Drifting Stars: The End of the Golden Age

The Golden Age, Pietro da Cortona. Wikicommons.

Legends from cultures as diverse as the Greeks, Aztecs and Tibetans talk of a one-time Golden Age where the world was in perfect and blissful harmony. Thanks to cosmic or human agency, this came to an end and the world was condemned to strife and hardship, but with the hope that at some time in the distant future, the Golden Age could be restored. Adam and Eve’s eviction from the Garden of Eden is one of the most well-known variants.

                        The Garden of Eden

Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, in their epic book Hamlet’s Mill, have analysed these worldwide myths and linked them to a phenomenon called Precession of the Equinoxes. This is caused by a wobble in the earth’s axis, whereby it drifts in a 26,000-year cycle. From Earth we see this as a slow drift in the location of the Pole Star and also as a shift in the Zodiacal constellation housing the sun during any particular month. A vast number of myths, sacred buildings and cultural practices worldwide have been linked to the monitoring of and the attempt to control this drift.

The Egyptian Sphinx, believed to align to the rising of the constellation Leo, the lion, in its celestial position of c10,000BC.

Many of the myths are linked to a celestial mill, linked to the Milky Way and the cosmic axis, which ground out good fortune during the Golden Age but subsequently broke or became corrupted and ground out only hardship as linked to the present world. This links to the drift of the star Deneb, the ‘true’ pole star, from its axis as discussed last week and which forms the background to the story told in Broken Skies.

Churning the Milky Ocean, from a Vedic (Hindu) epic.

This drift would cause little effect on Earth. It was not suddenly wrenched from its true balance as the stories suggest, but simply drifts in its natural cycle just as it rotates and orbits the sun. But disorder in the heavens was linked to disorder on Earth: as above, as below.

And the stories do contain a grain of truth. Soon after the shift of Deneb (Benu in Broken Skies) from true, a vast comet is known to have smashed into Earth, causing vast floods, fires and toxic fallout which plunged the Earth back into the Ice Age, caused countless extinctions and left humans worldwide fighting for their survival. Just as the stories told.

Deneb: the former Pole Star

Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation of Cygnus, the swan. It sits in at the top of the Milky Way, the celestial and otherworldly axis around which existence was believed to turn, and it was also the Pole Star around 17,000-15,000BC. Researcher Andrew Collins believes Deneb to have had a far greater significance to human sky-watchers than any subsequent pole star, by virtue of its association with the Milky Way and the cosmic axis. This explains the long and widespread significance of swans, geese and other waterfowl as soul-guides and otherworldly messengers.

The Milky Way in cultures worldwide is represented as the World Tree whose roots reach into the underworld while its branches touch the sky. This in turn is represented by the wooden totem poles of many shamanic cultures. These are very commonly topped by a bird. Is this an ancient memory of the time when Deneb crowned the sky?

A replica of a totem pole in Ketchikan, Alaska. W. Knight, Wikicommons.

A 17^th-century drawing of Yggdrasil, the World Tree of Scandinavian myth. 

In Broken Skies, Deneb is Benu, the star which reflects the heart of existence, and around it circles the four stars of the soaring Sky Vulture.

Bennu was the Egyptian bird of creation. At dawn on the first day, the Earth God Geb in the form of a goose laid the primeval egg from which emerged the Sun God Ra in the form of the bennu bird. The benben stone, a sacred Egyptian relic which may have been the capstone of the Great Pyramid, is also linked to this bird.

                         The Bennu bird.

                       White Crane. Wikicommons.

The bennu was depicted as a heron perched on the primeval mound of creation. Archaeologists and alternative researchers have linked this to the ancient site of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. I believe the bennu bird was originally a crane, for reasons I will come back to in a later post, and the crane is one of the most revered birds in Broken Skies, as it was in many shamanic traditions across Europe.

As centuries passed, Deneb drifted from its position as the axis of creation. In Broken Skies, and in myths around the world, this was associated with disaster and devastation which mirrors true historical events. I will return to that next week.

The Skies and the Soul Trail

Soaring vultures. P.Jeganathan, Wikicommons.

Last week, I talked about the vulture and its role in guiding the deceased to the afterlife, and also perhaps guiding newborn spirits back again.

Birds worldwide are portrayed as spirit guides, by virtue of their gift of flight which gives access to the sky-realms where the spirit world is often located. Spirit-flight is a common shamanic gift. The Pole Star, around which all the skies and by reflection all of creation revolves, is often seen as the birth-point and destination of all spirits.

The Milky Way. Benh Lieu Song, Wikicommons.

The Milky Way is a thick band of stars across the night sky which we see as we look along the long and star-filled axis from the centre of our plate-shaped galaxy. It is often seen as a celestial river flowing across the sky and is known as a spirit road in many shamanic traditions, which is ascended by shamans seeking spiritual insights and by the deceased journeying to the afterlife. In Baltic and Estonian tradition, it is known as the Pathway of Birds and is linked to both spiritual and migratory journeys, and I’ve named it The Soul Trail in Broken Skies.

