Part III: Saturn and the Games of [G]Old

Games of Gold

In the beginning was the Golden Age, when men of their own accord, without threat of punishment, without laws, maintained good faith and did what was right. . . . The earth itself, without compulsion, untouched by the hoe, unfurrowed by any share, produced all things spontaneously. . . . It was a season of everlasting spring.    ~ Ovid, 6th Book of Metamorphasis

Standing more than 40 feet tall and constructed of ivory and gold, the statue of Zeus within the Temple at Olympia on the west coast of Greece was constructed around the year 435 B.C. and sat overlooking the grounds of the ancient Olympics. Re-creation by Marten Jacobszoon Heemskerk van Veen.

As I have been discussing in my last two posts, there is an emerging collective awareness -- whether deliberately imprinted by the media, or bubbling up from unconscious or stellar realms -- that we may be on the brink of the return of the Golden Age.  And whether you believe that the Golden Age heralds a positive shift in consciousness or a negative imprisonment in Eden, it always arrives with a tumultuous bang.  For the past decade the year 2012 has been the focal point of end time prophesies in part due to Terrence McKenna's theory of singularity and many misinterpretations of the significance of the Mayan Calendar's end date.   Our collective fear of an apocalypse is now being projected onto the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London where unprecedented pre-emptive measures have enlisted 20,000 personnel – more than a tenth of the entire Armed Forces of Britain.

The media's use of provocative language, such as associating a "global spectacle" with the "holy grail" of terrorists is disturbing, especially in light of all the Arthurian symbolism emerging around the event.   No wonder conspiracy theorists are predicting that sex magic and blood sacrifices may be orchestrated during the Olympics, all part of a global ritual to enhance the hidden powers that be.  Moreover, the arrests of 14 people in the last week on suspicion of terrorism in Britain has only served to heighten jitters among police and security officials as the upcoming Olympics fixes the gaze of the world — including potential aggressors — on London.

And the internet is full of heightened conspiracy chatter.  Blogs and alternative media are uncovering all sorts of symbolic meaning embedded in the architecture, medals, music, land, ceremonies and media coverage of not only the Olympics, but also the concurrent Queen's Jubilee.  As they say, it’s all hidden in plain view for those who know how to see.  And of course I have contributed to the discussion with my own astrological interpretation of the emerging archetypes.  While I am not so sure that a false flag terrorist event is on the horizon as some in the alternative media propose, or that all this hoopla is a form of "reverse predictive programming" like Operation Blackjack, there is still symbolic evidence that, whether or not bombs go off in London, or aliens land on top of Big Ben/(Elizabeth's Tower), a ritualistic sacrifice of some sort may be brewing.  

Saturn and the Golden Age

The XXX Olympiad commences on July 27, 2012 with the Opening Ceremony whose worldwide broadcast starts at 9 pm under a sky ruled by Saturn, the planet most associated with the Golden Age.  Whether in the distant past, or in another dimension where there is no time, Saturn rules a kingdom where no one grows old and all points of time exist simultaneously in what Terrence McKenna might have described as singularity.

Claude Lorrain, Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helion (Parnassus)1680

 
Ancient Greek mythology describes the Golden Age as a time when Gods walked on Earth, and Saturn/Kronos maintained peaceful anarchy.  But as Tracy Twyman writes:  

. . . we know that in order to maintain this form of rule, he killed his own children to prevent them from growing up to overtake him. The only reason the Golden Age was so golden was because Saturn’s children were paying the price of the sacrifice.   

The Golden Age came to an end when Saturn's son, Zeus, over threw him, repeating the patricidal sacrifice of Saturn's own father, Uranus.  So, just what would it take to return to a Golden Age?  Is it even possible?  Does it require a violent rebellion against the father or male dominated systems?

Vasari, Kronos castrating his father Uranus 1560

Zeus overthrowing Kronos/Titanomachy  by Cornelis van Haarlem, 1588

According to the Vedas, there are four world ages: Satya (Golden) Yuga, Treta (Silver) Yuga, Dvapara (Bronze) Yuga, and Kali (Iron) Yuga. The Satya (Golden) Yuga is one quarter longer than the Treta (Silver) Yuga, and the Treta Yuga is one quarter longer than the Dvapara (Bronze) Yuga, and finally the Dvapara one quarter longer than the Kali (Iron) Yuga.  Thus each successive age is incrementally shorter and less bright than the previous one. These cycles are said to measure great cycles of revolution around the a universal or galactic center, or more locally around a companion sun that many mystics believe is Sirius. Some modern Hindu seers, such as Sri Yukteswar, divide the Great Year into two sets of ascending/descending Yuga cycles, each consisting of 12,000 years.  During the ascending cycle consciousness expands, and during the descending cycle consciousness declines. We are currently at the beginning of the Dvapara Yuga on an upward trend.

Of of my favorite hermetic authors, Jay Weidner, has applied the concept of the diminishing succession of the yuga cycles to a modern understanding of the hypersphere -- a toroidal shape representing the four dimensions of space, including time. As you can see from this illustration, he theorizes that the spin of the four dimensions of space expand and contract in a torus with the dense Iron Age spinning and condensing to a point of singularity that suddenly shifts in an instant into the glorious Golden Age.

In his fascinating article, 2012 The Topology of Time: Hyperdimensional Space and the Unfolding of the Four Ages, Weidner writes:

The borderline between the Iron Age and the Golden Age is the most distinct border in this topographical illustration of hyperdimensional time.  It is jarring and is instantaneous.

 

According to the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, Krishna says that a Golden Age will start 5,000 years after the beginning of the Kali Yuga ,which fits Weidner's hyperspace model, McKenna's Novelty Theory, and Mayan Calendar observations.  Could all the media hype surrounding the 2012 Summer Olympic Games be a sign that this singularity is about to occur?  However, other modern mystics, such as Sri Yukteswar teach that the Kali Yuga ended -- and the Dvapara Yuga began -- over three hundred years ago.  During the 18th century the shift in consciousness during the Age of Enlightenment does seem to coincide with the dawn of the Dvarpara Yuga.  Isn't it fascinating that Uranus, the father of Saturn/Kronos was discovered as a result of the emerging technology and inventions.  Western astrologers describe Uranus as the great Awakener, a planet of sudden change and rebellion. During this time revolutions threatened the monarchies of Europe and inspired the birth of more egalitarian governments than those based on the ashes of the ancient Roman empire of Jupiter/Zeus.  It was as though Uranus was ruling the Age once again.  Now with the recurring Saturn-Moon conjunctions evident in many global events and rituals, might it be a sign that Saturn/Kronos is poised to rise up again to castrate the Uranian political experiments and technological chaos in order to restore the peaceful life of the Golden Age? Let's take a closer look.

Duty and Sacrifice

Because astrology is my strongest divination tool, I often turn to it to get a sense of the big cosmic picture using Prasna, or Event charts.  Based on the belief that the microcosm is a reflection of the macrocosm, astrology can be used to look at planetary and star patterns that may be nested through out many levels of reality.  In my last post I examined the event chart for the Opening Ceremony and noticed that Saturn, the Lord of the Rings, presides over this moment in time the from the 9th house of law, ceremonies, and official sanctions with the planet of energy, war, competition and athletics, Mars.  The 9th house is an auspicious dharma house that represents our highest principles as expressed in domains like law, religion and philosophy. Because of its connection with the father, it is also a house of sacrifice.  In a natal chart it signifies the father, his sacrifices for the family and spiritual life, and his influence over his children's spiritual practices, personal philosophy of life, perception of reality, and reaction to new ideas; but in an event chart it may signify the influence of the collective father over his country and world views or his own sacrifice to ensure his collective family survives.  In this case, the 9th house of the father is ruled by the constellation of the Mother Goddess, Virgo, a sign of perfection, harvest, and completion of the planting cycle, not to mention another face of the Mother Goddess as personified by England, or rather Britain, itself.  Might Saturn in Virgo lay the foundation for the return of the goddess and divine feminine?  Or does its conjunction with Mars indicate a sudden and swift sacrifice reaped with Saturn's sharp scythe and will it return him to the golden throne?

