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.

 

Part I Prometheus, Saturn and the Return of the Golden Age

Prometheus, Jean Deville

Venus morningstar
with her various symbols

In my last starworlds post on the recent, once-in-a-lifetime Venus transit, I explored the morning star patterns and themes of  the "light bearer" in relationship to the Taurus-Scorpio axis on which these rare astronomical events have occurred in pairs since 1518.   The alternating signs associated with Venus transits appear to herald periods of rebellious expression and invention while in Taurus and classical expression and scientific discovery while in Scorpio.  I like to think of them as Prometheus bound (giving light and inspiration) and unbound (experiencing the karma and consequences of that invention).  In particular I focused on the rise of Promethean themes during the previous 18th century Venus transit in Taurus, which now seem to be resurfacing in a new way as we enter this current cycle.  The U.S. release of Ridley Scott's film Prometheus, just days after the Venus transit, certainly portends what may be an era of Prometheus unbound sensibilities.

****** There be SPOILERS ahead******

Although I had never seen any of the previous Alien movies, the intense trailers for Prometheus intrigued me on a very primal level.  So even though I rarely go to the movies, my partner and I each coughed up $20 to see the IMAX 3D version of the film, which was not as spectacular as my first 3-D experience of Avatar, but equally fascinating from an archetypal point of view.  Both Avatar and Prometheus are distributed by the wily 20th Century Fox (6-6-6) -- one of the six major US Film studios that is most associated with imprinting the possibility of alien invasion, asteroid impact and global climate change through movies like Star Wars, Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, Aliens, and Avatar and popular television series like the X-Files and Fringe. And both directors are long-time friends and connected by the Alien franchise as James Cameron directed the sequel Aliens.  In fact, Ridley Scott has commented that after visiting the Avatar set he was inspired to create Prometheus, a prequel to Aliens.

From an astrological point of view, it is always provocative to examine an event chart for the world premier and focus on the Moon, which represents our collective mind, to understand what is being imprinted onto the minds of the public.  As I described 2010 analysis of Avatar, James Cameron's sci-fi masterpiece premiered in London at the Leicester Square, where most of Hollywood's blockbuster movies are ceremonially released, on December 10, 2009, the day after the appearance of the infamous Norway Spiral phenomenon, under very auspicious astrological aspects including a Moon-Saturn conjunction in Virgo.  Another stunning coincidences was that President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize the day before in Oslo, Norway, just miles from the spiral, under a strange mural populated with giants and blue skinned gods assisting a smaller being to ascend to a higher level.  These blue gods bear a remarkable resemblance to the aliens in Avatar and suggest that these beings have been assisting mankind to reach higher levels of consciousness.  It was as though the world was being primed to associate blue deities with extraterrestrial beings.

From Christopher Knowles blog, The Secret Sun

Likewise, Ridley Scott's Prometheus premiered in London under some very telling cultural and astrological aspects including the same Moon-Saturn conjunction in Virgo. It was released on May 31, 2012 as the "Promethean" Olympic Torch was making its relay its way across the British Isles often re-enacting the famous scene from the movie Chariots of Fire, which is another name for UFOs.  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.




But even more intriguing is this year's Opening Ceremony's bizarre pastoral setting that Danny Boyle calls a green and pleasant land. It features green pastures, live farm animals and reproductions of British landmarks like Glastonbury Tor, the legendary resting place of the Holy Grail.

The mock up of Olympic Stadium and the Opening Ceremony stage

Many in the conspiracy community, such as Rik Clay and 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 Blake who describes 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.  Conspiracy theorists like 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 and Venus in Taurus in his natal chart.)

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, he describes the descent of the Tabernacle or New Jersualem as an enormous city (mothership?) coming out of heaven down to the New Earth.  His elaborate description of the New Jerusalem includes many features of the Garden of Eden and its garden, including as rivers, a square shape, a wall, and the Tree of Life -- which in the Olympic stage is placed on top of the Glastonbury Tor.  Perhaps we will see some sort of UFO action after all!

