Cydonia: Chapter Five: A Coin for Charon

Please assume…that there is in our souls a block of wax, in one case larger, in another smaller, in one case the wax is purer, in another more impure and harder, in some cases softer, and in some of proper quality… Let us, then, say that this is the gift of Memory, the mother of the Muses, and that whenever we wish to remember anything we see or hear or think of in our own minds, we hold this wax under the perceptions and thoughts and imprint them upon it, just as we make impressions from seal rings; and whatever is imprinted we remember and know as long as its image lasts, but whatever is rubbed out or cannot be imprinted we forget and do not know. (Socrates to Theaetetus. Plato's Theaetetus 191d) The constellation Sagittarius was associated with Crotus, the son of the Greek god Pan and the nymph Eupheme (auspicious words). Crotus, whose name means "rhythmic beat," was the inventor of "hand clapping" or applause. Crotus was a skilled hunter--in Hebrew tzidon is the root word for [636] "hunter" and for "Sidonian." Crotus was skilled in the arts and sciences taught to him by his childhood companions the Muses-- [637] daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory). The Muses loved Crotus so much that when he died, they asked Zeus to place him in the sky; Zeus gave Crotus the body of a horse, the bow and arrow of a great hunter (Sidonian), and the tail of a goat in honor of his father Pan. Crotus, the horse-man, and his constellation Sagittarius, have long been associated with the learning at the foundation of civilization: [638] astrology, philosophy, religion, and the arts. Sagittarius appears in the zodiac as a centaur, or Kentaurus. The Greek word ken means "to know or discern," and the word aurus means "light of the heavens." The English word "cunning" comes from [639] the root Canaan; the word "kenen" meaning "to know" in English is from the same Hebrew root. Symbolically, a Ken-Taurus is a "knower of the heavens." The first born of the Ken-taurs--knowers or priests of the heavens--was named Chiron, meaning "hand." In Greek myth Chiron was the teacher of magic and sciences, the son of Chronus and Rhea and of an entirely different origin than the later "centaurs" of myth. Chiron was the teacher of Apollo's son Aesculapius, whose daughter was the goddess of the Pythagorean Pentagon Hygeia, who became the Latin goddess Salus after whom the Roman Salii priests of Mars were named. The race of Centaurs (excluding Chiron) was the result of the union between the first Greek city- [640] builder Ixion (Tied to a Wheel) and a nymph named Nephele (wraith or cloud). Ixion was called a son of Ares, and had killed his father in law--the first murder, according to Pindar. Like Cain, the Greek Ixion was not only the first city- builder but also the first murderer, for which Ixion was sentenced to wander the earth. This Greek myth of the origin of the Centaurs links Ixion, the Greek counterpart for Cain, directly to the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim. Zeus forgave Ixion the transgression of murder, but then Ixion tried to seduce Zeus's wife Hera (Hestia or Vesta in Rome, the goddess whom Romulus's Vestal Virgins revered). In retaliation Zeus created Nephele, a ghostlike double of Hera from which Ixion produced the Centaurs. The illuminating god Apollo taught Chiron the skills of healing, medicine, and hunting (tzidon) with [641] arrows. Chiron in turn provided education in healing and archery to other worthy Greek demi-gods, such as: Aesculapius, Jason, and Achilles. But save me. Take me to the ship, cut this arrow out of my leg, wash the blood from it with warm water and put the right things on it--the plants they say you have learned about from Achilles who learned them from Chiron, the best of the Centaurs. The Iliad of Homer, Book XI In Greek legend Abaris (Landsman) was a priest of the archer-god Apollo and mentor to [642] Pythagoras. Apollo gave Abaris a golden arrow that had the power to cure diseases, give oracles, [643] and render the possessor invisible. Abaris is said to have given the arrow to Pythagoras. Herodotus described the arrow of Abaris in his histories On the Scynthians: A guiding arrow in order that it may be useful to him in all difficulties in his long journey. As for the tale of Abaris, who is said to have been a Hyperborean, and to have gone with his arrow all round [644] the world without once eating, I shall pass it by in silence. The dart of Abaris carried the philosopher wheresoever he desired it. --Willmott. The Greek legend of the origins of centaurs involved the union of the first builder Ixion with an ethereal ghost-like being tellingly named Nephele. The "ethereal" is emphasized in these myths of the horse and arrow; the golden arrow of the first centaur Chiron's patron Apollo caused the holder to become invisible, or "ghost-like" as well. The centaur Sagittarius has already been linked to the Milky Way, pointing with his arrow at the mouth of the Ouroboros. The Roman writer Macrobius described the Milky Way as the means by which souls of