The Odyssey - Manual of Secret Teachings?

Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

Myrddin Awyr said:
The other is the "do" tells a very different thing as like I wrote earlier that a mountain atop the city may equal an asteroid/comet impact with a sunken ship equaling to a flood, and Zeus gave a "go-ahead" on both destructions for the Phaiakians (who are "more nearer to the gods") due to their breaking of a divine authority (not "respecting" Poseidon). And, the two other destructions were on the crew/suitors who are not "nearer to the gods." Two contained apocalypses with one full local apocalypse.

The other thing that is of note: throughout the Odyssey, there's a group of "two."

Some examples:

- Elpenor and Leodes: two "misfits" characters
- Eumaios and Alkinoös: internal audiences and associations with paradises
- Calypso and Circe: two goddesses whom Odysseus had sex with
- Leukothea and Athena: two goddesses who help Odysseus on his stormy "approach" to Skheria (directly/indirectly).
- Hermes appears twice to help Odysseus, directly and indirectly
- Two ships destroyed: the crew's and the Phaiakians'
- The crew and the suitors exhibit the excessive consumption while the Phaiakian athletes do not (Euryalos later apologizes and make amends for his actions).
- Alkinoös relate a prophecy of Skheria's destruction and their ship as told to him by his father twice (8.564-69 and 13.171-78)
- The crew and the suitors knowingly engage in a behavior against the gods while the Phaiakians are in a state of ignorance.

It would likely to make sense if there are two "contained" apocalypses with one full-scale apocalypse with almost a ring structure (contained to Full to contained). Two ships destroyed at sea and a city with a place where suitors killed.
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

I have the Lattimore translation of the book. In this one it says: "When all the people are watching her from the city as she comes in, then turn her into a rock that looks like a fast ship, close off shore, so that all people may wonder at her. But do not hide their city under a mountain."
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

Hi Myrddin Awyr,

As much as I admire your lucid explanations and hypotheses, the propper thing to do would be delving into the text traditions until we find the reasons for the discrepancy in the Greek wordings which gave way to the difference in translations. Once we have found the reasons for that we then could maybe also ascertain why some translators chose the one option and several others adopted the other and subsequently make an educated guess ourselves which one is to be preferred and why. Remember, there may well be other spots in the poem (that's even very likely, I think) where there are differences in wording among separate traditions. So treading warily on each and every occasion seems the right way to proceed in these matters.
One cannot decide these things off hand or at will according to personal preference or because of a casual matching with preconceived wider interpretations, be it of a structural nature or concerning contents and contexts.

Furthermore, the Greek-Dutch translation I'm using at the moment (by Dr Aegidius W. Timmerman) signals in the introduction to Book 13:
Timmerman said:
The courteous farewell that Odysseus bids to Alkinoos and -last but not least- to Aretee, the hostess, and the words used suggest to us the thought as if at the current moment, somewhere far away, the mysterious island of those blissful Pheaken would still exist and as if the illustrious past were mirrored by a future of peace and prosperity.
Would this be precisely the reason why Homer wanted the island to be hidden in a ring of mountains, just in order to make us think that the ideal-country still exists, but never can be regained. And maybe that is precisely why he let us in uncertainty whether or not Poseidon indeed surrounded the island with mountains so that to find it would be an even bigger impossibility.
According to this view the attempts by later scholars to locate the petrified ship in a Boulder off Corfu seem a total nonsense.

Building on that, to my mind it certainly looks like a rather hasty conclusion to equate the very loose translation of Pope with
Myrddin Awyr said:
Well, the last one there sure described an overhead comet(s).
It may look that way in English but it has no footing in the original Greek and as an interpretation it sure looks like an overstretch to me at the moment. So, for the time being I'm not buying into that one as of yet.
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

Palinurus said:
One cannot decide these things off hand or at will according to personal preference or because of a casual matching with preconceived wider interpretations, be it of a structural nature or concerning contents and contexts.

This is a good point, Palinurus. I keep having to reign myself in as I focus on the ring structure and how it may work because this idea is more exciting or "correct" in my mind than the next, etc. There are obviously a lot of possibilities here, but best to keep an eye on this tendency (a big problem with literary analysis, all the "pet theories"). I still think it is worthwhile to let our imaginations go wild, and then take the knife to the ideas to beef them up. Then we can parse out what we know from what simply appeals to us aesthetically, etc.

That being said, at the moment, I, too, am appreciating the ambiguity of the text in the way it deals with Phaiaikans. We know of 3 contained apocalypses without much ambiguity, and if one takes into account these:

Myrddin Awyr said:
- The crew and the suitors exhibit the excessive consumption while the Phaiakian athletes do not (Euryalos later apologizes and make amends for his actions).
- Alkinoös relate a prophecy of Skheria's destruction and their ship as told to him by his father twice (8.564-69 and 13.171-78)
- The crew and the suitors knowingly engage in a behavior against the gods while the Phaiakians are in a state of ignorance.

