|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
THE LIGHT IS RISING NOW RISING IS THE LIGHT
GODS SPIRIT GODS ISIS OSIRIS VISHNU SHIVA SHRI KRISHNA SHRISTI RISHI ISHI CHRIST SING A SONG OF NINES OF NINES A SONG SING
THE HALLELUJA CHORUS CHORUS HALLELUJAH HALLELUJA SEE HORUS HORUS SEE HALLELUJAH HALLELUJA HOURS OF HORUS HORUS OF HOURS HALLELUJAH
ADVENT 924 ADVENT
PENTAGRAM 5 PENTAGRAM
Daily Mail. Tuesday. March 31, 2015 Page 68 The point of pentangles ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS QUESTION THE pentangle is usually represented as the pentagram, a five-pointed, linear star within a circle, worn or drawn with the point facing up. It served to mark directions in Sumerian texts, dating from about 30BC, and is found in most early cultures. The ancient Greeks established its symbolic status. Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras believed five was the number of perfection, because of the fivefold division of the body (head, arms and legs outstretched) mirroring the division of the soul into fire, water, air, earth and psyche. The Pythagoreans held the pentacle sacred to Hygeia, the goddess of healing. Early Christians wore the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Christ and to symbolise the five senses. In the 14th-century English poem Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, the symbol decorates the shield of the hero, Gawain. The anonymous poet credits the symbol's origin to King Solomon, and explains that each of the five interconnected points represents a virtue tied to a group of five: Gawain is keen in his five senses, dextrous in his five fingers, faithful to the salvation provided through the Five Wounds of Christ, takes courage from the five joys that Mary had of Jesus and exemplifies the five virtues of knighthood. Renaissance-era ritual magicians, Henry Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (14861535) and Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), used the pentagram to represent the perfection of the human body. To Bruno, five was the `number of the soul' because the human form is bound by five outer points. He warned magicians and sorcerers could perform spells by using the pentagram as it was a window to the soul. As Bruno and other Renaissance philosophers and magicians were executed under the Inquisition, perhaps the symbol came to be associated with evil forces. By the mid-19th century, a further distinction had developed among occultists regarding the pentagram's orientation. With a single point upwards it depicted a spirit presiding over the four elements of matter and was essentially 'good'. Occultists and satanists now claimed that the inverted pentagram was evil, the sign of the Devil even. Influential French occultist Eliphas Levi (1810-75) stated: 'A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. 'It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates.' Symbolic: Anton LaVey, of the Church of Satan, with an inverted pentangle (image omitted) Brian Cummings, Hay-on-Wye, Powys.
DAILY MAIL Tuesday, April 10 2007 Page 42 Jonathan writes: Why am I travelling to Tibet to investigate a prophecy from Mexico? It has something to do with ancient cultures, complicated cosmologies and poignant predictions. On my way, I passed through Delhi, where there is a temple dedicated to Saturn. Word has not yet reached them there about the newly-discovered hexagonat Saturn's north pole. I have, however, been dwelling on this. The Star of David is hexagonal. Could Saturn have a message about the future of Israel?
FIVE POINTED STAR From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A five-pointed star A five-pointed star (☆) is a common ideogram used throughout the world. If the colinear edges are joined together a pentagram is produced. The five-pointed star, geometrically a regular concave decagon, used in flags originates from European or Western heraldry, and the golden five-pointed star has associations with military power and war. It has also become a symbol of fame or "stardom" in Western culture.
Daily Mail. Tuesday. March 31, 2015 The point of pentangles ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS Compiled by Charles Legge Page 68 QUESTION THE pentangle is usually represented as the pentagram, a five-pointed, linear star within a circle, worn or drawn with the point facing up. It served to mark directions in Sumerian texts, dating from about 30BC, and is found in most early cultures. The ancient Greeks established its symbolic status. Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras believed five was the number of perfection, because of the fivefold division of the body (head, arms and legs outstretched) mirroring the division of the soul into fire, water, air, earth and psyche. The Pythagoreans held the pentacle sacred to Hygeia, the goddess of healing. Early Christians wore the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Christ and to symbolise the five senses. In the 14th-century English poem Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, the symbol decorates the shield of the hero, Gawain. The anonymous poet credits the symbol's origin to King Solomon, and explains that each of the five interconnected points represents a virtue tied to a group of five: Gawain is keen in his five senses, dextrous in his five fingers, faithful to the salvation provided through the Five Wounds of Christ, takes courage from the five joys that Mary had of Jesus and exemplifies the five virtues of knighthood. Renaissance-era ritual magicians, Henry Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (14861535) and Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), used the pentagram to represent the perfection of the human body. To Bruno, five was the `number of the soul' because the human form is bound by five outer points. He warned magicians and sorcerers could perform spells by using the pentagram as it was a window to the soul. As Bruno and other Renaissance philosophers and magicians were executed under the Inquisition, perhaps the symbol came to be associated with evil forces. By the mid-19th century, a further distinction had developed among occultists regarding the pentagram's orientation. With a single point upwards it depicted a spirit presiding over the four elements of matter and was essentially 'good'. Occultists and satanists now claimed that the inverted pentagram was evil, the sign of the Devil even. Influential French occultist Eliphas Levi (1810-75) stated: 'A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. 'It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates.' Symbolic: Anton LaVey, of the Church of Satan, with an inverted pentangle (image omitted) Brian Cummings, Hay-on-Wye, Powys.