the dead ascended--by way of Capricorn--and descended, to be reborn through the gate of Cancer. Although Macrobius described Capricorn and Cancer lying where the zodiac crossed the Milky Way, he was speaking of the tropic lines of Cancer and Capricorn, which [645] mark the solstices. This description of the discorporated soul's travel to the entryway of the celestial river is a concept the Greeks and Romans inherited from the Egyptians. The Greeks called the gateway to the river of the dead the pylai (gates), the Egyptians called it the Duat. Egyptologists are vague about the location of the duat, many claiming that the Egyptians considered the duat the region in the sky from Leo to Orion. According to the hierarchy of the Egyptian mystery schools, only the priests and adepts knew the exact location of the duat. The Egyptians referred in arts and sciences to this gateway to the world of the dead, which was also the region of new beginnings. The word duat was represented in hieroglyphs by a symbol familiar to the initiates of the mystery school of [646] Pythagoras; "duat" was a circumscribed five-pointed star. This symbol combined the 360-degree circle touched by the pentagram at 72-degree intervals. The precessional or Platonic year was found by multiplying 72 with 360, equaling 25,920 years. The pentagram star was also the Egyptian glyph for Isis, that is, Sirius. At the entrance of the duat the Ouroboros devoured its tail, guarded by Chiron the Centaur, the constellation Sagittarius. In the language of myth, the Roman Charon is more than a homophonic name; Charon, the demi-god of the gateway to the river of souls, was the son of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night), the domain of the Ouroborus was the night sky. Charon is similar to the Etruscan demon of death [647] "Charun" who also guards the entrance to the underworld. The Romans believed that when a person died, Mercury would escort them to the River Styx the boundary of Hades. The word "Hades" derives from the Greek word aeides, "invisible." Diodorus Siculus, in his commentary on Egyptian afterlife, wrote: They call the habitations of the living, inns, because we dwell in them for a short time; but the abodes of the departed they style hidden houses, because in the unseen they remain the unknown cycle. (lib. 1.51). At the edge of the river Styx, the spirits of the dead met Charon (Chiron) the ferryman. A coin called an obolus would have been placed in the mouth of the deceased to pay Charon. Without this fee Charon refused to convey the soul into Hades. Cerberus and Orthrus, the twin guardian dogs of Hades on the opposite shore admitted the dead into Hades. Cerberus and Orthrus represented the constellations at the opposite end of the duat, the point where the Milky Way crosses the ecliptic near Sirius in Canis Major and Canis Minor, the big and little dogs. In Greece measures of weight were once made from bronze in the shape of arrows (in Latin sagitta). The arrow-shaped coin was called an obolus, from the Greek word oboloi, an arrow or "spit." Plutarch explained: "the old money was… in some countries, copper skewers, whence it comes that we [648] still find a great number of small pieces of money retain the name of obolus." An obelus was a loaf of bread baked on a spit, which looked like the familiar sign of Mars, An arrow was the payment for achieving immortality--the arrowman, Sagittarius (the Ken-Taur), held the price of the knowledge of [649] entry into the next world. The skill of hunting and invention of archery was credited to the Kabiroi or Kouretes, the origin of the name for the island of Crete. The Semitic word for hunter is tzidon, the root of "Sidonia" and "Cydonia." The development of bow and arrow skills was taught to the primitive inhabitants of Crete by the ancient craftsman gods. The Cretan bows were famous, especially Cydonian bows, and preferred by them to all others: After the Daktyloi Idaioi [who lived in Krete], according to accounts we have, there were nine Kouretes. Some writers of myths relate that these gods were born of the Earth, but according to others, they were descended from the Daktyloi Idaioi. Their home they made in mountainous places which were thickly wooded and full of ravines, and which, in a word, provided a natural shelter and coverage, since it had not yet been discovered how to build houses. And since these Kouretes excelled in wisdom they discovered many things which are of use to men generally; so, for instance, they were the first to gather sheep into flocks, to domesticate the several other kinds of animals which men fatten, and to discover the making of honey [one of them was named Melisseus or Honey- Man]. In the same manner they introduced the art of shooting with the bow and the ways of hunting animals, and they showed mankind how to live and associate together in a common life, and they were the originators of concord [which means Apollo] and, so to speak, of orderly behaviour. The Kouretes also invented swords and helmets and the war-dance, by means of which they raised a great alarm and deceived Kronos. And