As, Myrddin Awyr points out, (among other clues) we have some solid narrative evidence as to why the jealous god archetype would want to "hide" such a place/people. They give the gods their due, AND they are self-sufficient and others oriented. A controlling god loses a sense of power with such impeccability in a whole community! As to whether this "cutting off" (which is, to my mind, also implied by the way the narrative thread of the Phaiaikians stops) is the result of destruction on the large or medium scale, etc, seems still pretty uncertain (although still provocative). "Turning the ship to stone" does seem suggestive of something cometary (There must be a reason why this as opposed to more storms/lightning?)

I also think that the mirroring "couples" that Myrddin Awyr is highlighting (and there seem to be more) are going to be our best areas to find clues as to how the shifting roles in an archetypal relationship work in a technical sense (the "rules of engagement" or what have you). It also seems possible that these mirrors could be the structural conventions that allowed the narrator/performer to "play" with the lesson being presented. This hints at the "limitless" quality of 3 interlocking rings.

The "mirror" of Telemackhos (host)/Athena (guest) with Swineherd (host)/Odysseus (guest) seems loaded with possibilities alone from a performance/recitation perspective. I am aware that I am focusing mostly on the "Initiatory" thread of the thing, but it seems these tools can apply to all the maps to some degree. fwiw.
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

I could be off of course, but the impression i have from the Phoenicians is not totally positive. When compared to the other hosts, they are not the best ones. They indeed give Odysseus a lot of presents, and then take him home to Ithaca. However, something about them makes me think of the Atlanteans or the Hebrews.

These people are sort of hidden from the world, and protected by Neptune. They went to the island because they were at war with the cyclops (Neptune children). So, they leave in peace and prosperity, and they are gifted with technology (fast ships...). The thing is that they seem to be almost exclusive to Neptune, or at least they have a preference for him. As a comparison, Nestor honors all the gods (or all the aspects of creation), so they make me associate them with monotheism. Other people, like Odysseus, are subjected to the council of the gods, where even if one god speaks against them, some others speak for them. There is a kind of balance that is not present in the case of the Phoenicians. When Neptune decided to punish them, even though they did what Jove likes, this later just said: OK do it, whatever. it is like saying: They are your people.

It makes me think of the pact made with one god (monotheism). To be exclusive to one god makes one subject to a pact (a contract), and the other gods just do not care anymore, even if one does what pleases them (or the right thing). One is just used for the destiny of others (in this case Odysseus) and its destiny is in the hands of the exclusive god.

The Phoenicians hosting of Odysseus also lakes the spontaneity of Nestor and Melanus. Odysseus had to hide, and he had to behave in a specific way in order to be accepted. The whole exchange with this people was all ego-centered, which is underlined by their arrogance. They are somehow described as spiritual and virtuous but something is missing. The fact of living hidden from the world makes me also think of some wishfull thinking and illusion that are maintained by Neptune until he changes his mind.

So these are just a few personal impressions from the episode.

Edit: syntax errors for clarification.
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

SethianSeth said:
As, Myrddin Awyr points out, (among other clues) we have some solid narrative evidence as to why the jealous god archetype would want to "hide" such a place/people. They give the gods their due, AND they are self-sufficient and others oriented. A controlling god loses a sense of power with such impeccability in a whole community! As to whether this "cutting off" (which is, to my mind, also implied by the way the narrative thread of the Phaiaikians stops) is the result of destruction on the large or medium scale, etc, seems still pretty uncertain (although still provocative). "Turning the ship to stone" does seem suggestive of something cometary (There must be a reason why this as opposed to more storms/lightning?)

The hidden character of the Phaeaikians reminded me of the rumor that somewhere in the Pyrenees there would be a sort of 'enclave' (a hidden resort) of people who 'made it' Workwise in the alchemical sense and completed some transformation (the Great Work). That hunch coincides or 'jives' with the impressions and reservations of mkrnhr about them - with which I concur. Transformations can be of STS or of STO orientation as far as I know. That's why the so called Quorum can have members of both orientations who are rumored to 'blend' in the middle (according to the Cs).

Petrifying the returning ship brings the story of glancing at the head of the Medusa to mind which equally turned all those who dared to take view of her into stone. So it's not that uncommon an ordeal, storywise.

Just a few thoughts.
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

I walk with an old friend who translates Greek and Latin texts to keep his mind active. I asked him about the translation of the passage in question this morning. He visited the critical apparatus and informs me that there are several families of written and copied text extant. Zeus’s negative response to Poseidon’s request to hide the Phaiakian’s city under the mountain was introduced into the scholia(side notes) by Aristophanes of Byzantium(c.250BC) when he was chief librarian at Alexandria during the reign of the Ptolomies of Egypt. We know the Ptolomies were Aristotelians who favored oligarchy, rather than Platonists, who favored the empowerment of all mankind.

