by nick c » Tue Dec 06, 2022 1:00 am
David Talbott on the "Serpents in the sky":
SERPENTS IN THE SKY
The pervasive role of cosmic "serpents" in world mythology is a mystery
often mentioned in historical and astronomical studies, but never
satisfactorily explained. Frequently adorned with feathers or wings,
sprouting long-flowing hair, or breathing fire, these monsters rank
among the most enigmatic and outrageous cultural icons, invariably
eluding the grasp of the researchers attempting to explain them. Yet
around the world, these biologically absurd serpents reveal numerous
features in common--the clearest indication that the monsters DO have an
explanation. But when investigators, exploring every possibility they can
imagine, still find no answer, it becomes increasingly likely that the
truth is simply "off the map"--outside the limits of current thinking.
The boundaries of perception have excluded a memory so powerful that it
influenced every ancient culture. From the infancy of civilization
through all prior epochs of human history, world-altering serpents were
claimed to have once moved in the heavens.
In most great mysteries, recurring patterns are the key to discovery. Is
it significant, for example, that wherever the theme of Doomsday or
celestial chaos occurs, a great serpent or dragon (mythic alter ego of
the serpent) presides over the disaster? The connection is as old as the
earliest civilizations. In ancient Egypt, the serpent Apep, whom the
Greeks called Apophis, was the arch-enemy of the creator and of
celestial order. His plotting against the supreme god Ra produced an
earthshaking tempest in the heavens, and numerous Egyptian rites
commemorated the victory of Ra over Apep, whose hideous forms and
terrible roar haunted the Egyptians throughout their history. At the
temple of Ra in Heliopolis the priests ritually trod underfoot images of
Apep to represent his defeat at the hands of Ra. At the temple of Edfu,
a long series of reliefs depict the warrior Horus and his followers
vanquishing Apep or his counterpart Set, cutting to pieces the
monster's companions, the "fiends of darkness."
Comparative investigation confirms that every well-documented culture
possessed its own names and images of the serpent or dragon of
chaos--the monster whom the Babylonians called Tiamat, the Greeks knew
as Typhon or Python, and the Hindus called Vritra or Ahi. In Australia
it was the Bunyip-monster, sometimes identified as the "Rainbow
Serpent," that once decimated the earth. And in North America remarkably
similar stories were told of the "Great Horned Serpent."
The above is an excerpt from
"The Serpents of Creation"David Talbott on the "Serpents in the sky":
[quote]SERPENTS IN THE SKY
The pervasive role of cosmic "serpents" in world mythology is a mystery
often mentioned in historical and astronomical studies, but never
satisfactorily explained. Frequently adorned with feathers or wings,
sprouting long-flowing hair, or breathing fire, these monsters rank
among the most enigmatic and outrageous cultural icons, invariably
eluding the grasp of the researchers attempting to explain them. Yet
around the world, these biologically absurd serpents reveal numerous
features in common--the clearest indication that the monsters DO have an
explanation. But when investigators, exploring every possibility they can
imagine, still find no answer, it becomes increasingly likely that the
truth is simply "off the map"--outside the limits of current thinking.
The boundaries of perception have excluded a memory so powerful that it
influenced every ancient culture. From the infancy of civilization
through all prior epochs of human history, world-altering serpents were
claimed to have once moved in the heavens.
In most great mysteries, recurring patterns are the key to discovery. Is
it significant, for example, that wherever the theme of Doomsday or
celestial chaos occurs, a great serpent or dragon (mythic alter ego of
the serpent) presides over the disaster? The connection is as old as the
earliest civilizations. In ancient Egypt, the serpent Apep, whom the
Greeks called Apophis, was the arch-enemy of the creator and of
celestial order. His plotting against the supreme god Ra produced an
earthshaking tempest in the heavens, and numerous Egyptian rites
commemorated the victory of Ra over Apep, whose hideous forms and
terrible roar haunted the Egyptians throughout their history. At the
temple of Ra in Heliopolis the priests ritually trod underfoot images of
Apep to represent his defeat at the hands of Ra. At the temple of Edfu,
a long series of reliefs depict the warrior Horus and his followers
vanquishing Apep or his counterpart Set, cutting to pieces the
monster's companions, the "fiends of darkness."
Comparative investigation confirms that every well-documented culture
possessed its own names and images of the serpent or dragon of
chaos--the monster whom the Babylonians called Tiamat, the Greeks knew
as Typhon or Python, and the Hindus called Vritra or Ahi. In Australia
it was the Bunyip-monster, sometimes identified as the "Rainbow
Serpent," that once decimated the earth. And in North America remarkably
similar stories were told of the "Great Horned Serpent." [/quote]
The above is an excerpt from [url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090501234844/http://www.kronia.com/thoth/thoVI-07.txt]"The Serpents of Creation"[/url]