 
Furthermore, a day after the premier of Prometheus, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations were kicked off under the most anticipated astronomical event of the century: the Venus transit in Taurus.  Diamonds are the gemstone of Venus, and the Queen took advantage of this mythological moment to attract global attention to England. She is Britainia's official light bearer.

The Queen lights the final Jubilee Torch

So as you can see, both Avatar and Prometheus were presented to the world under the same Moon-Saturn conjunction in Virgo while strange astronomical and cultural events that mirrored the major themes of both movies took place.  The cosmic synchronicity of two extraordinary phenomenon and two socio-political occasions with the release of two of the most highly anticipated sci-fi films of the century is further amplified by another remarkable synchronicity, a shared planetary alignment.  The world premier of both Avatar and Prometheus occurred under Saturn in Virgo -- as does the upcoming Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics!

Saturn in Virgo and the Return of the Golden Age

Saturn is the lord of Karma and Time and its conjunction with the Moon, the lord of individual and public minds, signals a moment in which these Saturnine themes may be presented to the collective consciousness through various outlets of the mass media (film, television, internet, global ceremonies like the Nobel Peace prize).  As lord of Time and the end of Time, Saturn is also the lord of death and fear (False, Evidence, Appearing, Real) and these movies are all about our deepest fears -- that the universe is a deadly and hostile place.  As Vedic astrologer David Frawley indicates: Saturn is death that takes us beyond the limitations of mortal life, which is the gateway to the eternal. And in the Western Alchemical tradition Saturn is said to rule over the Golden Age, and ancient time of peace and harmony when gods walked upon the earth and intermingled with humans. 

UFO/Chariot of the Gods? Saturn in his chariot pulled by winged serpents (as in the Olympic video).

If you accept the concept of predictive programming, it becomes clear that the release of these films have been timed with these cosmic events in an almost ritualistic manner in order to prepare the collective consciousness for a shift in awareness about extraterrestrial life and possibly the return of the Golden Age led by these god-like extraterrestrial beings.  Avatar itself was atavistic vehicle for the viewer to enter another reality that portrayed an idealized alien species being introduced to predatory humans.  Many viewers recounted leaving the theater feeling overwhelmed and aching to live in a paradisal world like Pandora, a fictitious lunar satellite of a gas giant Polyphemus (named after one of the giant, one-eyed cyclops) in the Alpha Centauri star system. 

The view on Pandora in Avatar

On the other hand, no one would want to live on LV223, the destination of the Prometheus crew, a moon circling a ringed gas giant resembling Saturn, because it is filled with biological weapons and creepy water serpents resembling those pulling Saturn's chariot.

From Prometheus, LV223

From Prometheus, Parasitic Hugger, winged serpent

In Ridley Scott's reinterpretation of the Prometheus myth, the gods are depicted as alien progenitors who seed the earth with their own DNA, apparently returning to visit their offspring as depicted in Neolithic cave drawings that portray the giants literally pointing to a group of stars resembling the Pleiades.

From Prometheus, the First Engineer seeing the earth (L) and a cave painting found on the Isle of SKYE (R)

Both films present Saturnine themes of a long lost Golden Age: one an idealized fantasy, the other a terrifying possibility, or aspect of reality.


The shadow aspect of the Golden Age is eloquently described by Tracy R. Twyman  in her two-part article Regnum in Potentia: Saturn’s Kingdom Transformed Into the Golden Age. Saturn's unrule over the Golden Age was maintained by a dark secret: the sacrifice of his children.

"Saturn was thought of as the Lord of Unrule, and during this epoch, his subjects wanted for nothing. There was no money, nobody had to work for a living, and all things were held in common. It was a paradise in which everyone was free to do as they wished because there no lack, and therefore no need for involuntary compulsion through violent force. Or so it is implied. . . As I stated in Money Grows on the Tree of Knowledge, there is a moral dilemma implied in the story of Chronos/Saturn. Saturn is associated with liberty, and a Golden Age of peaceful anarchy. Yet 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. . . . 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".