Aristophane’s notes in the scolia may have intended to make Zeus(the cloud shaker) appear more moderate, than the older versions of the Odyssey. I think the text indicates Poseidon( the earth shaker) more likely thought to bury the city by earthquake, rather than comet; although these two phenomenons can be related as the forum’s work indicates. The area experienced many earthquakes or volcanic activity which buried cities and peoples, Pompeii being a well known example. My old friend was amused at the literal extraction of geological or astronomical events from the text, but he tends to conventional interpretation of the Odyssey as bardic entertainment.
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

Mirroring, I am a Phaiakian when I dwell solely in the mind, unconnected to the emotional or instinctive-motor centers of man. I am the chimera of Mouravieff's Gnosis and the ego of conventional psychology or a Phaiakian in the great teaching story of the Odyssey. Of course, the Odyssey can be experienced on the levels of the inner man, man to man, or God or God's to man simultaneously and interconnected in ways I did not know were possibilities before the Work opened my eyes a little. The Phaiakian's awaken when Poseidon the earth shaker turned their ship to stone; then they sacrificed twelve oxen and submitted to the heart shaker and were spared, or so I hope. When I live in three worlds simultaneously, life is full of possibilities on the journey home.
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

Laura said:
We have scanned the maps from the book and will be posting better resolutions of them for those who want to examine them carefully.

Apologies if this has already been discussed but where might this map be found?

Thanks.
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

cholas said:
Laura said:
We have scanned the maps from the book and will be posting better resolutions of them for those who want to examine them carefully.

Apologies if this has already been discussed but where might this map be found?

Thanks.
Hi cholas,

Don't think that Laura has posted the scanned version yet but the map can be viewed here or on the Trojan War website. :)
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

I have a question that is possibly out in left field so I apologize in advance if it is. This book is next in my cue and I have been following the thread here. However, from this story springs one of my favorite stories, and I just have to ask for an educated opinion here.

From Aristophane's speech in Plato's Symposium, it is said that Ephialtes and Otus really referred to the "humanity" that existed before they were cut down by the gods for challenging them. They were cut in two, separated from their other half. From a symbolic perspective, especially when one factors in cataclysm and what possibly happened to humanity then, I cannot help but wonder about it.

So I guess my question is, is Aristophane's speech in any way relative or applicable?

Here is Aristophane's speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4paSMqKYXtY&feature=related

Here is where Ephialtes and Otus are mentioned in The Odyssey:

http://books.google.com/books?id=eN4NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=ephialtes+otus+homer+odyssey&source=bl&ots=bdpjNEPSCU&sig=Rwl9jA7Lkdos3JyRBwyNzM1WA8w&hl=en&ei=cZ4KToPbA4jagAertNTvAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false


One of my favorite songs is based on this speech by Artistophanes- The Origin Of Love. It reminds me of "the fall" of humanity - although that could be very subjective on my part. It is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UGaJBv6YSM&feature=related
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

EmeraldHope said:
So I guess my question is, is Aristophane's speech in any way relative or applicable?

Reminds me of some things the Cs have said:

23 Oct 1994 said:
Q: (L) Where did the souls come from that entered into the
bodies on the planet earth? Were they in bodies on other
planets before they came here?
A: Not this group.
Q: (L) Were they just floating around in the universe
somewhere?
A: In union with the One. Have you heard the
Super ancient legend of Lucifer, the Fallen Angel?
Q: (L) Who is Lucifer?
A: You. The human race.
Q: (L) Are the souls of individual humans the parts of a
larger soul?
A: Yes. Close. The One. All who have fallen must learn "the
hard way."
Q: (L) Are you saying that the act of wanting to experience
physical reality is the act of falling?
A: You are members of a fragmented soul unit.
Q: (L) What is it about wanting to be physical is a "fall"?
A: Pleasure for the self.

18 March 1995 said:
Q: (L) Here's another of the kid's questions: When and why
did homosexuality originate?
A: It originated when sexuality did.