‘Milky Way’ derives from a Greek myth where the infant Hercules was unwittingly suckled by the Goddess Hera who splashed milk across the sky when the ruse was discovered. This probably stems from an older tradition: the Milky Way is also associated with milk in Egyptian and Hindu lore.

Cygnus. The long neck of the bird soars down the Milky Way.

At its northern peak is the constellation of Cygnus, the swan. The swan is a common spirit guide in northern cultures and the location of this asterism on the Milky Way may stem from this ancient belief. Researcher Andrew Collins has suggested that Cygnus was once a vulture, and I have taken this view in Broken Skies. The four major stars uncannily represent the body, curved wings and tail of a soaring vulture. Here is its celestial counterpart as it guides souls to the next life as it devours their bodies on earth. As above, as below.

The Vulture in the Irin’s cosmology.

The Vulture

Feeding vultures. Arindam Aditya, Wikicommons

The vulture was a highly revered bird to the people of Göbekli Tepe and other cultures across the prehistoric Middle East. Human bodies were typically excarnated – left for vultures and other carrion eaters to devour – before the bones were buried or deposited in caves, rivers or other locations. Bodies were often placed on raised platforms, indicating it was important that birds, rather than foxes or other animals, did the work, and the vulture, which can spot a carcass from six miles away, is characterised for its devouring of all carrion of any species.

Vultures devouring human bodies in a mural from Çatalhöyuk in central Turkey, c6500BC

People would have rapidly made the connection between contact with dead and decaying bodies and illness in the living, and in a time before any understanding of bacteria and contagion, the logical explanation would be the angry or vengeful spirit of the deceased still clinging to its body and seeking recompense. Probably every culture worldwide has some sort of appeasement or funeral ceremony to honour the deceased.

People would also have rapidly realised that the carcasses picked clean by vultures, leaving no decaying flesh, posed no health risk. I believe the vultures were seen as guiding the spirits of the dead into the next world as they recycled their bodies in this world. As above, so below. In many European cultures which originated in the ancient Middle East, birds such as swans and geese are still believed to carry souls to the next world.

Pillar 43 in Göbekli Tepe’s Enclosure D. 

Over 50% of the animal bones excavated at Göbekli Tepe are carrion-eating birds, the majority of these vultures. They may have been attracted to the site through the exposure of human bodies or animal remains from feasting, or were perhaps hunted for ritual purposes. Pillar 43 in Enclosure D, called The Enduring in Broken Skies, is engraved with a vulture holding what is believed to be a human head balanced on its wing. The head is commonly believed the location of the spirit, and this scene may represent a vulture guiding a spirit into the afterlife. Several stone ‘totem poles’ from the site also depict a human head clutched in the talons of a bird.

Pillar 12 in Enclosure C. The base of Pillar 18 in Enclosure D.

A hatchling vulture

Seven squatting flightless birds are depicted around the base of Pillar 18 in the centre of Enclosure D, and similar birds are seen on other pillars. They’ve been interpreted as many things from ducks to dodos, but I feel they represent hatchling vultures. If vultures guided spirits to the afterlife, it would be a reasonable supposition that their young guided the spirits of newborn children back again. Even today it is a common tradition that birds, such as storks, bring a newborn spirit into the world. As above, as below. This is the line I’ve taken in Broken Skies. And how this reflects in the greater cosmology will be covered next week.

Cappadocia and the Underground Cities

Cappadocia is a unique land, rich in history and folklore. As well as its thousands of fairy chimneys I talked about last week, it is also famous for its underground cities. These were carved from the uniquely soft rock and comprise vast numbers of tunnels, chambers, air shafts and other structures, spread over a dozen or more levels and reaching a depth of close to a hundred metres, potentially housing thousands of people. Some are well known; others have been discovered in recent times and many more no doubt remain to be found. None of the labyrinthine structures, which can extend for several kilometres, have been fully explored. 

Ozkonak underground city

Their date of construction is an enigma. Many are believed to date from the Christian era, when persecuted groups were forced into hiding. Underground chapels are common in many of the cities. Others are thought to derive from the Hittite period, 2000 years earlier, and built for the same purpose. Cappadocia’s name may derive from the Hittite ‘Katta-Peda’, meaning ‘the land underground’.

Some archaeologists believe they are much older still, and were merely adapted and extended in the later historical periods. The higher and therefore earlier storeys comprise rock which is much harder than the lower levels. The rock hardens during thousands of years of exposure to the air, and the lower, Christian-era structures appear much later in construction. And there is a lack of metal toolmarks on the higher levels. They may have been made far back in prehistory, perhaps even the time of Gobekli Tepe, 12,000 years ago.

