AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #62

c585               ANAXIMANDER (c611-c547BCE) Greek scientist and Ionian philosopher, born at Miletus and successor of Thales. He is credited as the author of the first geometric model of the universe and was possibly the first person to attempt to draw a map of the inhabited earth. Anaximander taught that there was a form of matter which had not yet taken on the properties of water, fire, earth or air. This first ‘matter’ is a single universal principle and primary source of life, which he termed ‘archae’ as the starting point and origin of the cosmic process. It was something more abstract than the ‘water’ of Thales, and had the qualities of being infinite and undifferentiated, and termed ‘Apeiron’ or boundless.  Within this ‘Apeiron’ arose two opposites or polarities of energy whose constant struggle with each other produced the phenomenal world.  Anaximander also had a theory of evolution and this was stated as being that fish were primeval and all animals issued from them, that is, life originated in the sea. (19. 114)

Anaximander with sun dial

c584               ASTYAGES (r.584-549) Iranian-Aryan and last King of Media. Astyages dreams of his daughter Mandane, as lord over the whole land. The Magi confirmed this, saying that the princess was destined to achieve some great work. In response and with the intention of preventing this event occurring, the King married his daughter to what he thought to be an inconsequential Persian by the name of Cambyses I, with the purpose of creating a union of the Medes and Persians. Whilst Mandane was pregnant, Astyages dreamt of a vine growing out of the princess and covering the whole of Asia. This child will become Cyrus the Great  [Cyrus II] who will inherit the Median Empire after defeating Astyages, and thereby establish the Achaemenid Empire. (73)

Astyages Dream

15^th century French Tapestry

582                 Estimated total eclipse over Sais in ancient Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period. (240. 241)

c580              ZARATHUSTRA or Zoroaster (c628-551 BCE) possibly a second Zoroaster (see 2000 BCE) born in Medea (northern Iran/Persia). A pagan priest and prophet who reformed and gave new dimensions to the ancient polytheistic religion of Persians, a descendant branch of the Aryan Race. Known in Babylon as Zaratas, the great initiate who inaugurated the spiritual tradition of star wisdom. His new religion was based on one supreme creative principle called Ahura Mazda (wise Lord) which came out of the earlier Aryan religion of Mitra the spirit of Light. Zoroaster called Mitra the Eye of Mazda. 

                       An initiate of Zarathustra passed through 3 major grades 1. Apprenticeship. 2. Mastership. 3. Perfect Mastership. The Parsis of India are the modern descendants of Zoroastrianism. The Magi’s organisation into a graded system is reflected in the development of later occult groups (1. 102. 50a).  

Persian Magi

[photo Nickmard Khoey]

                   THE MAGI: this is a title for priests and wise men of the past. The term will become corrupted during Greco-Roman times when the magi are referred to as charlatan magicians. The original priests or magi (wise men) formulated Zarathustra’s teachings into principles of good and evil called Ohrmazd and Ahriman. Associated entities became angels or devils and eventually took on characteristics of the old gods. 

                       As a major religious authority during the Persian Empire, Zarathustra’s doctrine laid the basis for Christian and Islamic doctrines, and propagated the belief that any alternative religion was the worship of the devil. The concept of good and evil turned life after death into the familiar Hell of Christianity.

c570             JINA (599-527) Mahavira the 24th Indian teacher, who re-establishes the religion and philosophy of Jainism. This is the restoration of an ancient faith that has the severe doctrine of non-injury to all living things due to the belief that they carry soul and therefore destruction is of karmic consequence. [226. 330]

Birth of Mahavira 

MOON RHYTHMS

 The lunar orb is most associated with the sign of Cancer the Crab and indicates the fluctuation of moods of that sign when strong in an individual’s chart, or when indicated in a mundane or worldly situation it can be used to measure the cycles of nature. One of the most obvious and well known cycles is that of the sea tides which respond to the regular cycles of the Moon.

Egyptian Moon God Aah-Tehuti

The Moon is moving towards its greatest fullness in the cold winter nights for some and in the clear summer nights for others. As she does so the lunar orb will oppose the planets Uranus and Mars before reaching the opposition of the sun, which indicates its time of fullest glory before slowly waning once again until briefly disappearing from the night sky.

 

A friend asked why does the moon keep changing its shape and does its rhythmic dance affect us?

 

The Moon spins around our planet Earth once in 28 to 29 days and we see this happen in the sky by viewing the Moons changing light disc, which is really just the light reflected from the Sun. Each month there is a New Moon from which point the disk of light appears to grow bigger till it is a full disc in the sky. Then the disc of light starts to shrink back to nothing again. The cycle is called a Lunation and goes from one New Moon to the next. Our ‘month’ derives its name from this cycle of the Moon. Many calendars still use the Moon cycle of 13 months rather than the solar cycle of 12 months. In the dance of the Sun and Moon, is seen a cycle of basic life energy, the yin and yang of Chinese philosophy, the fire and water of Western Alchemical Tradition.

Cycle of the Sun-Moon

In viewing the sky, once a month, the moon, who travels faster than the sun, appears to catch up with the sun. The two orbs are then together in the sky from our perspective. This is called in astrology, a conjunction of the lights, and a ‘dark moon’. As the faster moving moon pulls away from the sun, and we see a thin crescent of the light of the moon appearing, it is called a New Moon. The sun represents our spiritual impulse and the moon its reflected light. The Moon is the communicator between the inner and outer life.

 

As the moon continues to increase its distance from the sun, following New Moon, the moon disc increases in reflected light from the sun. This is called the ‘waxing moon’. Waxing means to grow bigger or to increase.

 

The moon’s light continues to increase until it reaches a full disc of light as seen from Earth and it is then known as a ‘Full Moon’. In a general way the Moon collects and distributes cosmic and planetary energies to the Earth and all life on Earth. The Sun is the source of an impulse of energy; the Moon is the mother and nurturer of that impulse.

 

The Moon’s journey continues through a ‘waning moon’ or decreasing phase as it moves towards another conjunction with the Sun. The Moon’s refected light gradually wanes or disappears and we enter a few dark days of no moonlight. The reflecting lunar light is withdrawn.

Dance of the Sun & Moon

In the moon’s approximate 28 day journey or cycle, two points are of greater significance in the 8 phase cycle. These are the New Moon and the Full Moon phases of a Lunation, the point of meeting and the point of maximum separation; both of which indicate a time of changing currents.

 

A New Moon indicates a starting point, as in a new beginning.  As the moon grows in its waxing phase, there is indicated a growth phase of whatever was being considered at the starting point, it is a period of outward moving activity which reaches its peak or fruition at Full Moon. As the moon shrinks in its waning phase, there is indicated a phase of retreat, it a period of withdrawal and reflection as the process moves towards a new beginning indicated by the next New Moon. Each New Moon will occur in a successive sign of the zodiac, each sign indicating the activation of a different kind of energy to grow, reach fulfilment then fade away to an ending and new beginning.

 

As the Moon moves around in its monthly cycle it represents the fluctuating responses of life on Earth as seen in the sea tides or the moods and habits of people. The visible moon in its journey of changing phases indicates cycling human and cosmic energy. Dane Rudhyar in his book ‘The Lunation Cycle’ talks at length on this pulse of life. 

Sailing by moonlight on

The rhythms of the sea