the story of the barren Sarah who eventually conceived a miraculous child, as well as in Rachel who eventually conceived from the seed of Jacob and gave birth to Joseph. Joseph was left for dead in Egypt, Egypt being a metaphor for the material plane in the Old Testament, before experiencing a resurrection of sorts and rising to become ruler of Egypt due to the grace of prophesy he had received. This Virgin Goddess gives birth to the archetypal son of man, Jesus. This story being the story of the soul encapsulated in one man in the New Testament. She is not the mother of all but the womb that carries the potentiality of our greater self that is waiting to be impregnated. In ancient Egypt this was Isis. She gives birth to the re-born enlightened soul Horus. Horus battles with Set, the ancient Egyptian god of chaos and destruction bent on destroying him much like Jesus has his epic battle with Satan. Horus eventually subdues Set and rules over all Egypt. Conversely Mary Magdalene is the representative of the mother of all.

Mary Magdalene

She is the Eve of the Old Testament who is the mother of all life. She is the force present in all women that allow them to create new life and care for them as only a mother with her unselfish love can do. Misogynist men, their religion, and the god they worship deride her as a whore because of her ability to share in and create life which threatens their pursuit of dominance and power. They confuse life and fecundity with whoredom. These types of men are the biggest whores walking the planet and judge others by their own foul ways. In Judaism they recognize the Goddess as a whore who disguises herself as a widow as in the story of Tamar in Genesis 38. Judah had to give her his sons and when he did not commit a third son to her she seduced Judah into sleeping with her and impregnating her. When Judah called her out for her adultery and wanted to burn her she had the goods on him and he had to let her be. To this day Rabbis are forbidden to marry a whore or a widow which seems to them to be one in the same. Their cult of monotheism still fears the Goddess. This cult of monotheism they began carried on into Christianity in order to legitimize Christianity against its Pagan competitors and the Goddess was hushed up and hidden away; however you can still find her. The Pagan converts weren't going to let go of the Goddess. Just like the goddess Hathor in ancient Egypt who is present at all instances of birth and death, Mary Magdalene was present at the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Jesus. At Jesus' initial birth in Bethlehem the Goddess was represented by the gifts of myrrh, frankincense, and gold that I detailed in this blog post called Scent of a Woman. The aromas of frankincense and myrrh are burning during services at Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches in honour of Mary "the Myrrh Bearer". One of the most important aspects of goddesses in ancient Egypt was their hair and the role it played in mourning and rejuvenation. The hair of Hathor is iconic in its shape and its braids.

Hathor's hair-do

Therefore it is no surprise that Magdala is known in the Talmud as a hairdresser - a braider and curler of hair that is also an euphemism for an adulteress. It is important though to also look at the meaning of magdala as a tower in Genesis 11:1-9. This is the story of the tower of Babel angering the Lord as he was convinced mankind had acquired so much wisdom that nothing they planned would be impossible to accomplish. The idea of the tower connected to Magdalene is the wisdom of the Goddess. Being jealous of this, the Lord scattered people throughout the world and confused their languages. I believe the underlying idea of this passage is that a city with a tower, a migdol, is a place that worships the Goddess thus incurring the wrath of the Lord. Before tackling the seven demons driven out of Mary Magdalene I'd like to mention Magdalene's association with Mary of Bethany who curiously had a brother Lazarus that Jesus raises from the dead as told in John 11:38-44. It is like the mythographer got lazy and decided to coat the tale of Osiris from ancient Egypt being resurrected from the dead in terms of his proper Egyptian name Asar and add the Greek appendage 'us' onto the end of it. It is really quite remarkable. The two Marys in Egypt, Isis and Nephthys (Nephthys being an aspect of Hathor - see this blog post) are present for this raising of the dead of Lazarus. The seven demons driven out of Mary Magdalene by Jesus corresponds to the seven Hathors that follow the Goddess around. It would be considered an act of divination and that's why the story has Jesus purifying her so she would not face condemnation. This cleansing of Mary by Jesus however was conveniently ignored by the writer of the Book of Revelation in his grand polemic against the Goddess in chapters 17 and 18 when he refers to her as the "Whore of Babylon".