 There is an intriguing synchronicity of the Saturn-Mars conjunction of the Opening Ceremony chart with the natal chart of Prince William, who also has a similar Saturn-Mars conjunction in his 10th house of public service.  Mars is the planet that rules Williams natal 5th house of kingship and it is conjunct Saturn, which is his atmakaraka planet -- indicator of highest purpose in life.  The Saturn-Mars conjunction infers that he is an authority figure (Saturn) in his nation's military (Mars), and potential ruler of a Virgoan society -- Britain.   As I mentioned in a post about his engagement, William's Saturn dasha began simultaneously with his Saturn return in 2010. At that time he seemed to come of age and accept the responsibility of his potential future role as future father and King of England.  Both the announcement of his engagement and Royal Wedding date were cosmically significant with Saturn lording over his public persona via its 10th house transit.  Even his engagement photo reveals his reserved Saturnine nature along with his wife's Saturnine-blue Issa (Isis) dress.  Furthermore the blue sapphire and diamond engagement ring that belonged to his deceased mother was, in his words, my way to make sure my mother did not miss out on today and the excitement that we are going to spend the rest of our lives together -- in Saturn's elusive netherworld?  Saturn also cast a strong influence in the chart of the Royal Wedding  which took place on an ancient Celtic cross-quarter holiday, Beltane, that literally fired up a global and galactic Hieros gamos, or Chemical Wedding.  Although Saturn is very strong in his natal chart, it does rule the second and third houses making it a first rate maraka, or death inflicting planet for the young Prince.  In order for William to become King both the Queen and his father will have to die, or to abdicate. Thus his future as King depends on death, or the fall, of his father.  Sound familiar to any ancient Greek families?

Isle of Wonder

In my last post, I examined how the Opening Ceremony program -- the Isle of Wonder -- was designed by director Danny Boyle to celebrate everything that was unique and special to the British Isles.  It begins with a green and pleasant tableau that alludes to myths of the Golden Age; its Christian counterpart, Revelation's New Jerusalem; the return of the Once and Future King of Arthurian legend; and even Atlantis. Occult writers are quick to point out that the concentric rings of the stadium and water mote surrounding the Isle of Wonder may also be an allusion the lost city of Atlantis.  So is it any wonder that on July 2, 2012 researchers from Prince William's alma mater, St. Andrews University, announced that they have found Britain's Atlantis in traces of ancient land swallowed by waves 8,500 years ago.

According to the article, Britain's Atlantis, or "Doggerland" once stretched from Scotland to Denmark before the great deluge. 

The research suggests that the populations of these drowned lands could have been tens of thousands, living in an area that stretched far from Northern Scotland across to Denmark and down the English Channle as far as the Channel Islands. The area was once the 'real heartland' of Europe and was hit by 'a devastaing tsunami.'

The timing of this press release occurred while the brightest star in the sky, the blue star Sirius, also called the "dog star" as it is located in Canis Major, disappeared into the effulgence of the Sun's summer rays.  Since ancient times Sirius has been associated with the legendary lost city of Atlantis and their descendants, the Egyptian Pharaohs beginning with Osiris and Isis.  Many ancient cultures and mystics pointed to Sirius as the home of our ancestral fathers, creator gods, and spiritual teachers. In the Sirius Mystery, Robert Temple claimed that the ancient African tribe known as the Dogons knew details about the faint white dwarf star (Sirius B) circling in a binary orbit around Sirius that would be impossible to be know without the use of telescopes. According to their mythology, humans are descended from a race of amphibians called the Nommo, who were inhabitants of the Sirius star system.  They are said to have descended from the sky and transformed humans with their advanced knowledge.  In occult traditions they are the teachers of the people of the lost Golden Age city of Atlantis, which now appears to be revealing some of its sunken mysteries off the shores of Great Britain -- or at least that seems to be the message.

Fish Gods with the Tree of life, or thistle? Assyria, 700 BC

  

The motto is Nemo me impune lacessit (No one harms me with impunity).

 
Ancient Mystery Schools consider Sirius to be the secret “sun behind the sun,” or our Sun's companion star, and the true source of our sun’s potency -- and the potency of Sun Kings.  Its annual disappearance from the night sky, and helical return 60 days later, heralded the annual flooding of the Nile in ancient Egypt, where Sirius was associated with the Goddess Isis.  It was believed that her tears brought the flood as she mourned and wept for her husband Osiris, the first divine King of Egypt.  And, like the transition of Venus from evening star to morning star, the disappearance and reappearance cycles of Sirius are considered shamanic processes of death and rebirth imbuing those deities and rulers associated with it with immortality and royal divinity.  Five thousand years ago in ancient Egypt, the heliacal rise of Sirius occurred on the Summer Solstice and linked the royal throne to Isis and her descendants: the royal bloodlines of Europe.

As I have mentioned before, Prince William was born on the Summer Solstice with his natal Sun and Moon in particular receiving the hidden light of Isis.  While the media was reporting on the discovery of Britain's Atlantis, Prince William was becoming supernumerary Knight of the Order of the Thistle in Edin(Eden)burg, Scotland.  Membership in the Order is limited to sixteen knights and the Sovereign (Queen Elizabeth) for a total of 17 (the Star card in Tarot and number associated with Osiris) members.  Prince William is a supernumerary Knight and 21st member of the Order, whose blazing star may be symbolic of the hidden companion sun, Sirius.  Also notice how the thistle resembles the Tree of Life in the Assyrian/Sirian relief above, like the one on top of  the Maypole representing Scotland situated at the base of the replica of Glastonbury Tor in the Opening Ceremony tableau.

Although Stonehenge, Avebury, and Newgrange were built during the Golden Age of the British Isles, none of these architectural icons are depicted in the Olympic pastoral setting. Instead Boyle selected Glastonbury Tor, the legendary location of Avalon and mythical resting place of the Holy Grail, as a focal point for this pastoral setting.  So it is clear that Boyle is alluding to this specific Golden Age myth and the idyllic kingdom of Camelot because it supports the royal bloodline mythology of British kingship that has given legitimacy to the monarchy.  He has also created a time wave of singularity by linking the past, present and future in his imaginary and anachronistic mosaic.

According to Boyle, the aim of the ceremony is to create "a picture of ourselves as a nation".  At one end of the rolling British countryside is a replica of Glastonbury Tor, and unlike the real tor this one "has an oak tree on it," which may be a subtle reference to the pagan Oak King who rules over of the summer months -- perhaps like Prince William who was born on the Summer Solstice and is thought to be breathing new life into the outworn and dusty monarchy.  And at either end of the giant stage are two Mosh pits which Boyle hopes will "do battle."  The one beneath the Tor represents the Glastonbury Music Festival, which has gone "fallow" this year due to the Olympics significantly reaping no harvest.  The other mosh pit is dedicated to the Last Night of Proms (Proms = Promenades, or Prometheus), which is a yearly concert that celebrates British tradition with patriotic music on the second Saturday (Saturn's day) of September -- a British Saturnalia?  This year the Last Night of the Proms falls on September 8, 2012 and features some very intriguing pieces including Mark Simpson's Spark, C2; Suk's Towards a New Life; Delius' Songs of Farewell; John Williams' Olympic Fanfare; and of course Parry's Jerusalem to name a few.