28 Aug 1999 said:
Q: I have this book, this Marcia Schafer thing: "Confessions of an Intergalactic Anthropologist," and its a bunch of channelled stuff; one thing she says: "the snake is associated with the sign of wisdom and higher learning, and is often regarded quite highly in mystical circles." She had an interaction with a rattlesnake, for which she felt sympathy, and she also has sympathetic interactions with Lizzies. I would like to have a comment on the idea of the snake as a "sign of wisdom and higher learning." Does this, in fact, represent what the snake symbolizes?
A: Snake is/was reported in context of the viewpoint of the observer.
Q: Are you saying that when the observer's viewpoint is that the snake is a symbol of higher learning, maybe...
A: Maybe the observer was just "blown away" by the experience.
Q: Clarify, please.
A: If you were living in the desert, or jungle, about 7,000 years ago, as you measure time, would you not be impressed if these Reptoid "dudes" came down from the heavens in silvery objects and demonstrated techno-wonders from thousands of years in the future, and taught you calculus, geometry and astrophysics to boot?!?
Q: Is that, in fact, what happened?
A: Yup.
Q: Well, this is one of the problems I am dealing with in trying to write this history of mankind. As I understand it, or as I am trying to figure it out from the literature, prior to the 'Fall in Eden,' mankind lived in a 4th density state. Is that correct?
A: Semi/sort of.
Q: Please be more specific.
A: 4th density in another realm, such as time/space continuum, etc.
Q: Okay, so this realm changed, as a part of the cycle; various choices were made: the human race went through the door after the 'gold,' so to speak, and became aligned with the Lizzies after the 'female energy' consorted with the wrong side, so to speak. This is what you have said. This resulted in a number of effects: the breaking up of the DNA, the burning off of the first ten factors of DNA, the separation of the hemispheres of the brain...
A: Only reason for this: you play in the dirt, you're gonna get dirty.
Q: What was the motivating factor for playing in the dirt? What essential thing occurred? You said once that it was 'desire based imbalance.' What was it a desire for?
A: Increased physicality.
Q: What was the objective sought for in this desire for increased physicality?
A: Sensate.
Q: How was sensate experienced so that these beings had an idea that they could get more if they increased their physicality?
A: Not experienced, demonstrated.
Q: Demonstrated how, by who?
A: Do you not know?
Q: It was demonstrated by the Lizzies?
A: Basically.
Q: Demonstrated in what way? Did they say: 'here, try this!' Or did they demonstrate by showing or doing?
A: Closer to the latter.
Q: They were doing, experimenting, playing, and saying: 'look, we are doing this, it's so great, come here and try it?'
A: Not really. More like: "you could have this."
Q: What seemed to be so desirable about this increased physicality when they said 'you can have this?'
A: Use your imagination!
Q: Was there any understanding, or realization of any kind, that increased physicality could be like Osiris lured into his own coffin by Set? That they would then slam the lid shut and nail him in?
A: Obviously, such understanding was lacking.
Q: Sounds like a pretty naive bunch! Does the lack of this understanding reflect a lack of knowledge?
A: Of course. But more, it is desire getting in the way of...
Q: Okay. The 'Fall' occurred. It seems like, and some of the archaeological studies indicate, that for many thousands of years, there was a peaceful existence and a nice agrarian society where the goddess or female creative forces were worshipped. At least, this is what a lot of present-day books are proposing...
A: No. These events took place 309000 years ago, as you measure it. This is when the first prototype of what you call "modern man" was created. The controllers had the bodies ready, they just needed the right soul matrix to agree to "jump in."
Q: So, prior to this time, this prior Edenic state...
A: Was more like 4th density.
Q: But that implies that there was some level of physicality. Was there physicality in the sense of bodies that look like present-day humans?
A: Not quite.
Q: What did these pre-fall...
A: Cannot answer because it is too complex for you to understand.
Q: Does this mean that the are experienced... that the bodies we possibly would move into as 4th density beings, assuming that one does, would also be too complex for us to understand? You are saying that this 'sort of 4th density' pre-Fall state, in terms of the physical bodies, is too complex to understand. If going back to 4th density is anything like coming from 4th density, does that mean that what we would go back to is something that is too complex to understand? This variability of physicality that you have described?
A: Yes.
Q: So, was there any kind of worship of God, or religious activity in this pre-Fall state; this Edenic, 4th density state?
A: No need when one has a clue.
Q: What I am trying to get at here, what I am trying to understand, is the transition from the goddess worship to the god worship; the change from the understanding of cyclical time as expressed in the feminine cycles, and expressed as the goddess; to the concept of linear time, expressed as the masculine principle. It seems to me that these were stages of inversion of concepts which gradually led to the ideas that the Lizzies are imposing on us, and seem to have been working in this direction for millennia - the dominator experience which expresses as: believe in something outside yourself that will save you, otherwise you are damned because the world is gonna end, and you are going to get judged. This is the concept I am trying to deal with here. I am trying to understand what was worshipped. Okay, we had these guys; they fell from Eden, but they were still fairly close to the original concepts, in some terms. Once they jumped into the physical bodies, as you put it, what was their level of conceptualization regarding the universe? Did they still retain some understanding at that point?
A: Kind of like the understanding one has after severe head trauma, vis a vis your normal understanding in your current state.
Q: So, they were traumatized; they may have had bits and pieces of ideas and memories, but they may also have lost a great deal altogether. There may have even been a sort of "coma" state of mankind for many millennia. But, after they woke up, with the bits and pieces floating around in their heads, they may have begun to attempt to piece it all together. So, they started putting it all back together. What was the first thing they put together regarding the cosmos around them?
A: Sex.
Q: What did they decide about sex? I mean, sex was there. They were having sex. Is that it? Or, did they understand the cosmos as sex?
A: More like the former. After all, that is what got you guys in this mess in the first place! Just imagine the sales job if you can: "Look how much fun this is! Want to try it?!? Oops, sorry, we forgot to tell you, you cannot go back!"
Q: I really fail to understand - and I know it is a big issue that has been hinted at and alluded to, and outright claims have been made regarding sex in all religions and mythologies - but I fail to understand the mechanics of how this can be the engineering of a 'fall.' What, precisely, are the mechanics of it? What energy is generated? How is it generated? What is the conceptualization of the misuse of this energy, or the use of the energy?
A: It is simply the introduction of the concept of self-gratification of a physical sort.