The Whore of Babylon

We can see that the idea of Babylon comes from the tower of Babel and the Lord's hatred of mankind acquiring wisdom from the Goddess. The Whore, which can also be translated as idolatress, is described as riding on a beast with seven heads, an allusion to the demons Jesus had already cast out to purify her. This woman is described as being "arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:" which is an obvious allusion to this Goddess. The purple is referring to tyrian purple, the purple made famous by the Phoenicians. 

This fornicator is said to sit upon many waters, waters being a metaphor for humanity. Water is connected to the Goddess; water is the healing property of the healing grace of the Goddess. We grow in the womb of our mother surrounded by her water. To this day, breakaway Protestant churches and other non-catholic churches hurl accusations against the Catholic Church accusing it of being the "Whore of Babylon". Little do they know that this Lady, Mary Magdalene, is the Church and the Bride of Christ. The Book of Revelation condemns the Goddess, calling her a witch and allows the beast to burn her. A substitute "new Jerusalem" takes her place as the bride of Christ. These rantings in the Book of Revelation aren't about subduing the beast; no instead it is misogyny writ large. Its condemning of the Goddess along with sorcerers and magicians is a slap in the face to the life and times of Jesus as told in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Jesus was born of a Goddess, cavorted with a Goddess, and practiced magic and sorcery. The Book of Revelation repudiates and condemns all this behaviour and the life of Jesus that had been told. This book frankly belongs in the Old Testament where it can feel at home frothing at the mouth over women and the serpent.  

Phew. I guess that had to come out of me at some point especially after my previous blogs have explained my cavorting with the Goddess and sorcerers. Immediately following one ayahuasca ceremony I wrote immediately about what occurred describing it as thus:

At times I experienced some amazing visions with my eyes open. I saw the shaman’s assistant José appear with light enveloping him and he had the appearance of a saint. At points in the ceremony it felt like he was being used as a channel for the goddess. He would be speaking quickly in a hushed religious tone much like a scene from the exorcist. It felt like a presence of the Virgin Mary. I totally see why in people who have these visions nothing can ever shake their faith. They have seen this spirit dimension and it is real.

I'm frankly amazed I got that feeling and wrote about it using those terms when I was watching that healing take place. Another thing I have noted is that this folk healing in the Amazon region has this underlying Catholic feel wrapped up in it. The Church authorities know about it and do not actively encourage traditional shamanism in the region but they also don't go out of their way to discourage it. Furthermore in reading biographies of the shamans of the Amazonian region it is quite startling the amount of them that talk in grand reverence about the Virgin Mary and other Catholic saints that they have mixed into their folk healing practices. 

So to get back to the topic of the book "By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: A Novel of Forgiveness" and the Charismatics, I'd like to explore the place where a great majority of the book takes place and that is the town of Lourdes in the south western Pyrenees region of France. It is where in 1858 young Bernadette Soubrious witnessed multiple manifestations of the Lady known to her as the Immaculate Conception in a grotto (cave) after crossing a small stream to get to it. To this day the Goddess sighting is known as "Our Lady of Lourdes". The waters of the creek have been purported to heal pilgrims to the area, healing being one of Mary's graces. This isn't a one time happening though as in this case she had multiple visions of Mary and if you research the history of these visions you will find them all over the world. This wikipedia entry gives a good overview of the various reported Marian apparitions. This fascinates me because in doing research about the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor it is surprising to find that she appears as the 'Lady of' many of the places in ancient Egypt as well as faraway foreign towns. She was the patron goddess of the mines in the Sinai giving the impression she appeared in the dug out mountainside. She has a huge connection to the mountain in the Valley of the Kings known as Ta Dehent leading me to believe that this area was chosen to bury the dead royalty due to the presence of the Goddess in the area. Here is a list of Hathor's centres of worship:

Atfih (Aphroditopolis)

Abu Simbel

Abydos

el-Ashmunein (Hermopolis Magna, Khnum)

Beni Hasan

Busiris (Abusir)

Busbastis

Byblos (Gubla, Jebeil)

Deir el-Bahari

Deir el-Medina

Dendera (Iunet, Tentyris)

Edfu (Apollinopolis Magna, Djeba, Mesen)

El-Kab (Nekheb)

Faras

Gebelein (Per-Hathor)

Heliopolis (Iunu)

Hiw (Hut-sekhem, Diospolis Parva)