In addition to the Mosh Pits, there are scenes of farm life, with live animals, a cricket match, a horse and plough, and four Maypoles, each with a flower representing the lands of England (rose), Scotland (thistle), Wales (daffodil) and Northern Ireland (flax).  Remember that Saturn also rules land and real estate. This elaborate narrative traces the continuity between Britain's past, present, and future by combining seemingly disparate images into a kind of anachronistic mosaic in which there is no sense of time.  In effect he is creating an in potentia otherworld of Saturn's unrule -- British style.  Remember  Tracy Twyman's  description of Saturn's golden age primordial worlds:

What these myths of the Golden Age, Garden of Eden, and other primordial paradises really point to is the concept of a cosmic center: a kingdom that doesn’t really exist, except in the Otherworld, in potentia. But it is said to be at the heart of our own existence, and its essence can be felt everywhere. It is a place where there is no time as we know it. Rather, all points of time exist simultaneously, and all space as well. This is why the people who live there are said to never grow old.

Games of Lugh

Although Boyle's Maypoles may depict four regions of Britain, they also evoke the ancient ritual of dancing around the Maypole associated with spring fertility rites of Beltane, the high pagan holiday that was selected for the Royal Alchemical Wedding date.  But in the case of the Olympics, why would there be four Maypoles at the Opening Ceremony?  Notice how they are placed perpendicular to each other -- like the four cross-quarters celebrated by the ancient Celts throughout the British Isles and Europe: Beltane, Lughnasadh, Samhain, and Imbolc and depicted in the Wheel of the Year.

But instead of taking the shape of the Christian cross, the cross-quarters form an X, like the chi of the chi ro.

ChiRho page from the Lindisfarne Gospels

Or the X of Scotland's patron saint, St. Andrew, who is prominently displayed on the Order of the Thistle that Prince William just received.

But this X belies a much older connection to the ancient cross-quarter days of the Celtic Wheel of the Year.  These cross-quarter days occur in the middle of each season and ancient people celebrated these solar holidays with fire ceremonies.  One of these holidays, Lughnasadh, was also an ancient Irish sporting festival. Is it a coincidence that timing of the modern Olympic Games coincides with another sporting tradition of lost Golden Age?  The Assembly of Tailti  was an ancient Irish sports and games festival that occurred during the last fortnight of July and culminates in a fire sacrifice on August 1st, the cross-quarter holiday Lughnasadh.  It originated far in the Neolithic past to commemorate the last queen of the first people of Ireland, the Fir Bolg.  

After clearing the land, Tailtu gave birth to fields of grain and then died from her efforts. Like many primitive earth goddesses, Tailtu came from and returned, like wheat chaff, to the land.  ~ C. Austin

But as the neolithic age shifted to the Bronze age, Tailtu was gradually replaced by the masculine sky god, Lugh.  And the narrative changed.

Reims tricephalic god identified as Lugus

Lugh is an Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past.  Like Kronos and Zeus, there was a prophecy that the Femorian giant Balor would be murdered by a grandson, so he imprisoned his only daughter in a cave.  However, one of his enemies of the magical Tuatha de Danaan clan seduced her and she became pregnant, later giving birth to triplets.  When Balor found out about his grandchildren, threw the infants into a whirlpool to drown, but Lugh survived and was raised in foster care by a smith, much like Kartikeya and Skanda in Hindu mythology.  Later Lugh lead the Tuatha de Danaan in battle and killed Balor.  Lughnasad marks the halfway point between the summer solstice and autumnal equinox and it marks the waning days of the Oak King, who like Tailtu loses his vitality after bringing in the harvest and dies. This fire ceremony is a time of sacrifice – making sacred – when the Goddess gives up the Old King in preparation for the new one; and when the Old King, Lugh, offers himself for sacrifice to renew the contract with the Land. Although few modern scholars agree that the root of Lug, or Lugh, may be derived from the Proto-Indo-European word leuk or lewk meaning  "white, bright, light, or to shine," most researchers would agree that it is derived from leug meaning to "swear an oath."  An ancient tradition of Lughnasadh is the formation of oaths.  Because they had to wait for the crops to be harvested, business transactions and marriaged were formed and renewed at this time of year and even became part of the Lughnasadh festivities. On August 1st, Lughnassadh culminates in a fire ceremony in which an effigy of Lugh, or the Greenman, is burned as the so-called Wickerman.  The God's death is necessary for the rebirth of the next season of crops, with his rebirth at Yule, and coming of age at Beltane.

From the 1973 movie The Wickerman

The setting of the Sun as the Wickerman burns

There are many ancient Irish mythologies associated with this Wheel of the Year that describe the duality of the God and Goddess or the battle of Two Kings (here we go again).

The triumvirate goddess: Banba, Fotla and Eriu,
According to ancient Irish legend, Ireland was first called the island of Banba of the women.

In the first group, the Goddess represents the Earth and the God, the Sun.  As the Goddess ages (triumvirate) and rejuvenates endlessly with the seasons, she is courted by the God in various forms.   For example, the God is born from the Goddess at Yule (winter solstice), grows in power with the Goddess in her maiden form at Ostara (spring equinox), impregnates the Goddess at Beltane, wanes in power at Lughnassadh, passes to the underworld at Samhain, and then is reborn again at Yule.  In this tradition, the divine feminine is the source of life, power, and rejuvenation and is an aspect of the neolithic Goddess represented by the constellation of Virgo who held sway over the poles during the Golden Age.  But as the neolithic age shifted to the copper or Bronze age she was gradually replaced by the masculine sky god, Lugh.  And the narrative changed.

In the subsequent tradition, two male forces battle over the turning points of the seasons: the Holly King and the Oak King. These figures are dual aspects of a single entity who symbolizes land, fertility, and growth -- much like the Greek god Pan. During Midsummer (the summer solstice) the Oak King is at the height of his strength, while the Holly King is at his weakest.  The Holly King begins to regain power at Mabon (the autumnal equinox)  until he finally vanquishes the Oak King at Yule.  In the spring and summer months the Oak King is young and virile, but towards the end of the seasons he begins to age and weaken. In order to preserve his spirit, he must be killed at the precise moment that he begins to decay (the harvest). He is later killed by the Holly King who will rein over the fall and winter months. After the Holly King ages, the Oak King beheads him and steals his place black on throne. The cycle continues infinitely.  In addition to representing the cycles of the year, this battle is very reminiscent of the ascending and descending cycles of the shift of World Age, or representative of the war between the gods, as their "coronation" aligns on the Sagittarius-Gemini(sidereal)/Capricorn-Cancer (tropical) axis of the Milky Way transitioning as the Sun crosses the galactic center and anti-galactic center at the solstices.  Could the Holly King, who rules over Yule and Saturnalia, represent the Saturn archetype, and the Oak King, who rules over summer, represent the Jupiter archetype of deities like Zeus/Jupiter and Thor, whose sacred tree is also the oak? 

In the Druidic tradition, the holly tree, or cuilieann, is considered the most sacred and magical of their pantheon of trees. Its  mildly poisonous berries are hallucinogenic and may have been a powerful source for magical dreams and deep spiritual insight.  Is it any wonder that the wood of the holly tree is used for making magic wands?  Or that Hollywood is ground zero for the magical world of illusion and film.  Furthermore, these early shaman, the first druids of Ireland, became the first priest kings and the name cuilieann is associated with the oldest bloodline of the world whose descendants are the O'Cuilleain (O'Collins) of West Cork. The Holly Kingship may have been appropriated by British kings and now is associated with Queen Elizabeth and her children.  During her Diamond Jubilee celebrations she planted a holly tree at the Holly Lodge in Richmond.





