The Dying Suns

The Violence of the Equinoxes

In a previous post, I wondered about the violent metaphors related to the equinoxes. The equinoxes are the metaphorical crossing of the sun from the above the "water" to below the water in the fall, and back up again in the spring.

The Osiris Cycle is one of the early versions of the story that we have a record of. Osiris is tricked into a coffin by his brother Seth, who then destroys (or hides) the coffin until it's finally raised up by a tree, where he's found then reassembled by Isis, who gets pregnant by him and gives birth to Horus.

The most familiar story of violence at the equinox is the story of Jesus. He's mocked, scourged, and finally put on the cross at the spring equinox,  and then is resurrected and ascends into the sky. As stated before, the Skull and Bones "322" (March 22) logo is a possible allusion to this story and the Equinox Crossing. (Vernal Equinox is almost always March 20-21, though)

Osiris, like Darth Vader, Jon Snow, and Jesus is the Lord of the Dead, that is winter, or the underworld (or the galactic Empire, or north of the Wall). In Star Wars, Darth Vader helps build a Death Star. Obviously the inverse of the Sun, that is the Winter Sun, possibly the Winter Sun of the Winter Solstice.

That's No Moon

That is, Jesus, like Darth Vader or Osiris (obvious parallels with Prometheus, too) is the character that represents the Winter Sun, which somehow seems to be related to the planet Saturn. (I am still a bit fuzzy on that association--Saturn's the slowest planet? Kind of weak, yellow, feeble light like the winter sun?) So if Jesus is the Winter sun, then he dies on the cross, that is, the equinox as winter turns to spring.

This interpretation makes some sense. The Jesus character is sort of a mini-me version of the summer sun; he is humble and does not put on airs. He is a carpenter, not a warrior, rides a donkey, not a chariot drawn by magnificent horses, and gets a crown of thorns, not gold, and is crowned king of the Jews, which would have been an insult in Roman times. He's the winter sun. He's the wine (crushed, then fermented summer grapes) and the bread (battered, crushed, and baked summer wheat). He's also the friend of man. (like Prometheus)

A good question--one I can't really even guess at right now--is where's Han Solo and Luke in the Bible? Where's Sekhmet? Where's the kick ass summer sun? Definitely not in the New Testament, as far as I know.

Celestrial Geography

I'm just now getting my mind wrapped around the rather slippery concepts of astro-mythology. The book Hamlet's Mill has been a valuable resource to explore this topic. David Mathisen's blog and his books are another valuable resource.

The basic kernel of astro-mythology is that celestial events have corresponding representations as characters and (fictional) geographical places. More importantly, there's a systematic logic to the poetical language that's used in their description. In theory, the poetic language could be translated to dreary scientific language, or even numbers--like dates and times and star positions.

Hamlet's Mill points out that the poetic language of the classical mythology renders dates, that is time, as geography, that is, space. This is one of the more confusing aspects of the subject. However, the following picture, I think (from this excellent website) helps to clarify.

The apparent journey of the sun and the apparent journey of the constellations through the sky over the years can be described with a handful of concepts: The ecliptic, the celestial equator, the solstices and the equinoxes, and precession of the equinoxes.

The symbolic furnishings of a Masonic lodge seem to allude to these points. The pillars are, perhaps the winter and summer solstices. The floor is often black and white checkerboard pattern, and could symbolize the equinoxes (equal parts night and day). Alternative, the pillars and floor can be thought of as a measuring device.

Another major symbol all over the world is the cross. The cross in the context of celestial geography is the crossing of the Sun above or below the celestial equator. I believe this is symbolized in Under the Dome by the chasm into the underworld of the confusingly named town of Zenith--perhaps similar to the Egyptian underworld duat.

Barbie prepares to Descend

It's also symbolized by the return to Chester's Mill through a Red Door... I think. Perhaps the fall and spring equinoxes? Giant shrug. 

The Red Door --- Open It

When the characters return to Chester's Mill, the end up in the water. (Think of the opening scene of The Bourne Identity) Interestingly, the subject of "Under the Dome" seems to be the precession of the equinoxes, which is the subject of Hamlet's Mill. 

I'm currently trying to decide the direction of the symbolism. Being "under the water", I think means being beneath the celestial equator, that is, fall through spring, the winter. (Think of Jon Snow) The converse, being in the air (or being on fire) would seem to be the spring equinox through the summer and fall.

I'm also puzzled at the violent symbolism of the spring crossing. The crucifixion of the Jesus character in the Bible is violent to say the least.

One of the more famous esoteric symbols in the conspiracy theory world has an easy explanation when decoded with the celestial metaphors.

The cross, is the crossing of the sun (I guess the skull) on the March (3rd Month) equinox, i.e. 3/22. Although, actually the official date of the equinox is 3/20 or 21 most years... so maybe the mystery is not solved.