Ihnasya el-Medina (Herakleopolis Magna)

Imet (Nebesha)

Kom Abu Billo (Terenuthis)

Kom el-Hisn (Imu, Momemphis)

Kom Ombo

Medjden (near Assiut)

Medjed (Deir Durunka)

Memphis (Men-nefer) 

Mirgissa

Lower Nubia (Wawat)

Philae

Punt

Qis (Cusae)

The Red Mountain

Rohesa (near Latopolis)

Sais

Serabit el-Kadim (Sinai)

Sinai

el-Sirria (Axwj)

Ta-Djeser (The Land of God)

Terraneh

Thebes (Waset)

Tihna el-Gebel (Tehne, Akoris)

Timna 

Upper Nubia (at Kalabsha)

Obviously I cannot definitely say whether these places became centres of Hathor worship because of a sighting but it is interesting to ponder. 

In conclusion the point I am making in this blog post concerns the role of the feminine divine in our modern forms of spirituality. For all the talk of family values and values promulgated by the institution of the Church in our society it feels empty and incomplete without any role for the feminine: the wife, the mother, the daughter, to play in the divine sphere. A family consisting of just a father and son do not constitute a role model for human relationships and social units. What is passed down in our western traditions are ideas about women that are thinly veiled misogynistic practices by those who fear the power of the Goddess. Her messages of kindness, love, wisdom, healing, and hope were not welcomed by the power hungry. Women in scripture are depicted as being either pure docile virgins or mischievous plotting whores who practice sorcery. Some societies veil them and treat them like second class citizens. Spiritual communities such as medieval Catholics yearned for connection with the Goddess and the laity resorted to worship of Mary that to pious observers was full on idolatry. In response, the connection to the feminine divine by breakaway Church reformers was pretty much severed. At various times in the history of mankind and his beliefs there have been reformations and renewals of beliefs. As it stands now the role of the divine in our lives is nearly empty and for future generations it will be lost. It is time to look at the damage done by the spiritual persecution of women, make amends, and restore in our beliefs the completeness of family we yearn for.

dance of the moon

The waxing and waning of the moon is a brilliant representation of our lives and how it is impacted by the forces that make us who we are. I'm referring to the life force and the soul. These concepts are called the Ka and the Ba in ancient Egyptian metaphysical thinking. The Ka is what animates creation in the physical plane. It is surging red blood that courses through the veins of animals. It is the strength of the powerful bull; this power manifesting in humans as the destructive alpha male. It is also food stuff which sustains us. 

Ka as food offering

To further explain the Ka, I use the concept of a ghost. A life force that sticks around in the material plane after physical death is a ghost. The Ba, the immortal soul, needs the life force in order to be on this journey of becoming. It is a double-edged sword where you need the Ka; however, it also beats up your soul until you master it.

These two different ideas are in the Old Testament as well; however, both are misleadingly translated as soul. They are the Hebrew words nephesh and ruach. The nephesh is the life force and the ruach is the immortal soul. The nephesh is granted by the Lord, YHVH, and is represented roaming the earth in such figures as Cain, Ishmael, Esau, the Pharaoh etc., while the ruach is the domain of the spirits called the Elohim and represented by Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses etc. In the New Testament Jesus played the role of the immortal soul and comes up against Herod the Great, Pontius Pilate, the Jews, and Satan, who are all representing the antagonist of the soul in some degree; the antagonist being the life force.

The moon in its monthly cycle disappears for three days into what seems to be material incarnation or the "waters" prior to reappearing in the night sky. During this time, the light of the moon grows in stature until it is complete as the full moon. It becomes a brilliant transfigured beacon illuminating the darkness of matter. This is wisdom personified as Thoth in ancient Egypt. 

Thoth with Lunar disk

The "Eye of Horus" representing the waxing crescent as the soul, was damaged by the life force, the red beast Set, but is restored by Thoth with the help of other gods and goddesses. 

Eye of Horus

An important lesson taught here is that being able to see does not involve only sight but it needs the experience taught by wisdom. From this point, the moon's monthly cycle continues to perpetually teach with the dismembering once again into fourteen pieces by the beast within us. The vampiric beast needs to feed to satiate its Ka and causes the fall of the moon once again into matter. However, in this lunar cyclical journey of cleansing, the moon as the dismembered soul, Osiris in ancient Egypt, becomes stronger and rises again.

hello, is there anybody in there?