The Latin word for Holly is ilex (1= one and lex = law), which under the Emperor Constantine became the official motto of Roman Empire: Ilex Novum Romanum Imperium (INRI) or Holly New Roman Empire that we now simply call the Holy Roman Empire.  Thus the Holy Family is actually referring to the Holly Family, and Christ is the Holly King born at the Winter Solstice when the Sun is aligned with the Galactic Center.  The solstice Sun receives shakti from the "root" of the galaxy, the nakshatra Mula, which is ruled by the spiritualizing force of the dragon's tale, Ketu. 

Acorns growing on an Oak Tree

In other Western mythologies the Oak tree is sacred to Zeus and other thunder gods, such as Thor and Lugh, because of its tendency to be struck by lightning.  My ancestral fathers hail from county Mayo, where they still describe thunderstorms as a battle between Lugh and Balor.   The oak, or duir, is part of the proto-Celtic word for druid: derwo-weyd or druwid.  My own family name, Durkin (often spelled Durkan), may mean "archaic druid" or "kin of the oaks."   The Old Irish duir for "oak" also means "door" in many European languages, and is similar to dvara and dur in Sanskrit, suggesting that the Druids were keepers of the doors or portals to other realms.  It is said that as a method of divination the druids would listen to the rustling of the oak leaves for messages and whispers of things to come.  And, as Tracy Twyman reveals, acorns were the food of the Golden Age:

Moreover, acorns were, according to legend, the primary food of the people of the Golden Age, ruled over by Saturn, the ‘Lord of the Earth’ and the ‘Lord of Misrule,’ the primordial archetype for all kingship. Acorns seem to have been the ur-currency, the measure of wealth and plenitude at a time when there was plenty for all, and therefore no need for governments to protect property, or monetary systems to regulate its exchange.

Furthermore oaks and acorns are symbols of the King and Queen of May Day, the Green Man and Diana, and William and Kate.
 

Prince William and Kate Middleton seem to have crafted their entire wedding to esoterically reenact the pagan Beltane fertility ritual of the Green Man, or the King of the Wood, to Diana, the Virgin Queen of Heaven. . . Historically this ritual was performed by the real king and queen, acting out the roles of the god and goddess, to ensure plenitude in the land. In pre-Christian times (and long afterward), monarchs were thought to be both literally blood descendants of the gods as well as symbolic embodiments of them and host or channels of these ancestral spirits. There was believed to be a sympathetic connection between the fertility of the Queen’s womb and the fertility of the land.

Do you remember how Kate was given a new coat of arms: three acorns with a gold chevron.

And her jeweler created a special set of gift for her wedding: a diamond oak leaf and acorn earring.

It seems like royal iconographers are designing motifs that associate the next generation of monarchs with the Oak King, who reigns over the summer months, and who could reign over the eternal summer of a new Golden Age. During the Summer Solstice the Sun aligns with the anti-Galactic Center which is located the constellation of Gemini. It is no coincidence that Prince William was born on the Summer Solstice, the height of the Oak King's power when the Sun receives shakti from the anti-Galactic Center.  Perhaps Tracy Twyman is right: Prince William is the anti-Christ:

Born on the Summer Solstice during a solar eclipse, Prince William is a living embodiment of the dying and reborn solar king of the ancient world. This is the primordial archetype of kingship, the “Lord of the Earth,” upon which all monarchs throughout history have modeled themselves. Through his descent from the Spencer family, William carries a more illustrious predigree than any other monarch to sit on the throne of England.

Personally, I do not see him as the dreaded figure associated with Revelation, but rather an anti-Galactic center "anointed one" connected with the both the Holly King/Saturn and Oak King and Zeus/Jupiter archetypes because his ascendant aligns with the Galactic Center and his descendant, Sun, and Moon align with the anti-Galactic center.

Athough William's Sagittarius ascendant is located in the sharp and sometimes destructive nakshatra of Mula,  it has a sattwic orientation.  It is ruled by the goddess Nritti who breaks things apart (barhana shakti) in order to end materialism and initiate the spiritualization process.  The ruler of this lunar mansion is Ketu, the tail of the dragon, perhaps a reference to the white dragon of Arthurian legend.  In his chart it rises on the Eastern horizon in the nakshatra Purva Ashada, meaning the "invincible star."  Although often considered unpredictable, Ketu can bring sudden rise to power, and Ketu in this nakshatra certainly gives fame, wealth, fertility, and much wisdom.  In fact, the great benefic and significator of philosopher kings, Jupiter, rules his birth chart and deposits Ketu from the upachaya 11th house -- the house of good fortune, strong alliances, and humanitarian efforts which get better with time.  In addition, as the second house from the tenth house of the King, the 11th house rules gifts from the King and Public.  Moreover, in the Chaldean order of planets, the Sun is ruler of the 11th as Dana Gerhardt reveals:

The Chaldean order of planets makes the Sun ruler of the 11th. “As is only fitting,” writes Frawley, “for as the eleventh shows the good things that descend to us from Heaven, so the Sun is the image of this endless, inexhaustible bounty permeating and sustaining the cosmos.
 

The most fascinating astrological line up in William's chart is the alignment of the Sun, Moon and dragon's head, the famous red dragon of Arthurian legend, Rahu, on the anti-Galactic center that occurred during a new moon, solar eclipse.  The royal Sun is placed in Mrigashira, the nakshatra associated with Soma, the elixir of immortality and treasured nectar of the gods.  It is a soft and sensitive nakshatra, even though it is ruled by Mars.  The Sun is chemically married to a just-past new Moon in Ardra, which also conjoin his mother Diana's natal Sun and fixed star Sirius, imprinting a close mother-son bond and Isis-Horus archetype that they embody for the collective -- as depicted in the photo of William's first steps with Diana, in her Queen of Heaven dress.  On the right, William's affectionate embrace of his new puppy, Lupo, Italian for wolf, another name for Sirius, reflects a similar affection. Ardra is a very intense moon, especially early in life as one starts out in Rahu's maha dasha which is known for being quite a difficult ride. The dragon's head itself casts a lifelong shadow over the Moon and William's consciousness; and reveals the unfortunate Pendragon embrace of his royal family. 


Saturn Dasha and the Return of the Mother

On August 31, 1997 Princess Diana died as a result of injuries sustained in a symbolically rich car accident that crashed into the 13th pillar of a underpass along the Pont d'Alma (bridge of spirit) in Paris.  The Flame of Liberty sits above the exit to the tunnel and has become an unofficial memorial for the Princess.

At the time young Prince William was running Jupiter-Saturn maha dasha whilst Jupiter was in mutual reception with Saturn in Pisces opposite its natal position in Virgo and squaring his Sun-Moon conjunction in Gemini.  Very intense indeed with Saturn again playing a key role.  While I won't go into the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories still circulating fifteen years later, I will point out that the sacrifice of  Prince William's mother is the first of many tearful moments imprinted by the Ardra moon.  According to internet legend, just before her death, Diana spoke of Prince William Arthur's future role as king:  

I believe Wills (William) can rebuild Camelot and I will be his Merlin. Together we will return to the chivalry, pageantry, and the glory that was King Arthur's Court. William will remake the Monarchy by showing love, leadership and compassion.

A giant helps Merlin build Stonehenge. 

Merlin predicted the Red Dragon would win.

Although I have never been able to find the source of this statement, it seems strange and mysterious that Diana would associate herself with Merlin, the legendary magician and counselor to King Arthur.  The name Merlin derives from the Welsh Myrddin, the name of the 6th century historical figure who was the prototype for the composite image of wizard that we have today.  According to some accounts, Merlin was the last druid, a seer, a shaman and keeper of knowledge, particularly of the arcane secrets.
 