we are told that, when Rhea, the mother of Zeus, entrusted him to them unbeknown to Kronos his father, they took him under their care and saw to his nurture … The myth the Kretans relate runs like this: when the Kouretes were young men, the Titanes, as they are called, were still living. These Titanes had their dwelling in the land about Knosos. (Diodorus Siculus 5.65.1) According to Greek myth a living person who wished to go to the underworld need a golden bough, obtained from the Cumaean Sibyl. The city of Cumae (Kymé in Greek) where the Sibyl resided was the oldest permanent Greek settlement on the Italian mainland, the legendary site where the Romans had [650] inherited their alphabet. Through the comprehension of the Greek alphabet invented by the Semites (Sidonians, Hebrews), the Romans learned the secret location where heaven symbolically touched the earth. The Athenian craftsman Daedalus, architect of the Cretan Labyrinth at Knossos, built the temple at Cumae. Daedalus constructed the Cumae Temple to Apollo after that unfortunate flight with his son Iccarus, who had fallen to the earth. History records that the Apollonian sibyl who dwelt by the spring at Cumae Italy originally offered the Roman emperor Tarquinius Superbus (534-510 BCE) nine books of prophecy in Greek hexameters. Tarquinius rejected the offer thinking the price too high, but learned that the sibyl was burning the books of wisdom one by one. When the sibyl offered the remaining three books for the same exact price as the [651] original nine, Tarquinius finally paid for them. These books were stored in subterranean chambers of the Capitoline Hill in Rome and were believed to hold the future of Rome as well as the knowledge of the alignments of Heaven and earth. The arrow in the bow of Sagittarius functions as the hand of a clock, providing the symbolic directions for reading the cosmic clock of the Ouroboros. The descendents of Cain who populated Canaan, Sidonia, and Cydonia preserved their "kent aurus" or "knowledge of the heavens," through the rites of the mystery schools, and the myths of craftsman gods and teacher deities. The Sidonian Kabiroi taught the knowledge of the heavenly Archer to the Cydonians of Crete, who transmitted this knowledge through their god Apollo, and the Cen-taur Chiron, preserved in the zodiac as the arrow-wielding Sagittarius, indicator of the entrance to the Milky Way river of souls, at the mouth of the Ouroboral serpent in the heavens. The god who wielded an " arrow of knowledge," Apollo, was also a diviner of the future and associated with a great serpent; ancient authors referred to Apollo and Hermes as incarnations of the same deity, both were preserved in myth as the father of Cydon, both were depicted with a "rod of knowledge" and as the companion of a serpent. Those schooled in Hermetic arts--the knowledge taught by Cain and his descendents--joined a tradition of priests who "knew the heavens," the "centaurs." The caduceus symbol of Mercury and the staves of the Salii priests of Mars are references to that knowledge of the heavens. In the metaphor of alchemy, the "philosopher's stone" was known to have the power to "open or [652] close" the Ouroboros. The Philosopher's Stone was synonymous with the benben stone, which originated from the "Mansion of the Phoenix," literally the "Mansion of the Red." The memory [Mnemosyne] of the origins of "that which fell from heaven"--stones, gods, wisdom, architectural templates--was preserved in myth, and the "arts and sciences" [Daughters of Mnemosyne]. The red fiery origins of the wisdom of the aions was symbolized by the god wielding the branch, rod, caduceus or arrow--the sign of that origin was the sign of the planet Mars. The symbols of Mars have the power to open or close the Ouroboros--the arrow points the way to the river of souls, the golden bough allows even the living to have access, the rod of knowledge indicates the time on the cosmic clock. Pillars of Wisdom According to the Gnostic mystery schools, Cain was a scribe for the "gods," the rebel Watchers and their hybrid offspring the Nephilim. Cain himself was the first sage to carry the heavenly knowledge to civilizations around the earth. The demi-gods, the Nephilim, were in the earth even after the Flood, according to Genesis. They settled in Sidonia, the very place the Watchers had originally descended in the time of Jared, in the area around Mount Hermon as mentioned in the Book of Enoch. In myth, the hero or god who dispersed the knowledge of the heavens was known by various names alluding to his origin. Hermes was the scribe of the gods, credited with all the sacred books of hidden wisdom of antiquity. Hermes bore the knowledge of those who descended upon Mount Hermon. Iamblichus, a Neo-platonic Syrian philosopher ca. 250-300 BC, recorded that Hermes wrote 20,000 books. The Egyptian Manetho [653] credited Hermes with the authorship of over 36,000 books. The Egyptian counterpart of Hermes was the scribe of the gods named Thoth. Mystery schools of alchemy and gnosticism concur that the greatest of the works compiled from