Q: On many occasions you have said that the ideal thing is to have perfect balance of physicality and ethereality. This has been said on a number of occasions. Now, I don't understand how it can be that gratification of a physical body can be the mechanics by which one is entrapped? Is it not gratifying to look at something beautiful? Is it wrong, sinful, or a form of a fall, to look at beauty, to hear something beautiful such as music, or to touch something that is sensually delightful such as a piece of silk or the skin of a loved one? These various things that the human being derives pleasure from very often elevate them to a spiritual state.
A: Possession is the key.
Q: What do you mean?
A: In STS, you possess.
Q: That's what I am saying here...
A: If you move through the beautiful flowers, the silk, the skin of another, but do not seek to possess...
Q: It seems to me that it is possible to experience all of these things, including sex, without the need or desire to possess; only to give. In which case, I still don't understand how it can be a mechanism for a 'fall.'
A: If it is desired, then the mechanism is not to give. Do you eat a piece of chocolate cake because it is good to give to the stomach?
Q: Well, you could!
A: No, in STS, which is your realm do not forget, one gives because of the pleasant sensation which results.
Q: Could it not be said that, if everything that exists is part of God, including the flesh, that if one gives to the flesh, without being attached to the giving, that it could be considered a giving to the 'All?'
A: Explain the process.
Q: For example: there are some people who like to suffer, because they believe that the flesh is sinful. That is a big thing that the Lizzies have instituted. For centuries they have wanted people to suffer, and they have made this big deal about sex and anything that might be considered pleasant or desirable should be denied, and that a person should suffer, and revel in their suffering. And, actually, making a person...
A: If one seeks to suffer, they do so in expectation of future reward. They desire to possess something in the end.
Q: What I am saying is: if a person can simply BE, in the doing and being of who and what they are, in simplicity; to become involved in doing everything as a meditation, or as a consecration, whether they are walking down the street and being at one with the air, the sunshine, the birds and trees and other people; in this state of oneness, doesn't that constitute a giving to the universe as giving oneself up as a channel for the universe to experience all these things?
A: Not if one is "feeling this oneness."
Q: We are what we are. Nature is nature. Progression is progression. And if people would just relax and be who and what they are in honesty, and do what is according to their nature without violating the Free Will of others, that this is a more pure form of being than doing things out of any feeling of expectation, or desire; to just BE, not want... just BE?
A: Yes, but STS does not do that.
Q: (A) From which I draw conclusions: if there STS around us, we cannot just...
A: You are all STS. If you were not, you would not be where you are.
Q: (A) There are those who are happy in the STS mode; and there are those who are trying to get out of the STS mode...
A: STO candidate.
Q: (A) These STO candidates cannot just simply BE, even theoretically, because then, STS would eat them.
A: No.
Q: Why not?
A: STS does not eat according to protocol.
Q: What does that mean?
A: What do you suppose?
Q: I have no idea!
A: STS "eats" whatever it wants to, if it is able.
Q: That's what we said. If you are STO in an STS world, you are basically defenseless and they eat you.
A: No.
Q: Why? What makes STO unavailable or 'inedible?'
A: Frequency resonance not in sync.
Q: (A) But then, that would mean that all these people who are saying that we need just to love everything and everybody, are right. They just be, and love, don't do anything, just give everything to the Lizzies... they are right!
A: No, because motivation is STS.
Q: How is the motivation to love everything and everybody, and to just give, STS?
A: Feels good.
Q: So, they want to do it because it feels good?
A: Want is an STS concept.
Q: So, you seem to be suggesting that the real trick is to just become non-attached to anything and anybody, do nothing, and just dissolve into nothing? No thought, no want, no do, no be, no anything!
A: If you are STS, that does not fit, but, if you did exactly that, you would reincarnate in an STO realm, where such energy does fit.
Q: But, if you have become nothing, how do you reincarnate? And, when you say 'reincarnate,' that implies being in a body!
A: You do not become nothingness.
Q: But, being incarnated means being in a body?
A: No.
Q: You mean moving into a realm that does not necessarily mean being in a body?
A: Close. But 4th density is partially physical. Does not consume nor possess.
Q: (A) This is contradictory to what we are doing. (L) Why write a book or do anything? There is no point. We should just sit around, do nothing but contemplate our navels and do nothing. (F) Why do you say that? (L) Because doing anything at all constitutes wanting, needing, possessing, having, and so on. (F) Of course, because this is an STS realm. (L) So, therefore, we should do nothing. We should contemplate our navels and try to get out of it and to heck with everybody else! (F) I disagree. (L) Otherwise, it is contradictory. If you try to help anyone else, or do for anyone else, you are desiring to help them. Therefore, you are desiring to change something... (F) Well, sure, but this is an STS realm. (L) Anyway, I would like to know who and what this Marcia Schafer is channelling. She seems to be channelling several sources, or claims to be. Could you tell me who and what?
A: Not yet, because this issue is not yet resolved. You are confused because you seem to think you must be STO to be an STO candidate. You are STS, and you simply cannot be otherwise, until you either reincarnate or transform at realm border crossing.
Q: Alright, I got that.
A: But, did Ark?
Q: We are here, we are what we are, and until the realm border comes, we can't be anything else. (F) So, don't worry about being STS. That is what we all are. As long as we eat food, that's what we are. It's that simple. You can be moving toward STO, but you aren't there yet, and there is nothing wrong with that. (A) We ask a question, and you answer this question, and this answer can be interpreted in different ways. I am not sure which way this answer was meant. The answer was: if you are STS, the answer does not fit. I mean, sitting and doing nothing. If you are STS that does not fit. But, if you do exactly that, you will reincarnate in an STO realm where such an energy does fit. There are several interpretations. One is that, if we do exactly that, we reincarnate in an STO realm where the energy does fit, and it would be just the right thing to do, because we WANT to be in an STO realm. So, one sure way to go to an STO realm is to sit under the tree and do nothing and contemplate your navel, but not having too much fun... eat nothing, desire nothing... typical Zen. There is another possible interpretation: if you would do exactly that, then you would reincarnate in an STO realm where such energy does fit, but there may be other STO realms that do NOT consist of such energies. So, maybe there is a way to another way to another STO realm, to which this energy does NOT go, but other ways would go. (L) And, there is another problem here: the very fact that one would do this is DESIRING to go to an STO realm! Which precludes the going. If you desire to be STO, you are screwed! (A) Not being, that is what some teachers teach. Nirvana. Is this something that is supposed to be the only way, and is it something that we are being encouraged to follow because it is no desire, no anything. Or, are there different STO realms?
A: Not different realms, as such, but different ways of getting there. Your respective developments have led you to where you are.
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