But there is another deeper meaning encoded in the name Merlin: a small species of falcon, Falco columbarius, is commonly know a a Merlin. 

The falcon is the symbol most associated with the son of Isis; and Columba is the Latin word for "dove" which became a "modern" constellation in 1592 that incorporated some of the stars of Canis Major, the home of Sirius and the goddess Isis, who is often symbolized by the dove.  After Diana's death, her memorials have included a dove, and other Egyptian symbols like the pyramid and all-seeing eye, alluding to her symbolic role as Isis, Queen of Heaven and mother of the boy-king Horus.  The dove is associated with many ancient mother goddesses including Astarte, Britannia, the Babylonian Ishtar, and her most famous high priestess Mary Magdalene, who as many believe is the Sangreal (meaning royal blood), the Holy Grail itself: the esoteric wife of Jesus, mother of his children, and thus secret keeper of the anointed bloodline of British Royalty. 

Horus was usually depicted as a falcon-headed man wearing the pschent, the red crown of lower Egypt and the white crown of upper Egypt that represent their unification, like the red and white dragons of Britain.   And the winged disc was another form of Horus, representing his dominion over the air and sky, that is still used today in air force insignia.

Prince William is a pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF), so and isn't it fascinating that he received his wings from his father, who flew aircraft in the Royal Navy (Osiris and the underworld) with Kate Middleton, the new Isis looking on.

He even wore his wings during his Beltane Wedding ceremony.  On the right is a photograph of Prince William wearing the red military coat of the Irish guard.  His decision to wear the Irish Guards Mounted Officer’s uniform was officially suppose to be a tribute to a battalion that had returned from an arduous tour in Afghanistan (or a media ploy by the monarch to strengthen ties between London and Dublin -- yeah right); and apparently this fashion choice "disappointed" his fellow RAF service men.  But I suspect there are two other reasons for this garish coat.  First, red is the color of sacrifice, and the Royal Wedding chart was full of stellar configurations indicating death; and second, the white shamrocks/three-leafed clover on his collar are emblems of both Druids and Osiris symbolizing the three-in-one mystery (father-mother-son, father, son, and holy ghost/Virgin).  Furthermore, in the case of Osiris, the trefoil adorned his head and is said to have fallen off  at the moment of his death.  Thus Prince William's Wedding suit prominently displayed the insignia of both Osiris and Horus, Father and Son who will marry the stand-in for Isis in the Royal Hieros Gamos.

So now as we approach another global event concurrent with an ancient Celtic holiday of sacrifice, I can't help but wonder who might be the Wickerman: the Green Man (Osiris, Charles) or the Oak King/Lugh (William)?  Or someone else, like the aging Holly King (Queen Elizabeth).  Could this the Assembly of Tailti , which has been linked to the Queen's Jubilee, be foreshadowing that she is last queen of this lineage?

Perhaps we will get a few more clues when Saturn conjoins the Moon in Virgo one last time on July 24th and 25th.  After that Saturn enters its sign of exaltation, Libra, where it will remain from August 4, 2012 until October 2014.   The scales of Libra are associated with balance, law, fairness and civility and give Saturn an opportunity to balance and reap karma.  Although Saturn is considered a first-rate malefic, it is a highly spiritual planet that assists us understand our past samskaras, the accumulated negative karmas that chain us to the life and death cycle, in order to free us from these bonds.

Perhaps Prince William, who is running Saturn's maha dasha, with Saturn about to enter and transit not only the 11th house of kingship, but also his chart lord Jupiter (which is also the indicator of his paternal grandmother and her chart lord) may experience Saturn's sickle and free himself from his seemingly unwanted bonds to the monarchy.  I do see him as an anti-Christ to the false Christ kings, perhaps restoring the Golden Age by becoming the Lord of Unrule and sacrificing the bondage of his subjects/children to freedom.  I would love to see Prince William grant the British Republican movement their resolution for the abolition of the British monarchy.  But only time will tell how this narrative will change.

The golden age is before us, not behind us.  ~ William Shakespeare


Namaste!

Addendum

Sometimes strange coincidences happen as I'm in the middle of researching the subjects that indicate to me that I am on the right track (or at least that's what I like to believe).  This post was exceptional in personal syncs:


On Friday July 13 the great Awakener stationed at 2:49 am pdt, during which time my cat Lulu was more restless than usual.  She woke me and my "giant" 6'6" partner me up many times throughout the dawn, until finally my bleary one-eyed giant leaped up out of bed, yelled at her, and let her out the back door -- like Balor battling Lugh.  All the activity was too much for my consciousness to float back to sleep so I decided to use this quiet time to work on this blog post.  I was in the middle of writing about the Oak and its connection to Thunder gods -- being the tallest tree it attracts a lot of lightning strikes.  By 8 am I thought I heard the rumblings of thunder, but thought it was my imagination.  I even asked my partner Joseph who thought it was a plane.  An hour later a massive thunder and lightning storm lit up the Seattle skies and dropped heavy sheets of rain.  Though normal in most regions of the US, this display of the battle between Lugh and Balor is extremely rare in the Pacific Northwest.  I can't help but think I must have had a hand in conjuring up these long lost friends.

That night Joseph finally agreed to watch one of my favorite movies Phenomenon.  I told him it was one of John Travolta's better films.   I was extremely humbled when the opening began in an Oak Forest.  Ah, here comes the Oak King again!  After being hit by a beam of light on his birthday, which appears to be the middle of summer, John Travolta's character George Malley transformed into a genius with magic telekinetic powers. I started tingling and giggling to myself when I heard Peter Gabriel sing I have the Touch. He is in love with a woman who makes wicker (yes, as in wickerman) chairs.  And indeed, he was sacrificed in the end.

Part II Saturn: the Lord of Time, the Golden Age, and the XXX Olympiad

Saturn is death that takes us beyond the limitations of mortal life, which is the gateway to the eternal.
 ~ David Frawley, Astrology of the Seerers

As I discussed in my last post, Saturn, the great Lord of the Rings, has been transiting the sign of the Virgin for the past two and half years appearing to trigger nostalgic memories of a lost Golden Age when it conjoins the Moon, the indicator of the collective consciousness.  By examining the synchronicity of the Saturn-Moon conjunctions and coincidence of unusual phenomenon (Norway Spiral, Venus Transit) and events (Obama's reception of the Nobel Peace Prize, Queen's Jubilee, Olympic Torch) surrounding the world premiers of Avatar and Prometheus, it became clear that the collective consciousness is being prepared for a shift of the ages and perhaps for the disclosure of our true relationship to the gods (ie ancestral aliens), and the return of a light-bearing, or Promethean, savior.  Now that Saturn has stationed in the late degrees of Virgo, it seems that the time of revelation may be upon us.  No where appears more prepared for the return of the Golden Age and Once and Future King than England, host of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The origin of the Olympic Games is a veiled one told through conflicting myths.  According to Pausanias, the ancient games were created as a sporting event to honor the fall of Cronus (Saturn) and Zeus' succession to the throne of heaven.  The "Olympics" were named after Mount Olympus, the home of the gods.  Another account in Pindar's Olympian X , describe the games an offering to Zeus the by his son the Greek Hero and  demi-god Heracles after he completed his 12 Labors, which some believe correspond to the 12 astrological signs.  In Theosophist tradition, the 10th Labor , the Slaying of Cerberus and release of Prometheus from Hades, is assigned to the 10th sign, Capricorn: 

In previous labors, Hercules’ tasks have been focused mainly upon individual development and liberation from the thraldom of matter but, from Capricorn onward, his work takes on a universal perspective, embracing the idea of service to the Whole, and culminating in the World Savior in Pisces. He descends the mountaintop to join a needy humanity again, bringing them light and release.