The five-pointed star, geometrically a regular concave decagon
FIVE POINTED STAR From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A five-pointed star A five-pointed star (☆) is a common ideogram used throughout the world. If the colinear edges are joined together a pentagram is produced. The five-pointed star, geometrically a regular concave decagon, used in flags originates from European or Western heraldry, and the golden five-pointed star has associations with military power and war. It has also become a symbol of fame or "stardom" in Western culture.
Pentagram From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Geometry The pentagram can be constructed by connecting alternate vertices of a pentagon; see details of the construction. It can also be constructed as a stellation of a pentagon, by extending the edges of a pentagon until the lines intersect. Golden ratio[edit]
what are the meanings behind a five point star? Can it be good ... 27 Sep 2007 - Best Answer: The five-pointed star, or pentagram is one of the most potent, powerful, and persistent symbols in human history. It has been ... The earliest pentagrams were rough diagrams found scratched into stone age caves. While they are believed to have some spiritual significance, the meaning of the star-shape to early humans is a mystery. In the civilizations that followed, it held various meanings, usually astronomical and religious. Pentagrams served to mark directions in Sumerian texts, and represented the five visible planets. Later, it was the sign of the planet Venus and the goddess . According to the Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, five was the number of man, because of the fivefold division of the body, and the ancient Greek division of the soul. According to Pythagoras, the five points of the pentagram each represent one of the five elements that make up man: fire, water, air, earth, and psyche. (energy, fluid, breath, matter, and mind; liquid, gas, solid, plasma and aethyr) The Pythagoreans held the pentacle sacred to Hygeia, the Goddess of healing, whose name (HGIEiA) was an anagram in Greek for the elements water, earth, spirit, fire, and air. This particular symbolism has persisted for centuries, and has greatly influenced theologies of diverse traditions. Early Christians wore it as an emblem, possibly to represent the wounds of Christ, or possibly due to connections between early Christians and the Pythagorean mysteries.* Later, the pentacle was important to many doctrines of esoteric Medieval and Renaissance belief systems- alchemy, kabbalah, and Ceremonial magick. In the Jewish kabbalistic tradition, which borrows many Pythagorean ideas, the pentagram represents the five upper sephiroth on the Tree of Life- five numbers, being indivisible by any but themselves, which represent pure archetypal forces: justice, mercy, wisdom, understanding, and transcendent splendor. Christian Kabbalists of the renaissance were especially enamored of the pentagram, which they viewed as a mystical proof of the divinity of Christ - to them, it symbolized Christ as the Holy Spirit manifest in the flesh. (There is a secret biblical connection, as well, in the name of the Christian holiday of Pentecost- the day the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles of Jesus is one of many geometrical 'proofs' in the New Testament disguised as stories). There are many connections between the pentagram and Christianity. Before the cross, it was a preferred emblem to adorn the jewelry and amulets of early Christians (followed by an 'x' or a phoenix). The pentagram was associated with the five wounds of Christ, and because it could be drawn in one continuous movement of the pen, the Alpha and the Omega as one. It was also an expression of a secret Gnostic heresy, found hidden here and there throughout Christian history- a symbol of Isis/Venus as the secret goddess, the female principle. The most notable instance of this symbolism is in the Arthurian Grail romances, which are Gnostic and kabbalistic teachings disguised as tales of knightly quests. Currently, the most common religious uses of the pentagram are by Wiccan and Neopagan groups. In most Wiccan and Neopagan traditions, its symbolic meaning is derived from Ceremonial magick and nineteenth century occultism- the four elements ruled by the spirit- although as these theologies mature, they have added to its meaning. In many of these traditions, it can also symbolize the unity of mankind with the earth or with the realm of the spirit, the human body, and more. A "point down" pentacle is nothing new- nor is it necessarily Satanic when it appears as such. Historical depictions of the pentagram were as likely to be points down as point up- a distinction between one or the other was rarely made by the ancients. Even today, one must not assume a point down pentagram is Satanic, as it is just likely to be Masonic, or Wiccan. In Wicca, pointed down is simply a symbol of the Wiccan horned God, and is still today an emblem of the Second Degree initiation in Gardnerian Wicca. Source(s):
Pentagram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram 1 Classification; 2 Early history ... The simple five-pointed star is not a pentagram. .... Other sources point to its origin in Chinese five-element philosophy (see ... Pentagram From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Pentagram (disambiguation). Type Schläfli symbol{5/2} Coxeter–Dynkin diagram