One of Cappadocia's rock-cut churches

The Middle Eastern saviour-hero Yima was warned of an imminent catastrophe by the creator-spirit and made a ‘var’ to preserve the lives of people, animals, birds and plants. The world then became a wasteland with ten months of winter each year and plagues and fires which destroyed what little survived. The people remained in the var for many generations before it was safe to return to the outside world. ‘Var’ has the same root as ‘ark’, and the story of Noah’s Ark is a variation of this. It has long been suggested that the var, and Ark, refers to one or several of the underground cities of Cappadocia. 

                          Noah's Ark

I’ve already talked about the global devastation caused by a comet crashing into earth around 13,000 years ago. Yima’s catastrophe has eerily similarities. Were the cities created at this time so people could survive when the planet was plunged back into the Ice Age? That’s the line I’ve taken in Broken Skies. And when the world eventually began to recover, the people moved east to the fertile plains around Harran and began the first steps towards creating civilisation as we know it today.

An ancient rock-cut town, still occupied today.

T-shaped Pillars and Standing Stones

One of Gobekli Tepe’s defining features is the T-shaped stone pillars which are portrayed with belts, necklaces and human hands, and are obviously intended to represent human-like spirit-forms. These characteristics were copied in later buildings in the area, such as at Nevali Cori, built around 1000 years after Gobekli Tepe, and are also seen in human statues such as the Urfa Man.

The ‘heads’ of the pillars show no features, as if this part of the human form was too sacred or too dangerous to represent visually. The depiction of the hands and lower bodies is almost like a teaser to give the viewer just a hint of the unexpected power these pillars hold. They certainly had that effect when archaeologists first discovered them!

Historians have long debated what inspired this form. My theory was inspired by Cappadocia, 500 miles from Gobekli Tepe. Here, the soft volcanic rock has been eroded to form vast valleys filled with pillars of stone, known in local lore as fairy chimneys and long believed to be the home of supernatural beings called the Peri. Cappadocia is an important place in Turkish myth, linked to the birthplace of the world and also the birthplace of the legendary dragon-killer Saint George.

The fairy chimneys have long been linked to various animals and birds which are reflected in their shapes, and walking beneath them with their faces looking down from far above, I felt a presence which seemed familiar. There is a distinct resemblance to the pillars of Gobekli Tepe. I wonder if these fairy chimneys, whose spiritual associations date back thousands of years, were the original prototype for the crafted pillars at Gobekli Tepe.

Aside from its unique geology, Cappadocia also has tales of a lost, underground civilisation, which links to the global devastation caused when a comet smashed into earth, shortly before Gobekli Tepe was built. I will come back to the implications of this next week.

The Urfa Man

The Urfa Man in Sanliurfa Museum

This stone-carved and near life-size statue was found by chance during building work in the old part of Sanliurfa, a few miles from Gobekli Tepe and the location of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic hilltop settlement of Yeni Mahalle, which dates to around 9500BC. The ‘Urfa Man’ dates to this period and is one of the oldest human statues known. Like the pillars of Gobekli Tepe, he stands with his hands clasped in front of his stomach and he has a V-shaped stole or collar around his neck, the only ornamentation present.

The statue was dismissed as unimportant and spent twenty years in a store room before European archaeologists were asked for their opinion. Today he has pride of place in the city museum, and he has the eeriest sense of presence I’ve ever felt in an inanimate object. His gleaming obsidian eyes seem to watch you and there is a definite sense of a very sinister intelligence to him. I would not like to spend a night in his presence!

This effect may be entirely due to the skill of the craftsperson. Obsidian was deliberately used for eye-pieces in historic times because the light reflects from its dozens of angles to reflect the movement and light in living eyes, and gives the impression of a living presence. It’s very subtle, but its effect on viewers can be near terrifying.

A Hittite sphinx with obsidian eyes, which guarded the Hattusa city entrance around 2000BC.

This ‘spirit-presence’ was used to great effect by Hittite craftspeople in later Turkey, who created huge statues of lions and sphinxes to guard the gateways into their cities. Walking past their watching eyes would have had a profound effect on visitors and emphasised the city’s physical and spiritual power.

I feel the Urfa Man had a similar role. In Broken Skies, he is the guardian of the five spirit houses of Duku  or Gobekli Tepe, and all those who wished to gain entry had to submit to his assessment. Archaeologists have found the remains of a stone pool on the site, and here I placed the guardian whose granting of passage I linked to the ritual cleansing and washing which many spiritual practices require.

Sanliurfa

So how did he end up in Yeni Mahalle? This site was contemporary to Gobekli Tepe, and I named it KharsagVillage in Broken Skies, the home of the Irin or Watchers. When Gobekli Tepe was eventually decommissioned and buried, its guardian was removed and placed here for safe keeping, where it remained until its chance discovery, over 10,000 years later.