From Laura:
{Notice here no mention of cosmic, cometary events... it really is frustrating to read such things and realize that the scholars are so totally clueless about the most important factor that would open their whole field up to understanding!}

Indeed


Approaching Infinity said:
Laura said:
When the tradition surfaced in the Greek world, it retained the account of struggles between successive generations of gods. But a key element was now missing. No longer was the battle arena occupied by members of opposing families representing opposing forces of nature. The contestants all belonged to a single family line. That reflects a major shift in the tradition, and a major narrowing of its limits, from a cosmogonically to a generationally based conflict.

{Is that necessarily true? If Clube is right, all the "gods" were born from a single giant comet... So perhaps claiming two families is the corruption?}

One thing that stood out for me is that in the Hittite myths, the netherworld gods were the baddies and the sky gods were the ones everyone was rooting for, seemingly. The evil snake monster rising to do battle with the storm god makes me think of an electric connection between earth and comet. In a sense, it could be interpreted as the earth/netherworld gods doing battle with the sky gods (comet). The comet may break up, being seen as a temporary "defeat". Perhaps the two families came about because of this? Or maybe the distortion is seeing the sky gods as the ones "winning" the battle and that being a "good" thing (wouldn't the destruction of a comet be perceived as a good thing, if they were doom-bringers)? I guess what I'm wondering is what these people actually thought about the comet(s) they saw. Were they benevolent gods popping by for a visit, but prompting the evil netherworld gods to put up a fight? Or were they malevolent gods, bad omens, things to be really afraid of? Clube suggests the latter, but maybe I'm just not reading the Hittite stuff the right way...

How synchronous that this would come up, as I just read this today while reading Clube's Cosmic Winter. At this point in history Clube sees the good god/bad god all cohabiting in the heavens, for a while anyway.

In the principal wars of the gods as described by Egyptian and
Homeric sources, Heracles, as we have seen, was the offspring of
Zeus or his equivalent. The Orphic variation, if it did not arise from
an overlapping of stories, suggests that I Heracles corresponded to a
reappearance in a new world of a very ancient god. Recurrence
indeed became a very important theme in Greek cosmogony but
whether it originated with the Orphic tradition, or is much earlier, is
a question for the historians and the mythologists. In general, it is
clear enough that the gods had offspring and that there was a self evident
association between Heracles and Heraclids. Moreover, it is
evident that through the Homeric association of the Heraclids with
the downfall of the Mycenaean nation, the god Heracles had every
reason later to become a more significant figure in the Greek
pantheon than he might otherwise have become. Thus the inherent
contradictions and uncertainties that unquestionably exist need not
be seen as a great difficulty for analysts but more the result of a
known evolution in ideas about the nature of gods in the pre
christian era.