Symmetry group Contents [edit] Classification A pentacle is a pentagram with a circle around it (point-down in this image). [edit] Early history Hugieia Pentagram Representation of the Chinese five phases, or elements (Wǔ Xíng) Man inscribed in a pentagram, from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's De occulta philosophia libri tres. The five signs at the pentagram's vertices are astrological. Another pentagram from Agrippa's book. This one has the Pythagorean letters inscribed around the circle. A goat's head inscribed in a downward-pointing pentagram, from La Clef de la Magie Noire by the Rosicrucian Stanislas de Guaita (1897). Order of the Eastern Star emblem "... Ah, how do all my senses leap at this sight! I feel the young and sacred pleasure of life quivering in my nerves and veins. Was it a God who traced this sign which stills the vertigo of my soul, fills my poor heart with joy, and, in a mysterious rapture, unveils the forces of Nature around me? Am I myself a God? All is so clear to me: I behold in these simple line the revelation of active Nature to my soul. I realise for the first time the truth of the wise man's words: The world of spirits is not closed! Thy sense is obtuse, thy heart is dead! Arise! Bathe, O adept of science, thy breast, still enveloped by an unearthly veil, in the splendours of the dawning day!" (Faust, Part i.sc.i).[35] Fractal pentagram drawn with a vector iteration program Pentagrammic prism Pentagrammic antiprism Snub dodecadodecahedron 16th stellation of icosidodecahedron [edit] Higher dimensions The rectified 5-cell has 10 vertices and 30 edges. The rectified 5-simplex has 15 vertices, seen in this orthogonal projection as 3 nested pentagrams. The birectified 5-simplex has 20 vertices, seen in this orthogonal projection as 4 overlapping pentagrams. All ten 4-dimensional Schläfli-Hess polychoron have either pentagrammic faces or vertex figure elements. Successive inferior conjunctions of Venus repeat very near a 13:8 orbital resonance (The Earth orbits 8 times for every 13 orbits of Venus), creating a pentagrammic precession sequence. [edit] In visual arts Martina Schettina: Golden Pentagram 2009 The artist Martina Schettina uses pentagrams in her paintings.[36] The painting "Golden Pentagram" was shown at the Museumsquartier in Vienna in 2010.[37]
Retrieved 10 February 2006.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pentagrams
Categories: Christian symbols This page was last modified on 3 April 2012 at 01:38
1 2 9 1 3 1 4 1 2 9 1 ABRACADABRA ARAB CAD ARAB ABRACADABRA 1 2 9 1 3 1 4 1 2 9 1
I ME SET ISISIS SET OSIRIS ISISIS OSIRIS SET OSIRIS ISISIS OSIRIS SET
SIRIUS I SAY SIRIUS SAY I SIRIUS I SAY SIRIUS SAY I SIRIUS
I ME I SAY ISIS SAY I I SAY OSIRIS SAY I I SAY CHRIST SAY I I SAY KRISHNA SAY I I SAY RISHI ISHI ISHI RISHI SAY I I SAY VISHNU SHIVA SHIVA VISHNU SAY I ARISES THAT SUN SETS THAT SUN SETS THAT SUN ARISES THAT SUN OSIRIS THAT SON SETS THAT SON SETS THAT SON OSIRIS THAT SON
THAT SUN IS RISING RISING IS THAT SON THAT SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED
WISDOM OF THE EAST by Hari Prasad Shastri 1948 Page 8 "There is no such word in Sanscrita as 'Creation' applied to the universe. The Sanscrita word for Creation is Shristi, which means 'projection' Creation means to bring something into being out /Page 9/ of nothing, to create, as a novelist creates a character. There was no Miranda, for example, until Shakespeare created her. Similarly the ancient Indians (this term is innacurately used as there was no India at that time). who were our ancestors long, long ago. used a word for creation that means 'projection'.
Golden Ratio Pre History ... on the Periphery of the Temple of Osiris at Abydos”, KMT Winter 1997/8, .... The five-pointed star hieroglyph. This identification of the pentagram ... In their system, a star with five rays was the hieroglyphic sign for "seba" or “star”. ... The five- pointed star in its circum- circle could therefore also ... www.recoveredscience.com/const305goldenprehistory.htm
Numerals and constants Numerals A brief prehistory of the golden ratio Pentagrams before Pythagoras The oldest surviving written evidence for our species' knowledge of the unique "golden" section dates back to Byzantine times, about 888 CE or slightly later1, when the earliest extant copy of the mathematical textbook "The Elements" was written. The contents of this book, in turn, was attributed to the classical Greek mathematician Euclid who wrote around 300 BCE. He discussed this proportion as the "division in extreme and mean ratio". Before Euclid, the Athenian sculptor and architect Phidias (490 to 432 BCE) gets generally credited with having pioneered the use of this ratio in his design of the Parthenon temple for Athena, the Greek goddess of Wisdom, science, and art. Some scholars deny the presence of this ratio in that temple or any other building of its time, but it is to honor Phidias for its use that modern mathematicians often designate this ratio with the Greek letter f = phi. Phidias’ knowledge of this proportion, as well as the relevant chapters by Euclid, are said to be based on information from the Greek mathematician Pythagoras (about 580 to about 500 BCE)2. Some disciples of this semi- legendary philosopher and founder of a number- mystic sect reputedly used a pentagram as one of the symbols for his mathematical doctrine, and one of them is said to have displayed this phi- based geometrical figure on his door post as a secret sign of mutual recognition3. The sign and its meaning could remain secret despite that public display because only those initiated into the mysteries of Pythagoras' geometry were able to draw it correctly and to appreciate its deep significance as a symbol for and gateway to those mysteries. This is where the documented or reported trail of phi and the pentagram stops, at least in the current mainstream histories of science. Geometrically, the pentagram is an extension of the pentagon which is the same design without the star- arms. Both include in their proportions many instances of the golden ratio, and to draw either figure properly one must first construct that ratio, as illustrated on the "Golden Drawings" page, and as explained below. This construction requires analytical thinking. For instance, Sir Thomas Heath, the eminent translator of many Greek mathematical and astronomical texts, says about the pentagon in his "Summary of the Pythagorean Mathematical Discoveries": "... as [the construction of a regular pentagon] depends upon the construction of an isosceles triangle in which each of the base angles is the double of the vertical angle, and this again on the cutting of a line in extreme and mean ratio, we may fairly assume that this was the way in which the construction of the regular pentagon was actually evolved. It would follow that the solution of problems by analysis was already practiced by the Pythagoreans, notwithstanding that the discovery of the analytical method is attributed by Proclus to Plato. As the particular construction is practically given in Euclid IV:10,11, we may assume that the content of Euclid IV was also partly Pythagorean."4 The mathematical historian Roger Herz- Fischler concurs in his book “A Mathematical History of the Golden Number”:
Herz- Fischler says this postulated program of inscribing polygons into a circle was conceived in Greece. However, the Egyptians had long been scribing polygons around circles, and this requires the same mathematical approach and skills. Pharaonic stone masons made round columns by starting with polygon facets around the desired circle; then only did they cut away the excess material. According to Dieter Arnold, an Egyptologist who studied the ancient construction methods, this approach can be observed in the unfinished corner torus of Pylon IV at Karnak. This torus “... is not yet completely round but polygonal, thus preserving an intermediate step between the rectangular boss and the rounded torus”. Other columns were intentionally left polygonal, for instance, the two sixteen- sided limestone columns at the entrance of the small temple which Thutmose III built in Abydos. The same geometrical skills would also have been required for the half- and three- quarter- round engaged columns in king Djoser’s Saqqara buildings. Those columns are, moreover, both fluted and tapered, requiring precise guidelines in progressively adjusted sizes. Whatever method of analytical geometry the Egyptian column cutters may have used for drawing those many regular polygons, it seems that the pentagram expressed the essence of this science not only for the Pythagoreans but also for the temple designers of the Ramesside era, some 750 years before Pythagoras was born. Geometry was the special turf of Seshat, the divine mistress of temple plans. She presided over the so-called "House of Books", later also called the "House of Life", where the priests and sages maintained and transmitted traditions in all areas of knowledge, from medicine to magic and dream books, and above all the correct performance of rituals which included the design of all temples[8]. These proto- Universities or library archives appear in the titles of dignitaries from the Fourth Dynasty on. For instance, one of king Khufu’s sons was "Priest of Seshat presiding over the House of Books"[9]. Seshat’s most prominent task was the laying out of sacred buildings, together with the king. Her foundation ritual of "stretching the cord" is sculpted on many temple walls, and it was essential for assuring that the geometry of the building would correctly reflect the structure of heaven and earth which the temple was built to reproduce. As described in the chapter "Maat soulmate Seshat convicted for possessing pot and undeclared math", a beautiful and well preserved portrait of Seshat among the reliefs in the Luxor temple from around 1250 BCE shows a pentagram at the center of the hemp leaf in her emblem[10]. That pentagram is perched on its stem above her head as if this geometrical figure was already then a symbol for geometry, used there as an extra determinative for the most characteristic art taught by that goddess of geometry, writing, and general learning. The five-pointed star hieroglyph This identification of the pentagram with geometry may even go back much farther, all the way to the hieroglyph designer(s) of early Egypt. In their system, a star with five rays was the hieroglyphic sign for "seba" or “star”. Many carefully sculpted examples show these rays evenly spaced like those of a skinny pentagram although stars with six or eight rays would have been much easier to draw.
The ancient Egyptians attached great importance to similarities in sound or spelling of otherwise unrelated words. They believed such resemblances were a sign of deep connections between the objects or ideas such words represented, and this ancient principle gives us a glimpse at the associations they seem to have made with this penta- star. This same star, with a papyrus roll as determinative for abstract ideas, appeared also in the word "seba-eet" for “written teaching, instruction”, whereas the verb "seba" = "to teach, to learn" combined that star with a weapon- wielding arm. (This threatening arm referred presumably to the school master's rod since the word "seba-oo" for "education", based on the same root and with the same determinative, could also mean "punishment".) Whatever associations this punishing arm may have evoked in the pupils of the scribal schools, the teachings symbolized by the five- pointed star were also associated with doorways because the same "seba" signs as in the "teaching, learning" verb meant "gate" when their "armed- arm" determinative was replaced with that of a houseplan. The gates this pun on "learning" represented to the learners may have admitted these to the lucrative careers to which their learning opened the way, or to the wisdom which opened their minds. However, although such modern thoughts may also have played a role back then, the star in the word may have alluded above all to other gates which were even more important. Stars were thought to be the gates of heaven. Another word for them, "ankh-oo", included the "ankh" sign of life and a star plus the plural sign, and it had the same consonants as "ankh-oo" which was also a plural and meant "the living". Consistent with the ancient Egyptian habit of denying death, "the living" was an euphemism for the dead since the eternal afterlife of these was considered more real and more important than its brief prelude here while the future deceased still walked on earth. Dead pharaos became stars and circled the celestial north pole together with the other "Immortals", that is, the circumpolar stars which never disappear below the horizon. This may initially have been an exclusive privilege for royals, but as commoners gained access to the afterlife, stars came to represent also the souls of the dead in general. This connection between the star sign and the dead is expressed again unmistakably in the hieroglyph for the "duat" or "afterworld" which was the same five- pointed star but with a circle around it -- pi surrounding phi. As we saw earlier, a circle was the symbol of the sun and of its divine eternity. The "duat"- sign and its meaning implied therefore that geometry came from and belonged to that parallel but timeless and invisible realm where the gods dwelled, and the "justified" dead who went to join them. That netherworld realm was thus apparently also the world of the numbers and of the geometry from which it took its symbol.