Avatar takes place in an otherworld that is poisonous to humans, and the only way to be part of the primordial paradise is to sacrifice one's human body for an 'atavar.'  In this case human beings are the aliens playing god ironically bringing an end to the Golden Age of the giant, blue Na'vi as they destroy the planet by mining a black ore called unobtainium -- the magic mineral in potentia.  Their imperialistic colonization plans are thwarted when a rebellious human, Jake, takes an interest in the natives while in his biotech avatar body.  He undergoes several initiations and is finally accepted as a member of the Na'vi.  After realizing that the colonists want to cut down Pandora's magical world tree, Jake rebels and joins the Na'vi in a battle against the militant humans.  Although his human body is slain, his initiation has transformed him into a hybrid Na'vi -- a sort of Pandoran Prometheus.  Avatar is famous for is use of the color blue, which, along with black, is associated with with Saturn.  In particular, black represents lead, which through an alchemical process can be turned into gold, just as the Iron Age yields to the Gold Age.  
 
Prometheus also takes place on an otherworld that is filled with poisonous pods of black goo and parasitic life; and its spaceship called Prometheus is literally sacrificed and stranded on the plagued Moon because of a deceitful android and its corporate maker.  The black liquid is a biological weapon stored in what looks like funerary urns -- or Pandora's jar of plagues.  Saturn is also the lord of death.  As astrologer David Frawley indicates: Saturn is death that takes us beyond the limitations of mortal life, which is the gateway to the eternal.

When the black liquid comes in contact with humans, an alchemical process begins which ultimately generates many horrifying metamorphoses, including a chemical wedding (sexual union) that produces a homunculus, or hybrid child, who, through the sacrifice of a descendant of the progenitor alien Engineer, becomes the frightening nemesis of future Alien movies.  Neither world is a habitable paradise that humans envision.

Constellation of Virgo, the Maiden

Saturn's conjunction with the Moon  in Virgo during both world movie premiers energetically imprints this longing for a lost Golden Age in the public mind.  In a previous post, I described how Saturn's transit through the sign of the Virgin may herald the cyclic return of the Golden Age during the shift of the ages. In Brady's Book of Fixed Stars, Bernadette Brady suggests that the Virgin constellation refers to an ancient sky goddess who may have been part of the original six zodiac constellation when Virgo was the sign presiding over the spring equinox 13,000 years ago.  The Golden Age was said to have ended when this goddess no longer governed the spring.  This shift of pole star gave rise to the belief that the goddess left the earth in distress after the war of the gods (Titanomachy), which also lead to the decline of the behavior of man in the darkening ages; but as the goddess also ruled cycles of all kinds, there is still a promise of her return to rule again during the next Golden Age.  Thus Virgo represents the Mother Goddess worshiped under various names by different cultures:  Eve, Ishtar, Demeter, Hecate, Astraea, Diana, Cybele, Isis, and the Virgin Mary.  All are representations of the Great Mother in some form.  As we conclude the Age of Pisces, which is opposite sign of Virgo, and enter the Age of Aquarius (some say in 400+ years), the water/light bearer, we are literally heading back towards the Goddess. Aquarius is ruled by Saturn and its water bearer is often compared to Prometheus.

In the Modern Age the Goddess reveals herself in secular art and architecture often designed by Freemasons.  In fact the constellation of Virgo figures prominently in countless artistic references throughout the architecture, paintings, statuary, and facades of Washington, D.C. (for more see David Ovason's  The Secret Architecture of Our Nation’s Capital (1999)).




Perhaps the most famous Virgo symbol in America is  the light-bearing statue of Liberty, or Libertas, the goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny in ancient Rome, which also sounds like a female aspect of Saturn.  Like the flame of Prometheus, Liberty's torch symbolizes enlightenment.

Mother Goddess, Virgo, Libertas, Columba and Isis standing on a pentagram

The eternal flame is also used to commemorate a person (such as Princess Diana or JFK), an event of national significance, a memorial to unknown soldiers, or to serve as a  reminder of commitment to a common goal such as international peace.

The torch marks Diana's (the Moon Mother Goddess) Memorial in Paris above the site of fatal accident.  It is mounted on Venus' pentagram, notice the Osirian Eiffel Tower in the background

Perhaps the most readily recognized eternal flame is the Olympic Torch which is ignited several months before the Olympic Games in Greece.  Eleven women representing the Vestal Virgins perform a ceremony in which the torch is kindled by the light of the Sun.  