Heracles freeing Prometheus, Christian Griepenkerl (1839-1916)

This summer the 2012 London Olympics commences with the Opening Ceremony that is scheduled to begins at 9 pm as the stars of Capricorn rise in the Eastern sky, and as Capricorn's ruler, Saturn, appears in the southwest skies in the constellation of Virgo just after sunset.  Saturn is also the atma karaka, the planet at the highest degree (29'35"), and planetary Lord of these events in which extraordinary athletes compete for the gold and opportunity to become god-like heroes. 

The 2012 Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony is a celebration, or ritual, showcasing the cultural riches and history of the Host Nation. It generally features a parade of all competing nations and the highly anticipated entrance of the Olympic Flame that ignites the Cauldron to signal the start of the Games. The Olympic Flame is lit months before the games at the ancient Temple of Hera in Greece. The light of the Sun, representing the essence of the Sun god Apollo, is collected in a parabolic mirror until a fire is kindled by a "high priestess" and her Vestal Virgins.  In May modern performers representing the Vestal Virgins re-enacted this ceremony, and unexpectedly a gust of wind extinguished the flame which had to be reignited  -- oops (hmm?).   After the Lighting Ceremony the Olympic Torch was relayed across Greece for 7 days until it arrived in Athens on May 17, 2012 -- the day that Saturn entered Virgo.

The Lighting of the 2012 Olympic torch by virgin devotees of the Mother Goddess

From Athens, the torch was flown to England where it is currently being passed throughout the United Kingdom within 1 hour of 95% of the population.  The Torch Relay ends during the Opening Ceremony when the Olympic cauldron is lit.  The Olympic Flame continues to burn throughout the games and is extinguished on the day of the Closing Ceremony. Although it is generally believed that this ritual stemmed from ancient Olympic ceremonies, it is actually a modern invention.  The first Olympic Flame was inaugurated at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles and the first relay of the Olympic torch was held at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, during the Nazi Regime, as an homage to Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity.  The act of carrying the Promethean torch is symbolic of man’s awareness of his own divine spark and represents his aspiration to become one of the gods.  During the Olympics, winning athletes are not only given medals but also wreaths/crowns of olive leaves -- although some accounts say laurel which was only used for the gods.  The global attention to the modern Olympic games focuses the energy of billions of people on these rituals that raise humans to the status of gods; and this year the emerging archetypes suggest the Olympics may be used as a world stage to introduce the coming savior who will restore the Golden Age of Cronus/Saturn .

As the Lord of the Rings presides over this moment in time, its placement in the event chart of the Opening Ceremony indicates the tone and significance of whatever ritual may follow.  Saturn rules the eastern horizon in the sign of Virgo from the auspicious 9th house with the planet of energy, drive, competition and athletics: Mars.  The red planet itself is an indicator of a competitive athletic games, as well as a militaristic spectacles -- think of the Parade of Athletes as a Parade of Countries as paying tribute to the Olympic ideal of Global Unity.  The 9th house is an auspicious dharma house that represents our highest principles as expressed in domains like law, religion and philosophy.  In a natal chart it signifies the father and his influence over the individual's personal philosophy of life, perception of reality, and reaction to new ideas; but in an event chart it may signify the influence of the collective father over his country and world views.  In this case the 9th house of the father is ruled by the constellation of the Mother Goddess, Virgo, a sign of perfection, harvest, and completion of the planting cycle.  And don't forget that England, or rather Britain, is personified by the ancient goddess Britannia - one of the many faces of the Mother Goddess.

 

Britannia

Diana

 

From an astrological point of view, it is a fascinating coincidence that the ruler of England is a Mother Goddess, the Queen (of Heaven) Elizabeth II; and Her Majesty will officially preside over the Opening Ceremony declaring the XXX Olympic Games "open" on July 27, 2012.


Opening Ceremony: The Isle of Wonder

You're standing on shoulders of giants - you cannot but live in the shadow of your predecessors. 
~ Danny Boyle, Artistic Director of the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics

Danny Boyle and his designs for the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics. (Getty Images / June 14, 2012)

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?  
  
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

 William Blake, Preface to Milton: A Poem 1810

During a recent unveiling ceremony, Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle revealed his vision for the Opening Ceremony: a pastoral countryside (think Golden Age) featuring Glastonbury Tor (the legendary burial site of the Holy Grail) and real farm animals.  It is, he said, the green and pleasant land. It is something that still exists, and something that cries out to all of us like a childhood memory.  In addition to being an allusion to Blake's famous poem above, could this pastoral image be evoking a "childhood," or ancient, memory of the Golden Age, which Tracy Twyman terms Regnum in potentia?

What these myths of the Golden Age, Garden of Eden, and other primordial paradises really point to is the concept of a cosmic center: a kingdom that doesn’t really exist, except in the Otherworld, in potentia. But it is said to be at the heart of our own existence, and its essence can be felt everywhere. It is a place where there is no time as we know it. Rather, all points of time exist simultaneously, and all space as well. This is why the people who live there are said to never grow old.

Many in the conspiracy and occult history community, such as Tracy Twyman, believe this bucolic vision of the Opening Ceremony is meant to be an homage to the famous short poem And did those feet in ancient times by visionary artist William, who described England as the site for the New Jerusalem at the time of the Second Coming.  The poem was actually written as a preface to Blake's epic poem Milton, a Poem, and in 1916 was arranged to music by Hubert Perry in the hymn Jerusalem, which is an unofficial anthem for England, often played during Last Night of Proms (Prometheus?).  Conspiracy theorists like Rik Clay have pointed out that the 2012 logo resembles the word ZION.  Zion is often used as a synonym for Jerusalem or the World to Come in which the Messiah, or the Once and Future King of Arthurian legend, returns to rule over a new Golden Age. So is it any surprise that Prince William Arthur has Saturn in Virgo? The ever provocative Tracy Twyman proposes that he may in fact be the anti-Christ.

His bloodline can be traced back to the biblical House of David, and possibly Jesus himself, as well to the historical figure remembered as Satan. His marriage to Kate Middleton has been patterned on the ancient pagan May Day rituals of king sacrifice and sex magic. His bride has been quite consciously chosen to be modeled as a new Diana, a living incarnation of that “virgin queen” goddess referred to in St. John’s Revelation as the Whore of Babylon.

While its hard to imagine sweet Wils as the Biblical anti-Christ, Twyman makes very interesting case for William's future as King of the World ruling from the New Jerusalem.

William Blake, 1820 from his prophetic book
 Jerusalem - The Emanation of the Giant Albion [England]

The term New Jerusalem comes from the final book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation written by John of Patmos.  In his prophetic vision of a New Heaven and a New Earth, John describes the descent of the Tabernacle or New Jerusalem as an enormous city (read mothership) coming out of the heavens down to the New Earth.  His elaborate description includes many features of the Garden of Eden and its garden, including as rivers, a square shape, a wall, and the Tree of Life -- all of which seem to be appearing on the Olympic stage over the past few weeks.  The Olympic replica of Glastonbury Tor, the fabled resting place of the Holy Grail, replaces Saint Michael's Tower with a tree.  Could this tree represent the primordial lands of ancient days of the Golden Age, the Biblical Tree of Knowledge, or the World Tree of Life?

The Tree of Life is a motif found in many cultures around the world representing a mystical concept of the interconnectedness of all life. This giant tree connects the Earth to the Heavens through its branches, and to the Underworld through its roots -- the axis mundi where communication from lower realms may ascend to higher ones, and blessings from higher realms may descend to lower ones.