This connection between numbers and stars and gods and the dead who became gods and/or stars makes sense in magical analog thinking because numbers and geometric objects are as timeless and as intangible as those spiritual beings, and as charged with mysterious powers. The Egyptians’ use of numbers in religious and magical contexts suggests that they perceived gods and numbers as related, just as the Mesopotamians did. Another habit of magical thinking is that a part can stand for or replace the whole. An important part of the ancient Egyptian afterworld were the gates to and within it through which the sun and the newly deceased had to pass on the way to their resurrection. Such gates appear already in the Pyramid Texts and in the Book of the Dead, and twelve serpent- guarded gates, one after each hour of this night voyage, became later such a defining feature for the netherworld that one of the popular guidebooks to it, first attested among the wall paintings in the tomb of king Horemheb (1319 to 1307 BCE), is now called "The Book of Gates" [12]. The five- pointed star in its circum- circle could therefore also designate the gates to that afterworld, matching the above presence of the star sign in the word for "gate". This usage of the symbol as an opening to the world beyond survived into Medieval and even Renaissance times when magicians typically drew a pentagram on the floor to summon spirits from that world and enclosed it in a circle to protect themselves and their audience from the dangers inherent in such contacts. Pythagoras as plagiarist These uses of the symbol for geometry indicate that the science it represented meant far more to its practitioners than a way to measure fields. They anticipate by more than two millennia the Pythagorean connection between this sign and that science, and they suggest therefore that Seshat, or her priests, had much earlier claims on the analytical method than any Greek. The prior art in the hieroglyph signs and on Narmer’s mace makes Pythagoras move over and abandon his bragging rights as that method’s alleged inventor. Indeed, many ancient authors tell us that Pythagoras picked up much of his knowledge from others. This purported discoverer of the golden ratio and of its pentagram symbol for the analytical method is notorious for having claimed as his own many discoveries that he had learned abroad. His almost contemporary, the four decades younger Greek philosopher Heraclitus who lived from about 540 to about 480 BCE and probably had access to some of the same sources as Pythagoras, accused him of systematic intellectual theft: "Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchos, has done more researching than all other people, and by reading together all these writings he pretended with punditry and artful lies that they were his own wisdom. (...) Pythagoras is the leader of the swindlers."[13] Similarly, though without the offensive terms or intent, all of Pythagoras’ ancient biographers stated that this reputed founder of Western science [14] owed much of his learning to the traditions of the Near East. For instance, the Neo- Platonic (and thus also Neo- Pythagorean) philosopher Iamblichus (about 250 to 325 CE) wrote relatively late but is said to have used early sources. According to his account, Pythagoras began his studies with the philosopher and mathematician Thales of Miletus (about 625 to 550 BCE) on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor and then continued them in the Levant : "... he sailed to Sidon, both because it was his native country, and because it was on his way to Egypt. In Phoenicia he conversed with the prophets who were the descendants of Moschus the physiologist (that is, Moses), and with many others, as well as with the local hierophants [priests who interpret religious rites and mysteries]. He was also initiated into all the mysteries of Byblos and Tyre, and in the sacred function performed in many parts of Syria. (...) After gaining all he could from the Phoenician mysteries, he found that they had originated from the sacred rites of Egypt, forming as it were an Egyptian colony. (...) Here in Egypt he frequented all the temples with the greatest diligence and most studious research, (...) acquiring all the wisdom each possessed. He thus passed twenty- two years in the sanctuaries of temples, studying astronomy and geometry, and being initiated in no casual or superficial manner in all the mysteries of the gods. At length, however, he was taken captive by the soldiers of Cambyses and carried off to Babylon. Here he was overjoyed to be associated with the Magi who instructed him in their venerable knowledge, and in the most perfect worship of the gods. Through their assistance, likewise, he studied and completed arithmetic, music, and all the other sciences. After twelve years, about the fifty- sixth year of his age, he returned to Samos." [15] Of course, Iamblichus may have embellished some of the details in his hagiography, such as the readiness of the local priests to initiate this stranger into all their secret teachings. We must also keep in mind that we have very little or no first- hand information about Pythagoras, and that his very existence can be questioned. He was a legend- encrusted figure, a miracle worker with a golden thigh who could be in two places at the same time. He was also a son of the god Apollo, and so exalted that a river once greeted him by name when he crossed it. Still, even if this fairy- tale Pythagoras may have never lived, the traditions from antiquity about his teachings are real, and it matters little if some other fellow (whom later writers only happened to call Pythagoras) may have spread the doctrine said to be his. The solid core of these traditions reflects that the greater part of the mathematical knowledge and discoveries known to the early Classical Greeks, and claimed by or ascribed to Pythagoras, actually came from the cradles of civilization in the Levant, the long- established trading partners and teachers of the then culturally just emerging Greeks. Pentagons in Solomon's Temple One of the groups most active in this transmission of ideas were the Phoenicians, acknowledged as such in several Greek myths like that of Cadmus bringing the alphabet to Thebes. In Iamblichus’ account, Pythagoras himself was of Phoenician descent and started his quest by traveling to that homeland of his. Several centuries before Pythagoras, at a time when Greek mathematics was barely at the stage of counting all the legs on a tripod, the Hebrew king Solomon hired Phoenician specialists to build his Temple, and he maintained close contacts with these gifted traders and craftsmen. The designer of his famous Temple in Jerusalem incorporated into that building many examples of the golden ratio, including the same phi- based construction from which the Pythagoreans would later derive their above recognition sign, and he used it in the same location as they would. The New English Bible translates in 1 Kings 6:21 that at the entrance to the Holy of Holies
If this translation is correct, then it implies that Solomon’s builders were also aware of this analysis- requiring construction, just like their Egyptian neighbors. Moreover, their use of of the pentagon for the cross- section of these door posts matches the way the above Pythagoreans would later affix the pentagram to the door posts to identify their dwellings to other members of their group. The only difference is that in the Temple, the pentagon was not oriented horizontally towards people but turned upwards to heaven since the door it marked was intended for God. The use of this recognition symbol in the door posts also matches how Jews from at least the Second Temple period on marked their door posts with mezuzahs to identify themselves to God for his protection[16], and it echoes how their ancestors in Egypt had smeared lamb’s blood on their door posts and lintels (Exodus 12:7) to identify themselves to God when he slew the Egyptians’ firstborn. All this evidence for pre-Greek knowledge of the golden ratio may be circumstantial, but it is cumulative and makes it appear much more likely than not that Pythagoras picked up the doctrine of the pentagram in Phoenicia or Egypt.