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

A worldwide Torch Relay ends on the day of the opening ceremony in the stadium of the Games when the Olympic flame is lit.  This flame continues to burn throughout the Olympics 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 relaying of the Olympic torch was held at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, during the Nazi Regime.  It is 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.

This year the torch ceremony was initiated on May 10, 2012 as Venus was beginning to station at the 29th, or anarectic, degree of Taurus. The anaretic degree is the last degree of a zodiacal sign.  It is associated with completion and initiations, as well as an urgent need to correctly utilize the energy of what ever planet is at that degree.  Eight days later the torch arrived in Cornwall, England for the relay across the British Isles, commencing just two days after Saturn retrograded back into Virgo, also at the anarectic 29th degree of Virgo.

Princess Anne, the daughter of the Queen, carries the Olympic Torch and is the President of British Olympic Association

Moreover the Torch Relay will visit Buckingham palace the day before the opening ceremonies on July 26, 2012.  Britain's newly 'jubileed' Queen Elizabeth will open the 2012 Olympics on July 27, 2012 by lighting a ceremonial cauldron under a Moon-Saturn conjunction in Virgo.  Quite a week of ceremonies.

Saturn and Venus will continue to trine in late degrees through July 31, 2012 when Venus enters Gemini followed by Saturn's entrance into Libra on August 4, 2012 just days after the opening ceremonies of the XXX Olymic Games. This is a period when some conspiracy theorists suggest a false flag event may occur setting the stage for a new messianic figure to come save the day -- that is if aliens don't land during the Opening Ceremony.

Prometheus: Protagonist/Antagonist

So the release of Prometheus during the same time period as the Olympic Torch Relay and Queen's (of Heaven) Jubilee suggests that our collective minds are being activated by these light bearing global ceremonies.  By looking more closely at two of the film's main characters, Elizabeth (the same name as the Queen) Shaw and David, we may get a glimpse of how the path to the Golden Age may unfold -- at least the shadow side.


Elizabeth Shaw, played by Noomi Rapace (who coincidently also played "Lisbeth" in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy) is a young archaeologist who discovers a cave painting on the Scottish Isle of Skye that she believes is an "invitation" to find our extraterrestrial ancestors. Notice her eye -- her left eye -- which is so often used to signify an initiation into the mysteries (click here for more). Symbolically derived from the Egyptian Eye of Horus, images of the left eye corresponds to the moon or divine feminine, while images of right eye corresponds to the sun or divine male. Shaw is an idealistic "believer" who wears a cross bearing a remarkable resemblance to an Egyptian ankh, or Venus, and signaling that she is a light bearer -- a Venus/Isis archetype.  Even the name Elizabeth derives from Hebrew meaning "I am God's daughter" or "God's promise." 

Elizabeth Shaw, a modern Isis shining the light of discovery in the dark caves of the Isle of Skye

She and her husband Charlie (as in Prince Charles?) Holloway convince the mysterious CEO of the Weyland Corporation, Peter Weyland, to fund the creation of the spaceship Prometheus and its excursion that will follow this ancient sky map to the distant moon LV-223.  During the two-year, 35-light year journey to LV223, which is strangely described as half a billion miles from Earth by Captain Vickers (a huge mathematical error making it land more in the vicinity of Saturn), the 17 (star card) member crew is preserved in stasis and watched over by Weyland's android, David.  He is particularly interested in Elizabeth.

While the crew is in stasis, David taps into Elizabeth's life support system to watch over her childhood dreams of her father which reveals the source of her underlying faith: the death of her mother and her belief in a spiritual afterlife symbolized by the ankh-like cross necklace that she wears.

Elizabeth and Charlie observing Elizabeth's dreams

Although David associates his creator, Peter Weyland, as his father, he has no mother figure and perhaps relates to Elizabeth in this way.   And there has been much speculation that David develops feelings for Elizabeth as writer Damon Lindelof hints: He's a strange robot that has a curious crush on a human being, and when Weyland is eliminated, I think he is genuinely interested in what she's interested in. 