Mayan world tree denoting cycles of world ages

Carl Johan Calleman asserts that the world tree represented by the Mayan Hunab Ku is the creative center of the Universe in Mayan cosmology. He writes: the Mayan calendar provides a description of the rhythms of creative energies emanating from this hypothetical Tree of Life and is testable to what extent the actual rhythms of evolution conform to the time plan that this calendar specifies. In The Purposeful Universe he suggests that the Mayan Calendar tracks these evolutionary waves from a Center Axis of the Universe itself, which, according to cosmic background radiation studies (Longo 2007), appears to be located in the direction of the constellation of Virgo. Currently this axis lines in the plane of the ecliptic and has a direction parallel to the equinoxes of the earth.  Could the return of the Mother Goddess represent realignment to this Central Axis allowing evolutionary energy to move more freely?

Other astronomical research suggests that this Cosmic World Tree may be aligned with the earth's poles. Astronomers Nodland and Ralston have studied polarization rotation data for 160 galaxies and have perceived that in addition to the Faraday effect, there seems to be an extra mysterious angular dependency at work. They have demonstrated that the flat disk of the entire Universe must also be surrounded by an energy field in the shape of the spherical torus – a sphere with a central north-south axis.

Nodland and Ralson’s discovery of a “Universal Axis”, or anisotropy cone.

  As new age researcher David Wilcock (I know) reveals:

Nodland and Ralston point out an interesting synchronicity surrounding the names of these constellations: In a curious way, the anisotropy direction reveals itself as that orientation of the needle of a cosmic compass around which the polarization plane of electromagnetic radiation twists the most as the radiation journeys through the fabric of space. It is interesting to note that the constellation Sextans stands for the sextant, the ancient navigational instrument by which seafarers would orient themselves. Aquila, by the way, is the messenger from Heaven – the mythological Eagle leading souls to immortality.

Aquila is also the giant bird that Zeus sends to devours Prometheus' liver every day in Hades.  Heracles shoots it down with a volley of arrows as he rescues the light bearer. Afterwards the Eagle, the Titan and the Arrow were placed all amongst the stars in the form of the constellations Aquila, the Kneeler and Saggita.

Astrologers associate the stars of Aquila with the sign of Capricorn, but astronomers know it hovers above both constellations of Capricorn and Sagittarius.  In either case, whether the Cosmic Tree is rising on the horizon in Capricorn or transmitting its shakti from Virgo through the planet Saturn, it is an archetype that is being expressed in the Opening Ceremony as replica of the World Tree.

Eagle of Patmos, 1400-1450

And it gets more interesting. The writer of the Book of Revelation, John of Patmos, is also known as the Eagle of Patmos.  He also describes a Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem:

On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1-2

Here the river may be the Milky Way and the fruit of the Tree of Life may be shakti expressed through the twelve zodiacal signs through the Sun each month.  What is striking to me is the use of the leaves to heal the nations -- could this be an archetypal reference to the Olympic wreaths?




William Blake's poem describes this New Jerusalem as shining forth from England's clouded hills.

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?

 
And so, is it really a surprise that Artistic Director Danny Boyle promises to produce artificial clouds and rain during the Opening Ceremony in case the night is clear and does not fairly represent Britain's wet climate. What sort of magic is he brewing?  New photos released this week reveal a change of scenery as the bucolic green hills have been transformed into industrial age architecture of smoke stacks, cotton looms, and winding gears.

Could the artificial clouds, urban sprawl and smoke-belching factories refer to Blake's "clouded hills" and  "dark Satanic mills."  Perhaps the most intriguing new feature, in addition to the obelisk in the middle of the stadium eye, is an 80 foot high figure which is covered in a black shroud and appears to be holding a staff or wand.  Many suggest that this figure be the sorcerer Prospero from Shakespeare's The Tempest.  Boyle himself has indicated that the Bard's last play is a major source of inspiration for the Isle of Wonder theme: a remote enchanted island where Prospero has been banished by his brother who unjustly usurped his throne.

As The Tempest is not a Shakespearean play that I am familiar with, I had to do a quick review of online notes, so please forgive any inaccuracies in my recounting of the mythology.  The play begins with a dramatic shipwreck during a storm that has been magically conjured by the main protagonist Prospero.  During his twelve years of imprisonment on the island, Prospero has developed skills of sorcery and learned to control the elements and spirits on the island.  The storm is part of a plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place by using illusion and skillful manipulation. Starting to sound familiar? Throughout the play Prospero manipulates the airy sprite Ariel (aerial?), whom he rescued from an enchanted imprisonment in a tree, and uses him as his spy promising him freedom.  In Act III, Ariel appears with a clap of thunder at an illusionary banquet conjured by Prospero, and with a flap of his wings the banquet disappears.  So what might an Olympic Prospero conjure?

All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding
task Ariel and all his quality.

The Olympic Opening Ceremony will commence with the ringing of the largest harmonically tuned bell in the world as the Capricorn constellation of Aquila (the Eagle) rises on the eastern horizon in the nakshatra of Shravana -- which literally translates as "hearing" and is symbolized by an ear.  It alternative name is Ashvattha, meaning -- wait for it -- the Pipal Tree (Ficus Religiosa) under which Buddha received his enlightenment.  

The symbol of the ear reflects the ability to hear the subtle etheric realms, or the cosmic OM.  Traditionally the ringing of bells may be associated with church bells which are rung in three basic ways: normal ringing, chiming, or tolling.  Normal ringing occurs when bells are used as a call to worship; chiming may be a single ring as in baptism or three rings during the Lord's Prayer; and tolling is a slow ring that is associated with death and funerals (and a term often used to describe the Olympic bell ringing).  In Tibetan traditions bells are ritual instruments used to drive away evil spirits.  They are paired with the vajra, or thunderbolt.  The bell represents the female principle, and the vajra the male principle.  To achieve enlightenment the two must be combined.  Bonpo shaman use this tool to cast spells, project thoughts, or receive information from the ether.  Thus the vibration from the ringing of bells may open inter-dimensional portals to etheric realm to interact with the angelic and other beings.

On the morning of the Opening Ceremony, all the bells in Britain will be rung as quickly and loudly as possible starting at 8:12 am for three minutes.  This ritual is the brainstorm of artist and musician Martin Creed called Work No. 1197.  Under the rising stars of Leo and the nakshatra of Magha, this national ringing is being performed under the watchful eyes of the Pitris, the ancestral fathers of humanity.  Are they being called forth? According to David Frawley, Magha gives the power to leave the body (tyage kshepani shakti) and causes a change of state or condition, a kind of death.  It shows that we are coming to the end of a cycle -- perhaps the end of the age of iron, and beginning of the Golden Age?

Remember the 1946 movie It's a Wonderful Life?  In its emotional heartfelt ending, little Zuzu reminds us that teacher says, everytime a bell rings an angel gets its wings.  Is there some link between bells and angels, possibly enabling their flight? How about bells and eagles?  Remember Psalm 91:1-16: I will raise you up on eagles wings.   So what kind of being needs a bell as big as the Olympic Bell to gain its wings -- and titan sized ones at that?  Furthermore Boyle had the idea for ringing in the Olympic Games with a big bell after buying an old one from the foundry to use at the National Theater for his award-winning production of Frankenstein [a modern Prometheus].  What kind of monster is Boyle developing this time? Well a tantalizing clue from The Tempest is inscribed on the gigantic bell: Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises.