Star. (seba). Appearance: The Egyptians had extended knowledge of the ... The stars were called the "Followers of Osiris and represented the souls in the underworld. The five-pointed star within a circle was the Egyptian symbol of the ... Appearance: The Egyptians had extended knowledge of the night sky and the stars above. The circumpolar stars (the set of stars that seemed to "orbit" the North Star through the course of the night and thus never dipped below the horizon) were called the "Imperishable Ones". Most of the brighter stars were named by the Egyptians and they named thirty-eight constellations. These constellations were used to divide the night sky into "decans" (from the Greek word for "Ten"). The decans were called "the thirty-six gods of heaven and each ruled for ten-days each year. The Egyptian symbol for the stars was a symbol five-pointed line drawing, resembling the sea stars (aka "starfish") that inhabited the Red Sea. In older examples, the drawing has rounder ends and the center is marked by two concentric rings. Egyptian star charts and decan tables often used dots or circles, as well as the hieroglyph. Meaning: The infinite and unchanging nature of the stars overhead influenced the development of the Egyptian calendar and their beliefs regarding the life after death. Every Egyptian temple was a complex model of the cosmos and thus many images of the stars, constellations and stellar deities grace temple ceilings. In instances where the night sky was charted on the ceiling, brighter stars were sometimes designated by circles - like the sun disks. In decorative uses, the sky hieroglyph and the body of the sky-goddess Nut was decorated with five-pointed stars. It was believed that the stars did not just inhabit this world, but in the Duat (land of the afterlife) as well. The Egyptians believed that the ba might ascend to the sky to live as a star in heaven. Many tombs also featured deep blue ceilings dotted with bright yellow stars in the exact image of the hieroglyph in hopes to make the ba feel at home in its new dwelling place. The stars were called the "Followers of Osiris and represented the souls in the underworld. The five-pointed star within a circle was the Egyptian symbol of the Duat.
"His watchmen are all blind: they are ignorant…" (v 10). This verse begins a new section of five verses continuing until chapter 57 v 2 (notwithstanding the ... www.azamra.org/Bible/Isaiah Avraham Ben Yaakov
ISAIAH CHAPTER 55 "Ho all who are thirsty, come to water…" (v 1). "After the war of Gog and Magog the nations will recognize that God rules over all and that there is none beside Him, and then they will come to Jerusalem to learn God's laws and teachings… Water is a metaphor for Torah and wisdom – for just as the world cannot survive without water, so the world cannot survive without wisdom, and just as a thirsty person craves for water, so the wise soul craves for Torah and wisdom… The Torah is also compared to wine and milk. Just as wine makes the heart rejoice, so do words of Torah. And just as milk keeps a baby alive and makes it grow, so words of Torah keep the soul alive and make it grow" (RaDaK ad loc.). "Why do you spend money for that which is not bread?" (v 2) – "Why should you pay your enemies money without receiving bread?" (Rashi ad loc.) "Why do you pay a high price to study alien systems of wisdom and philosophy that have no benefit?" (Metzudas David ad loc.) "Hear and your soul shall live" (v 3) – "Listen to Me and you will merit to stand in the resurrection in the days of Mashiach" (Metzudas David ad loc.). "And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure loving promises of David" (v 3) – "This is Mashiach, for he will be called by the name of David… He will be the teacher of the nations 'and he will judge between the nations and rebuke many peoples' (Is. 2:4)" (RaDaK ad loc.). "Seek HaShem while He may be found…" (v 6). Isaiah now addresses the people in exile, calling on them to repent. They should seek God "while He may be found" – i.e. "BEFORE the decree is finalized, while He is still telling you to seek Him out" (Rashi). "…while He is NEAR" – "seek Him in such a way that He will be near, i.e. when you seek Him WITH ALL YOUR HEART" (RaDaK). "Seek out the fear of HaShem while you are still alive" (Targum). "For My thoughts are not as Your thoughts…" (v 8) "My laws are not like the laws of flesh and blood. In your world, if a man admits to a crime he is judged guilty, but by My law, 'Whoever confesses and forsakes [his sins] shall be shown mercy' (Proverbs 28:13)" (Rashi on v 8). "If a man commits an offense against his fellow, he takes vengeance on him and will not forgive him, and even if he forgives him on the surface he nurses a grudge in his heart… But I am full of forgiveness. And when I forgive, I do so in truth, and no trace of the sin remains" (RaDaK on v 8). "For as the rain comes down… and does not return there but waters the earth…" (v 9) – "The rain and the snow do not return to the skies through evaporation without first watering the earth… Sometimes a person sends someone to do something but the agent comes back without accomplishing his mission. But 'My word… shall not return to Me empty'" (Metzudas David ad loc.). "For you shall go out with joy…" (v 12). The redemption will bring great joy. Moreover, joy – SIMCHAH – itself is the avenue that leads to redemption. "It is a great mitzvah to be joyful always" (Rabbi Nachman of Breslov). "Instead of the thorn, the cypress shall arise…" (v 13) – "In place of the wicked, the righteous will rise up" (Rashi ad loc.). The "thorn" and the "nettle" refer to Haman and Vashti, while the "cypress" and the "myrtle refer to Mordechai and Esther (Megillah 