To put the developments in Egypt and Greece in perspective, it
is now fairly clear that the gods and their creator were seen for the
first time during the third millennium Bce as perfectly real bodies in
the sky who were primarily concerned in sorting things out for themselves
and only indirectly concerned with the fate of men on earth.
An important part of the creator's work at this time was an apparently
visible world in the sky which lay close to the Sun's path and
which embraced the Earth, a vision probably no less awesome than
the gods themselves and a perpetual source of concern. Man's
terrified attempts at appeasement, even to the extent of human
sacrifice in some quarters, were a somewhat desperate measure
whose efficacy remained uncertain. By the second millennium Be
however, the conception of things had evolved into a formal dualism
in which one particular great god, father of many others, was seen to
be all-powerful and basically benevolent, whilst another particular
god, also the source of many others, was no less strong but essentially
evil. Both sets of gods, the angels and demons of subsequent
myth, seem to have been looked on as members of a visible milky
way which evidently corresponded to the path of the Sun rather than
the Galactic system to which we now append the name. These gods
had characteristics which we now recognize as cometary. Their
history seems to imply the disintegration over several millennia of a
very large comet, the debris producing bands of light in the sky and
occasional devastation on the Earth.
An orbit taking the comet and
its offspring along the constellations of the zodiac is implicit in such
features as the enclosure of Blackland, the flight path of Phaethon,
the association of the Orphic Phanes or Heracles with zodiac (plate
4), and the otherwise inexplicable classical references to the zodiac
as a 'milky way'.

Subsequently, during the first millennium Be, the malevolent gods
appear to have departed, leaving a single benevolent god who
became identified as both creator and director of a recurring
universe whilst at the same time becoming himself increasingly
remote ilm.! Ic...... t.lI1!'\"iblc. (?) The precise timing of these developments
may not he clear, but the gradual advance towards a new brand of
monotheism based on an invisible god who was also benevolent
seems eventually to have given rise to a controversial technical
problem, namely the true source of evil in the universe.The problem
was eventually resolved by removing evil from the sky altogether,
where it had always been, and treating it from now on as a fundamental
aspect of the human condition itself.

There need not be too much doubt then that the Greeks in
general, and the Athenians in particular, knew what the Heraclids
were and whence they had come: they were evil bodies and they
came out of the zodiac. But in their subsequent theological conflicts,
nullifying the concept of sky-borne evil, The Greeks seem to have
convinced themselves that the bodies did not exist.

This is from a scan copy and I have cleaned it up as much as possible, but darned if I can make sense of the string in the last paragraph

I was not familiar with the name Phanes, so I searched and this came up:

PHANES was the Protogenos (primeval god) of procreation in the Orphic cosmogony. He was the primal generator of life, the driving force behind reproduction in the early cosmos. Phanes was hatched from the world egg (the primordial mixture of elements) when it was split into its constituent parts by the ancient gods Khronos (Time) and Ananke (Inevitability). Phanes was the first king of the universe, who passed the royal sceptre on to his daughter Nyx (Night),who in turn handed it down to her son Ouranos (Heaven). From him it was first seized by Kronos (Time), and then by Zeus, the ultimate ruler of the cosmos. Some say Zeus devoured Phanes in order to assume his primal cosmic power and redistribute it amongst a new generation of gods--the Olympians which he sired.

The Orphics equated Phanes with the Elder Eros (Sexual Desire) of Hesiod's Theogony, who emerged at the beginning of time alongside Khaos (Air) and Gaia (Earth). Phanes also incorporated aspects of other primordial beings described by various ancient writers including Thesis, Phusis, Ophion, Khronos and Ananke. Phanes also appears in myth in the guise of Metis (i.e. Thetis, Thesis, creation), the goddess devoured by Zeus, and Tethys, the nurse of all. However these two divinities in the majority of Greek literature remain far-removed from the concept of creator-gods.

Phanes was portrayed as a beautiful golden-winged hermaphroditic deity wrapped in a serpent's coils. The poets describe him as an incorporeal being invisible even through the eyes of the gods. His name means "bring to light" or "make appear" from the Greek verbs phanaô and phainô.
_http://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Phanes.html


The discussions of wood, carpentry, tree types and beds reminded me of the exchanges that Laura had with the Cs regarding trees:

Session September 23, 2000

Q: Now, on a couple of occasions we have talked about
trees. You have said that the trees would lead me to an
answer. Then you made remarks about beechnut, and oaks,
and beech and bloodlines and family trees and the Nordic
Covenant. Basically, I asked about this Nordic Covenant
and you said that I would find the answer, that the trees
would lead me to it. I asked what literary source I should go
to to find the least distorted source of information. You
answered "trees" again. Then, you pointed out the leaves of
the trees on this book. Later, when I read the book that was
all about trees, it said that there was a need for someone of a
certain bloodline to come along and free the dragon spawn.
"None other than she can bring the pryf, or soul, up from the
deep, no matter how they may make the serpents squirm. If
she can hold her place in the gates of time." You answered
me "You cannot see?" It also says that this person with this
certain bloodline has the duty of creating a bridge between
man and the gods to open the doorways of time. You said to
me that these things had explanations that were readily
apparent. Then, when I asked the question about this book
and all the trees in it, that this was a clue given so that I
would notice the things in this particular book, you said
"certainly." Now, having gone through all the shamanic stuff,
all the information about the world tree, the world axis, and
your remarks about building a staircase, which is another
variation on the world axis or world tree, and having some
kind of mission, and the mission being piercing the spider,
which relates again to the world axis and the world tree,
which one climbs one step at a time. Then, you talked about
VB and the Beanstalk, which is another example of the
world tree. Over and over again we are having all these
representations of trees which basically has something to do
with some sort of destined action, and it is almost as though
you are hinting that some person has to be physically tuned
as a transducer of some sort to "stand in the gates of time,"
for the rest of humanity. Then, you made the remark recently
about lodestar. Well, there might have been a time in my life
when I might have thought that it was me who could do
something like that. And, if I ever did, maybe it was even
ego thinking. However, I am getting a little old for that sort
of thing, so I don't really think that it is my role. But, I do
think that there is somebody in the world whose role that is,
and I would like to know if that is somebody we are
supposed to be looking for, or that we are going to find this
person?
A: Perhaps you shall find, or perhaps they will find you!

Maybe there was more to that C's tree exchange than just the discovery of the wood carvings in the choir in the cathedral at Auch, eh? The Odyssey is turning into quite a trip.
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

Rabelais said:
The discussions of wood, carpentry, tree types and beds reminded me of the exchanges that Laura had with the Cs regarding trees:

Session September 23, 2000

Q: Now, on a couple of occasions we have talked about
trees. You have said that the trees would lead me to an
answer. Then you made remarks about beechnut, and oaks,
and beech and bloodlines and family trees and the Nordic
Covenant. Basically, I asked about this Nordic Covenant
and you said that I would find the answer, that the trees
would lead me to it. I asked what literary source I should go
to to find the least distorted source of information. You
answered "trees" again. Then, you pointed out the leaves of
the trees on this book. Later, when I read the book that was
all about trees, it said that there was a need for someone of a
certain bloodline to come along and free the dragon spawn.
"None other than she can bring the pryf, or soul, up from the
deep, no matter how they may make the serpents squirm. If
she can hold her place in the gates of time." You answered
me "You cannot see?" It also says that this person with this
certain bloodline has the duty of creating a bridge between
man and the gods to open the doorways of time. You said to
me that these things had explanations that were readily
apparent. Then, when I asked the question about this book
and all the trees in it, that this was a clue given so that I
would notice the things in this particular book, you said
"certainly." Now, having gone through all the shamanic stuff,
all the information about the world tree, the world axis, and
your remarks about building a staircase, which is another
variation on the world axis or world tree, and having some
kind of mission, and the mission being piercing the spider,
which relates again to the world axis and the world tree,
which one climbs one step at a time. Then, you talked about
VB and the Beanstalk, which is another example of the
world tree. Over and over again we are having all these
representations of trees which basically has something to do
with some sort of destined action, and it is almost as though
you are hinting that some person has to be physically tuned
as a transducer of some sort to "stand in the gates of time,"
for the rest of humanity. Then, you made the remark recently
about lodestar. Well, there might have been a time in my life
when I might have thought that it was me who could do
something like that. And, if I ever did, maybe it was even
ego thinking. However, I am getting a little old for that sort
of thing, so I don't really think that it is my role. But, I do
think that there is somebody in the world whose role that is,
and I would like to know if that is somebody we are
supposed to be looking for, or that we are going to find this
person?
A: Perhaps you shall find, or perhaps they will find you!

Maybe there was more to that C's tree exchange than just the discovery of the wood carvings in the choir in the cathedral at Auch, eh? The Odyssey is turning into quite a trip.

I had just read what you posted here, Rabelais, before I picked up my copy to read a bit today. Right away, these words popped up:

But you too
confide in me, tell me your ancestry.
You were not born of mythic oak or stone.
from Book XIX, lines 191-193

This is what Penelope asks of Odysseus when he is disguised as the old beggar during his negative theoxeny episode.

Pretty intruiging...
 
Re: The Odyssey - question for all!

Good day to all! Re trees, oaks, etc., part of the words to "Heart of Oak", the British Royal Navy's anthem, to help us persevere:

Come cheer up, my lads! 'tis to glory we steer,
To add something more to this wonderful year;
To honour we call you, not press you like slaves,
For who are so free as the sons of the waves?
 

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