It seems to me that as a culture group we, the west, were totally unprepared to deal with the explosion of psychedelia in the '60's. This despite the fact our ancestors were masters at exploration of these realms. So successful was the methodical persecution, by organized religion and their agents, of these devices to deliver altered states of consciousness that collectively the whole rediscovery experience was akin to discovering a new toy. Without proper guidance, whether that be a priest, shaman, or a respected wise elder, the use of these substances devolved into a mess of societal discord and unfathomable horrors for the ill prepared. As much as the establishment will continually try to suppress and stamp out these modalities of consciousness exploration, this adventurous spirit within us is ingrained and the flame will never be snuffed out. 

Shaman's altar

Just as we inexorably march towards exploration of the vast physical realms of outer space so to will we push to go back into the neglected regions of our psyche, known to the ancients as the netherworld.

good vibrations

As my first ayahuasca ceremony was coming to an end, I recall being told over and over again by the Goddess that all is vibration. In order to traverse different planes of consciousness the soul changes its frequency and then enters into a different realm; a higher or lower plane. The first experience with this psychic traveling was a sensation of being lifted higher up. My index finger tapped uncontrollably at times against the wooden floor of the Maloca and I also physically felt a sensation of re-entering into my body at one point which made me nauseous. Up until then I was able to resist the purgative effects of the ayahuasca brew; however, upon re-entry after my first trip I had to use the vomit bucket.

Subsequently, while back at home in my mundane existence, I have experienced two episodes of a mystical nature which were preceded by an uncontrollable vibration in my arms and a fluttering of my closed eyes. The first episode occurred in a lucid dreamlike state where I was fully aware I was dreaming but just went with it. I started seeing visual hallucinations of geometrical patterns appearing in my vision which increased in speed until there was a climax that exploded into a great white light. This occurred after about a month and a half after returning from the Amazon jungle where I first had altered my frequency. The second episode occurred about two and a half months after returning. I had been informed that the effects of ayahuasca may remain in my system for a few months and I have been cognizant of her presence. This next mystical experience occurred while I was meditating. I had been burning incense that night, a mixture of frankincense and myrrh and at first had spent a great deal of time enchanted by the smoke coming from the incense stick. The smoke had this magical pull to it; it danced and twirled; it had this amazing depth to it; and it would come towards me to caress me while performing its undulating rhythms which were movements so graceful that the fragrant smoke came alive. The ever changing nature of this delightful spectacle was a message straight to my subconscious. I eventually settled back and tried to quiet my mind. At some point when your mind becomes still it is almost like a switch that goes off and you enter into another realm. As I traversed this realm of consciousness, I was seeing scenes that seemed real though I was just observing. My mind then sensed a vibration which manifested as purple and I repeated this in my head, breaking the stillness of my mind. My right arm started to vibrate followed by my eyes fluttering. An explosion of indigo burst into my vision with this wild undulating dark hair in the background accompanying it. I got chills all throughout my body as this lasted for about thirty seconds. I innately knew the vibration was the Goddess. As this journey ended, I picked myself up out of my chair and breathed in some of the still smouldering incense. That moment felt so good and I felt so reassured. As well to this day, about three months after returning from the jungle, I still have a level of hearing that has been greatly enhanced. I am hypersensitive to bodily noises such as heavy breathing, sighing, throat clearing, coughing, and sniffling. In part, the heightened senses make me cognizant of our sometimes disgusting and profane existence here on earth. This effect however does not occur with my own bodily functions. I do notice that anything that has a reverberation or echoing quality to it is also greatly enhanced. I believe it is my awareness of different frequencies that has led to this condition.

I mention the above stories because it has led me to think hard about vibration and frequency. My contact and entering into different realms of consciousness is accompanied by vibration. Everything that is alive has a frequency. Existence can be properly thought of as a verb. All is vibration and of the same source. A noun is a classification that helps us make sense of our surroundings. It is a base point in an ever changing environment but its existence is seriously in doubt. We come into being, grow and change, and then when we stop growing, and our cells stop regenerating and dividing, we die. In ancient Egypt the symbol of the becoming is the scarab.