10b). CHAPTER 56 "Guard justice and practice charity, for My salvation is near to come…" (v 1). "Great is charity for it brings the redemption closer" (Bava Kama 10a). "Great is Teshuvah for it brings the redemption closer. Great is charity for it brings salvation closer" (Yoma 87a). "Happy is the man that does this… that keeps the Sabbath…" (v 2). "The Sabbath is mentioned specifically at this juncture because the prophet is addressing the people in exile, urging them to improve their ways in order to leave their exile, and the best of all pathways is the observance of the Sabbath, while the exile from the land came about because of the transgression of the Sabbath" (RaDaK on v 2). "Whoever observes the Sabbath according to its laws, even if he worshiped idols as in the days of Enosh, he will be forgiven… If Israel kept two Sabbaths according to the law, they would be redeemed immediately" (Shabbos 118b). "Let not the son of the stranger who has joined himself to HaShem say, HaShem will surely separate me from His people, nor let the eunuch say, Behold I am a dry tree" (v 3). The "son of the stranger" is a convert who does not have children after his conversion; he is similar to a "eunuch" who has no children… Such a convert may think that he will not be considered a member of HaShem's people either in this world or in the world to come, and likewise the childless may think that if he leaves no son after him it is as if he never came into the world and God takes no favor in him, since God created the world for the sake of procreation…" (RaDaK on v 3). But quite the contrary, God promises that those childless "that will observe My Sabbaths" (=the weekly Sabbaths and the Sabbatical years, RaDaK) will receive "in My House and within My walls (=the Temple in Jerusalem ) a place and a name (YAD VASHEM) better than sons and daughters" (v 5). [The name YAD VASHEM has been given to Israel 's Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem .] Likewise God promises the "children of the stranger" that "I shall bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My House of Prayer…" (v 7). "Just as a person brings a guest into his home and receives him gladly, so God says, I shall command the priests to accept them gladly when they come to convert, and they will rejoice when they see themselves in the Temple courtyard year by year with the people of Israel" (RaDaK). "For My house shall be called the House of Prayer for all the nations (v 7) – "Not only for Israel alone but also for those of the nations who convert" (see Rashi and Metzudas David ad loc.). "HaShem God who gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather others to him, besides those of him that are already gathered" (v 8): "I shall gather in more converts to be added to all the ingathered people of Israel " (Metzudas David). "All you beasts of the field: come into the forest to devour all the beasts thereof" (v 9). "The beasts of the field do not have as much strength as the beasts of the forest. The 'beasts of the field' refers to the gentiles who will not harden their hearts but will convert. They shall 'devour' (win over?) those who harden their hearts and continue their rebellion" (Metzudas David ad loc.). "His watchmen are all blind: they are ignorant…" (v 10). This verse begins a new section of five verses continuing until chapter 57 v 2 (notwithstanding the conventional chapter break in printed Bibles, which violates the continuity of the Hebrew text). "After completing the previous prophecy of consolation, the prophet returns to rebuking the wicked people of his generation" (RaDaK on v 10). "The prophet began by saying, 'Seek out HaShem' (Is. 55:6) but the people do not listen. He therefore now says: See how the prophets are crying to them to repent for their own wellbeing, but their leaders are all like blind men who do not see what is developing. They are like a watcher appointed to see if the sword is approaching in order to warn the people, but he is blind and fails to see the sword coming, dumb and unable to warn the people – like a dog appointed to guard the house but he is dumb and does not bark. Likewise the leaders of Israel fail to warn the people to repent… Just as dogs never know satisfaction, these 'shepherds' do not know or understand what will happen at the end of days… 'Every one is out for his own gain': They rob the rest of the people over whom they are appointed" (Rashi on vv 10-11). Let us be the ones who hear the call of HaShem in order that our souls shall live!
THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWNTREADER
C. S. Lewis 1952
Page 155
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE WORLD
Page 155 Then something seemed to be flying at them out of the very centre of the rising sun: but of course one couldn't look steadily in that direction to make sure.But presently the air became full of voices - voices which took up the same song that the Lady and her Father were singing, but in far wilder tones and in a language which no one knew. And soon after that the owners of these voices could be seen. They were birds, large and white, and they came by hundreds and thousands and alighted on everything; on the grass, and the pavement, on the table, on your shoulders, your hands, and your head, till it looked as if heavy snow had fallen. For, like snow, they not only made / Page 157 / everything white but blurred and blunted all shapes. But Lucy, looking out from between the wings of the birds that covered her, saw one bird fly to the Old Man with something in its beak that looked like a little fruit, unless it was a little live coal, which it might have been, for it was too bright to look at. And the bird laid it in the Old Man's mouth.