David is also obsessed with the movie Lawrence of Arabia, even repeatedly quoting Lawrence's famous line of advice: the trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts in reference to putting out the flame with his bare finger.  In what might be described as an anti-Promethean gesture, David attempts to put out the light of the crew with his finger when he infects Shaw's husband Charlie with the black goo.

 

David's finger with black goo and Weyland logo, a winged W

David even resembles Peter O'Toole's Lawrence and appropriates his look and mannerisms.  And, like Lawrence, he is a man/android entering a world that he doesn't understand, learning to become like his creators, but suffering the indignities of caring for his flawed makers and realizing that he is superior to them. 

Notice the winged Weyland logo above David's name tag that looks more like the word Druid

The name David comes from Mesopotamia and is used in Hebrew to mean "beloved." It is also the name of the first King of Israel, who was chosen by God. Biblical tradition declares that only a direct descendant of David will be the Messiah and thus connects the Messiah with royal bloodlines of the House of David.  David is remembered as being a great king, and one of his most remarkable feats was beheading Goliath as a child.

Caravaggio, David and Goliath

Unfortunately for the android David, a giant Engineer turns the table and rips his head off -- perhaps because David lacked the faith and blessing of his namesake.  Like the Hindu demon Swarbhanu, David is separated into immortal head (Rahu) and body (Ketu).   We see the severed head and torn wiring of the android lying on the ground, still talking and thinking.

David's severed head

Although I have not seen the original Alien, I have read that this decapitation is a nod to it foreshadowing of the fates of Ash and Bishop.

Like David, Ash is an android plant who is acting on secret orders of the Weyland Corporation to Bring back alien life form. Crew expendable. And just as Alien's Nostromo crew reactivates Ash's decapitated head to learn the truth about the creature, the Prometheus crew gruesomely activates the decapitated head of a long-dead Engineer which sputters and groans like a hideous monster. Elizabeth must destroy it in a decontamination container.

 

It seems that Elizabeth must have a thing for severed heads, perhaps because her namesake is the mother of John the Baptist, who was also famously beheaded.  There were even Gnostic sects that were said to worship the head of John the Baptist.  In fact the Knights Templar were falsely accused and charged of heresy by the Catholic Church of worshiping a severed talking head of John the Baptist/Baphomet.  Helmets, decapitation and severed heads are part of a long tradition in sci-fi giving a nod to the Templar/Masonic traditions of NASA whose secret knowledge seems to include the understanding that our ancestors came from the stars (for more see John the Baptist in Space) as evidenced in many of the names of its space programs: ISiS, Mercury, Apollo, Gemini etc. 


Both the Promethean and Biblical Elizabeths share another interesting trait: they were barren and miraculously became impregnated by their husbands -- one by the blessings of God and the other by black goo. Elizabeth Shaw became pregnant by her husband Charlie who was infected by the black goo that David had laced into his champagne.  The alien mutation gestated at a such a rapid rate that Elizabeth had to perform her own abortion, a Caesarian section in an automated medical pod.  She is horrified to see that her offspring is a squirming alien squid which she decontaminates and appears to destroy.  But those alien genes are tough, and it grows to massive proportions attacking the last Engineer, who is then transformed into the all too familiar alien of the original movie.   Elizabeth's chemical wedding with Charlie produces a mutant offspring that kill her Titan forefather and becomes a new alien Queen.

Even after David betrays her and the rest of the crew, Elizabeth recovers his animated remains and believes him when he says that he can activate another Engineer ship so they can return home.  But Elizabeth has other things in mind: she plans travel to the Titan's home planet to find out why they wanted to destroy mankind.   Ah, I can't wait for the sequel!!  Will Elizabeth challenge the progenitor gods?  Her disillusionment certainly reflects the disappointment that the Mother Goddess must have felt with the decline of the Golden Age.   Could  Elizabeth represent the return of the Mother Goddess battling against the male-dominated, Promethean progenitor gods?

Prometheus, Elizabeth Shaw

And how does this relate to all the synchronous events?  Let's take one last look at visionary art and poet William Blake's illustration from Jerusalem: the Great Emanation of Albion. Perhaps a few heads will roll at the dawn of the Golden Age.

JAI MA!!!

Namaste!