The 23 tonne Olympic Bell made by Whitechapel Bell Foundry

This inscription is derived from part of a speech made by the strange hybrid creature Caliban in the third act of The Tempest.  Caliban is described by Prospero as a cavaluna, or moon calf and son of the devil.  His mother was the witch that had imprisoned Ariel in a tree.  In his first speech to Prospero, Caliban insists that Prospero stole the island from him just as Prospero's brother usurped his dukedom.  Like Ariel, he becomes a slave to Prospero, but a resistant one.  While Ariel is airy, Caliban is of the earth.  Despite his grotesque appearance and foolish behavior, Caliban delivers beautiful speeches about his enchanted island, including the one quoted on the Olympic Bell.

Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again (III.ii.130–138).

This speech is Caliban’s explanation to Stephano and Trinculo of mysterious music that they hear by magic. Not only does it conveys the wondrous beauty of the island and the depth of Caliban's attachment to it, but it also suggests that he is able to hear the cosmic OM represented by the nakshatra of Shravana.

Fuseli's Prospero, Miranda, Ariel, and Caliban

According to the Puranas, the three stars of Shravana correspond to the three steps taken by Vishnu in his Vamana-avatar, the dwarf who grew so large that one foot touched the entire Earth, another foot was touched by the heavens and a third touched upon the demon-king Bali's head.  It seems to me that Bali and Caliban are similar archetypes.

These three steps were taken by Vishnu to establish order in the universe through the restoration of the heavens to the gods and earth to the human beings.  Both Dennis Harness and David Frawley, whose moon is placed here, agree that the energy associated with Shravana is samhanana shakti, the power of providing connection; but according Prash Trivedi, it is apradhishya shakti: the power to give permanent victory. Both seem appropriate, but as Dr. Frawley explains: Vishnu with his three strides links together the three worlds of Earth, Atmosphere and Heaven, connecting all creatures with God. So under the asterism of Shravana the Olympic Opening Ceremony will receive its samhanana shakti of providing connection between the earth and heavens, man and gods.

Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.

And how might these images manifest in the Olympic Games?  Well it seems that during the Torch Relay across the British Isles, Olympic-Promethean flame has been photographed with torchbearers reenacting a classic scene from the Oscar-winning  movie Chariots of Fire, which is another name for UFOs.  If Blake's poem is a framework for the Opening Ceremony program, then we might expect to see some sort of mothership, or tabernacle, descend from the skies.  Ever since the 1984 Olympics, there has been a strange tradition of peppering the marketing and opening ceremony with extraterrestrial themes, and this year is no exception. Check out the 2008 marketing video which is full of flying serpents, UFOs, magically assembling buildings, and even a colorful mothership.






If this is not enough, check out the recently disclosed list of music to be played during the Opening Ceremony.  Remember Shravana is symbolized by the ear and represents learning by the act of listening, called shruti, or "hearing" the vibrations and words of wisdom.  Although the Olympic Committee has not confirmed that these 86 songs are the official soundtrack, the Telegraph UK believes it is a good indication of what is to come.  Just what message will be broadcast to the world during this global ritual?

And finally, today, under another Saturn-Moon conjunction (read: imprinting the collective mind with the promise of a Golden Age) with Venus, the planet most often associated as an artistic muse (not to mention Prometheus), stationing direct after her long retrograde and transit, it was announced on the Tower Bridge, freshly garnished with Olympic rings, that the British rock trio Muse has written the official song for the London 2012 Olympic Games (click here and here for BBC link to a short clip of Survival):

The song, "Survival," is a thundering rock anthem that was being broadcast for the first time Wednesday on BBC radio. It will be played during the July 27-Aug. 12 games as athletes enter the venues and before medal ceremonies. Muse frontman Matt Bellamy says the song was written with the Olympics in mind and "expresses a sense of conviction and determination to win." 

And of course:

Last month the trio carried the Olympic torch through their hometown of Teignmouth in southwest England as part of the flame's 8,000-mile (12,900-kilometer) journey to the games.

Three muses and a Olympic Torch -- the triangle/pyramid with all seeing eye represented by the eternal flame

Our young Promethean muses reveal the all-seeing eye at the top of the triangle/pyramid base of the Olympic Torch.   Strange that a band who claims to have been influenced by books like Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Kathleen Taylor's Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control, Michio Kaku's Hyperspace, and Zecharia Sitchin's The 12th Planet would become part of the machine that they rail against in The Resistance album (2009) that addresses themes related to the new world order and worldwide revolution.  Are they showing their fans that they are hip to the secret of the eternal flame? The lyrics to Survival assert the Olympic athletic determination and will to win; and a desire to share this special strength with the whole human race -- whatever that means -- a very disguised reference to Prometheus? Perhaps Muse will finally fulfill their plan to play a gig in space if their grating music doesn't frighten off all the airy beings called in for the ceremony.  In any case, is the first "bombastic" taste of a track from the upcoming album Second Law, referring to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, due to be released in September (perhaps the 17th -- of course). Click here for video.

London Eye

Like its previous album, The Resistance, Muse explores ideas about the fate of humanity before the inevitable heat death of the universe in Second Law.  With the world running out of resources, mankind will have to launch off into space to survive.  Where have we seen this scenario before?  Oh yes, in the movies Avatar and Prometheus.  Is the official 2012 Olympic song Survival not just about surviving competition, but also about the mining of space so that the human race will survive?  Here are some of the lyrics. What do you think?

It's a race, and I'm gonna win/Yes, I'm gonna win/I will light the fuels/ I'll never lose/I choose to survive/Whatever it takes/He won't pull ahead/'Cause I'll keep up the pace/And I'll reveal my strength to the whole human race.

So just who will reveal their strength to the whole human race during the Olympic Games?  Saturn, that's who.  On August 4, 2012 Saturn will enter Libra, its sign of exaltation and greatest strength continuing its transit through the nakshatra of Chitra and its singular star Spica.

This asterism is ruled by Mars which imparts tremendous energy and creativity to accumulate merit in this life, punya cayani shakti. No wonder it is called the star of opportunity.  The deity associated with Chitra is Twashtar,  a form of the creator usually called Prajapati, the cosmic craftsman and architect, who inspires all artistic activity.

William Blake, Ancient of Days

The influence of this nakshatra on the planet of form and manifestation is to bring cosmic forces of creative magic to the earth and make everything beautiful and colorful.  But the symbol of this asterism is the pearl, whose glistening array of shiny bright colors belie the irritating forces that stimulated its development from a grain of sand to valuable gem.  Saturn's relentless weight is described with similar metaphors, such as the physical pressure it takes to turn black carbon into a brilliant white diamond.  Thus Saturn's transit through Chitra may grind old foundations into sands that become future gems, or turns lead into the gold, all of which line the streets of the New Jerusalem.

I Saw a Chapel, by William Blake

I saw a chapel all of gold

That none did dare to enter in,

And many weeping stood without,

Weeping, mourning, worshipping.

I saw a serpent rise between

The white pillars of the door,

And he forc'd and forc'd and forc'd,

Down the golden hinges tore.

And along the pavement sweet,

Set with pearls and rubies bright,

All his slimy length he drew

Till upon the altar white

Vomiting his poison out

On the bread and on the wine.

So I turn'd into a sty

And laid me down among the swine.

Om praam preem praum sah shanayishraya namah
 ~ Mantra for Saturn

Om Sanaischaraya vidhamhe, Sooryaputraya dhimahi, tanno manda prachodayat
~ Gayatri Mantra for Saturn

Namaste.

Addendum: Also announced as Saturn conjoined the Moon on June 26, 2012: Big Ben to be renamed Elizabeth Tower.  Click here for more.

Addendum

New Jerusalem? Observations from Red Collie on the recent Stanton St Bernard 6/29/12 crop circle.