Kheper

The beetle is symbolizing the journey in this mundane existence to the east in order to be re-born at dawn out of matter, much like the nightly cyclical journey of the sun. It is the path our souls long to take if we can avoid the trappings of the world and reconcile with our material incarnation. In the Old Testament this becoming is called hayah in Hebrew. Hayah is a word used to describe the sojourning of the patriarchs who are great archetypes of the soul. In Exodus 3:14 the Elohim say to Moses, in response to Moses asking who should he tell the Israelites sent him, that I AM sent you. I AM is from hayah. It is this principle of coming into being that is providing the impetus for the soul's journey. Look around you at everything that is alive and forever changing. Nouns are dead things; an invitation to decay. The snake in ancient Egypt called Apep (Apophis in Greek) wants to stop Re's sun boat because that will put an end to creation and thus the change. Re has to go so far as to enlist the help of the strong and beastly Set to keep this encroaching serpent at bay. 

Set battles Apep on Re's sun boat

Set is more commonly known in ancient Egypt mythology as an impediment to the journey of the re- born soul, the light mythicized as Horus. The fighting between these two entities goes on for generations and the tale is told in the great story of The Contendings of Horus and Set. Set is the masculine life force needed by the soul in this material incarnation which enables the soul to continue on in the journey. When you understand this you can then see this story not only encoded in biblical scripture but is frankly the tale being told in the Pentateuch. The life force comes forth as the beastly red man and antagonist who is Cain, Ishmael, Esau, the profane Canaanites, Pharaoh etc., while the soul on the journey into and out of matter is Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Israelites etc. The brothers fight, yet they do reconcile, and all are marching ahead to the east.

So, if everything living is vibrating and gives off a frequency signature then our senses are in reality specialized instruments which can pick up on these vibrations. My eyes perceive a flower but cannot smell it; that is a function dutifully performed by the nose. But what about something like a musical note? It has a frequency and I can hear it but I can't see or smell it; but I think I should be able to. D-minor should have a distinctive smell and a colour assigned to it. It does generate a feeling of sadness. All things that stop vibrating and die take on a putrid, rotting smell, are sonically inactive, and look terrible! Is it a limitation of my senses that I can't smell a musical note; in essence it is out of the frequency range of that sense? Or are objects tagged with an expression, a mystical hashtag#, that only allows for us to experience it in a controlled way? Aldous Huxley touched on this in "The Doors of Perception" when he claimed that there exists within us a filter that prevents us from being overloaded by our senses and allows us to function in this realm:

“each person is at each moment capable of remembering all that has ever happened to him and perceiving everything that is happening everywhere in the universe. The function of the brain and nervous system is to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of largely useless and irrelevant knowledge, by shutting out most of what we should otherwise perceive or remember at any moment, and leaving only that very small and special selection which is likely to be practically useful. According to such a theory, each one of us is potentially Mind at Large”.

It seems this filter is such a reducing logic construct that divides and classifies. A functioning nouning tendency for survival. How we love to classify things and put them into a neat little box! It is psychoactive substances that seem to release us from this restriction and we can see music, we can smell beauty, and we can hear the sounds of the spheres.

the goddess and the flower

There is an unrecognized intelligence that is inherent in plants that we treat as pre programmed biological happenings. They are quite brilliant and I see the parallels to the Goddess and how she seduces. Female behaviour in humans mimics this behaviour to a degree. I remember during my first ayahuasca ceremony coming to the realization that the jungle is the goddess and this is a metaphor for her beauty, her providing nature, and her terrifying side. In particular I have been thinking of how flowers seduce. They are the fruit of the plant that is stunningly intricate and beautiful and they give off an intoxicating scent. They compete for and attract the bee, the moth, and other insects that are inherently drawn to them. Once their purpose has been fulfilled, the plant's flower withers and falls away leaving just the plant and its root that has succeeded in reproducing and becoming abundant. Speaking in a broad sense, the same process is at work in women. Beauty, seduction, and fragrance combine to bewitch the male and make him chase this flower. Once the male succeeds in getting the object of his desire and deflowers it they then are faced with the choice of sticking around or moving on. It is one of those early lessons and paths where the male then chooses the road they wish to follow.

The shaman is at essence, an agent of these plants.

Funny how our western mind treats it as superstition when really it is a spiritual knowledge that far exceeds our faintest notions.