THE HOLY BIBLE Scofield References Isaiah Chapter 6 Page 718 3 "And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWNTREADER
C. S. Lewis 1952
Page 155
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE WORLD
Page 155 Then something seemed to be flying at them out of the very centre of the rising sun: but of course one couldn't look steadily in that direction to make sure.But presently the air became full of voices - voices which took up the same song that the Lady and her Father were singing, but in far wilder tones and in a language which no one knew. And soon after that the owners of these voices could be seen. They were birds, large and white, and they came by hundreds and thousands and alighted on everything; on the grass, and the pavement, on the table, on your shoulders, your hands, and your head, till it looked as if heavy snow had fallen. For, like snow, they not only made / Page 157 / everything white but blurred and blunted all shapes. But Lucy, looking out from between the wings of the birds that covered her, saw one bird fly to the Old Man with something in its beak that looked like a little fruit, unless it was a little live coal, which it might have been, for it was too bright to look at. And the bird laid it in the Old Man's mouth.
Then the birds stopped their singing and appeared to be very busy about the table. When they rose from it again everything on the table that could be eaten or drunk had disappeared. These birds rose from their meal in their thousands and hundreds and carried away all the things that could not be eaten or drunk, such as bones, rinds, and shells, and took their flight back to the rising sun. But now, because they were not singing, the whir of their wings seemed to set the whole air a-tremble. And there was the table pecked clean and empty, and the three old Lords of Narnia still fast asleep. Now at last the Old Man turned to the travellers and bade them welcome. "Sir," said Caspian, "will you tell us how to undo the enchantment which holds these three Narnian Lords asleep. " "I will gladly tell you that, my son," said the Old Man. "To break this enchantment you must sail to the World's End, or as near as you can come to it, and you must come back having left at least one of your company behind." "And what must happen to that one?" asked Reepicheep. "He must go on into the utter east and never return into the world." "That is my heart's desire," said Reepicheep. "And are we near the World's End now, Sir?" asked Caspian. "Have you any knowledge of the seas and lands further east than this?" / Page 158 / "I saw them long ago," said the Old Man, "but it was from a great height. I cannot tell you such things as sailors need to know. " "Do you mean you were flying in the air?" Eustace blurted out. "I was a long way above the air, my son," replied the Old Man. "I am Ramandu. But I see that you stare at one another and have not heard this name. And no wonder, for the days when I was a star had ceased long before any of you knew this world, and all the constellations have changed. " "Golly," said Edmund under his breath. "He's a retired star. " . "Aren't you a star any longer?" asked Lucy. "I am a star at rest, my daughter," answered Ramandu. Page 159
"When I set for the last time, decrepit and old beyond all that you can reckon, I was carried to this island. I am not so old now as I was then. Every morning a bird brings me a fire-berry from the valleys in the Sun, and each fire-berry takes away a little of my age. And when 1 have become as young as the child that was born yesterday, then I shall take my rising again (for we are at earth's eastern rim) and once more tread the great dance."
"In our world," said Eustace, "a star is a huge ball of flaming gas. " "Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of. And in this world you have already met a star: for I think you have been with Coriakin. " "Is he a retired star, too?" said Lucy. "Well, not quite the same," said Ramandu. "It was not quite as a rest that he was set to govern the Duffers. You might call it a punishment. He might have shone for thousands of years more in the southern winter sky if all had gone well. " "What did he do, Sir?" asked Caspian. "My son," said Ramandu, "it is not for you, a son of Adam, to know what faults a star can commit. But come, we waste time in such talk. Are you yet resolved? Will you sail further east and come again, leaving one to return no more, and so break the enchantment? Or will you sail westward?" "Surely, Sire," said Reepicheep, "there is no question about that? It is very plainly part of our quest to rescue these three lords from enchantment" "I think the same, Reepicheep," replied Caspian. "And even if it were not so, it would break my heart not to go as near the World's End as the Dawn Treader will take us. But I am thinking of the crew. They signed on to seek the / Page 160 / seven lords, not to reach the rim of the Earth. If we sail east from here we sail to find the edge, the utter east. And no one knows how far it is. They're brave fellows, but I see signs that some of them are weary of the voyage and long to have our prow pointing to Narnia again. I don't think I should take them further without their knowledge and consent. And then there's the poor Lord Rhoop. He's a broken man. " "My son," said the star, "it would be no use, even though you wished it, to sail for the World's End with men unwilling or men deceived. That is not how great unenchantments are achieved. They must know where they go and why. But who is this broken man you speak of?" Caspian told Ramandu the story of Rhoop. "I can give him what he needs most," said Ramandu. "In this island there is sleep without stint or measure, and sleep in which no faintest footfall of a dream was ever heard. Let him sit beside these other three and drink oblivion till your return." "Oh, do let's do that, Caspian," said Lucy. "I'm sure it's just what he would love." At that moment they were interrupted by the sound of many feet and voices: Drinian and the rest of the ship's company were approaching. They halted in surprise when they saw Ramandu and his daughter; and then, because these were obviously great people, every man uncovered his head. Some sailors eyed the empty dishes and flagons on the table with regret. "My lord," said the King to Drinian, "pray send two men back to the Dawn Treader with a message to the Lord Rhoop. Tell him that the last of his old shipmates are here asleep - a sleep without dreams - and that he can share it." When this had been done, Caspian told the rest to sit down and laid the whole situation before them. When he / Page 161 / had finished there was a long silence and some whispering until presently the Master Bowman got to his feet, and said:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