the heavenly knowledge disclosed by the gods was the "Emerald Tablet of Thoth." Medieval Alchemists regarded the work as "the whole of magic in a single page." The legendary Emerald Tablet is said to still exist in a Latin version from the 7th century. This Hermetic work was so valued by the renowned medieval alchemist Paracelsus, that he wrote: "The ancient Emerald Tablet shows more art and experience in Philosophy, Alchemy, Magic, and the like than ever could be taught by [654] you or your crowd of followers." The oldest known reference to the famous Emerald Tablet of Thoth occurs in the writings of Al- Jabir, who quoted it from The Secret of Creation by the Greek Pythagorean Apollonius of Tyana. Al-Jabir was the son of Hayyan, a Shi'ite druggist of the Azd tribe from the town of Kufa. Jabir was born in the town of Tus in 721 where he founded an alchemical school. Jabir originated the idea that metals were composed of mercury and sulphur. Trade with China brought Chinese alchemical knowledge to the [655] attention of Arabian scholars. Medieval writers and initiates of the mysteries have called this Hermetic work "The Alchemist's Creed." The Hermetic Emerald Tablet of Thoth condensed and preserved the knowledge that the wisdom of the gods was dispersed due to the heaven and earth alignment. That which is above is as that which is below; and that which is below, is as that which is above, for performing the marvels of the Kosmos. As all things are from the One, by the mediation of the One so all things arose out of this One Thing by evolving. The mystery schools obscured the wisdom they were preserving through symbolism and cryptic language. This was done to prevent all but the most dedicated initiates deciphering the meaning. The truth found in the Hermetic works was unclear to those who were not chosen, for it was Hermes himself who deemed to "open their eyes." Information in the archives of the Theosophical Society stated that an Essenian initiate located the [656] Emerald Tablet of Thoth at Hebron, the city of the kabeiroi (ie. the gibborim , "Mighty Ones"). The famous Sidonian founder of Thebes, Cadmus, was counted among the Kabiri of Samothracian legend. Cadmus was identified with Hermes. According to Blavatsky, it was Cadmus who was the author of the Emerald Tablets. Blavatsky also emphasized that Cadmus was one of the beings who belongs to the classification "hero"--those who succeeded the reigns of the gods and demigods on earth as instructors of mortals. Masonic mystery schools have written that Cadmus was a Canaanite descendent of Eve and the particular fallen god they called "Lucifer." The tablets Cadmus carried with him were either real objects or a metaphor for the knowledge he passed on to the Greeks. According to the genealogy of the gods, Hermes was born in a cave on mount Cyllene in Arcadia. Hermes was the son of Zeus (who was raised on Crete) and Maia (one of the Pleiades), daughter of the Titan Atlas. Like Kydon, the legendary founder of Cydonia, the parentage was changed according to the hidden knowledge that was being preserved and conveyed. King Cydon himself was said to be a son of Maia, one of the Pleiades, or Hesperides who guarded the Golden Apples. In the alternate version of Cydon's origin, he was not the brother of Hermes (as the son of Maia) but the actual son of Hermes. As the founder of Cydonia on Crete, Cydon was preserved in legend as either the twin brother or twin son of Hermes. The seemingly contradictory versions maintain a consistent reference to Arcadia, preserving through time the same hidden meaning. Both Hermes and Cydon had an Arcadian origin, and were grandsons of Atlas through his daughter Maia. Myth tells us the children of Atlas ruled "Atlantis" or "Arcadia." According to Plutarch, twins were born to the god Mars and the nymph Phylonome, named Parrhasius and Lycastus. Phylonome abandoned the twins on a mountain, where they were saved by a she- wolf until discovered by a shepherd who reared them as his own. These twins later seized power in [657] Arcadia. The name of the mother of the Arcadian twins Phylonome means "source of peoples." The same idea is represented by the name of the mother of Romulus and Remus, Rhea Silva; Greek rheo (to flow) or rheos (stream) and silva (of the tree). Parrhasius means "of the fruit" and Lycastus means "wolf man"; both names of the twin sons of Mars and Phylonome describe the constellation Gemini under which Canis Major and the star Sirius lie. The "mother" in foundation myths (like Romulus, and Cydon, Hermes was the founder of the city of Thebes in his incarnation as Cadmus) is an aspect of the Biblical Eve. The two mythical sons are Cain, the first city-builder, and his brother Abel. The god of the planet Mars (Ares) is Lucifer, the rebel angel whose former abode was the planet Mars and who was later described as the serpent in the garden. Cain's name means "possessor," while Romulus, the twin who murdered his brother and took possession of the rulership of Rome, means "exalted." Remus, the murdered brother, [658] means "branch," while his Biblical counterpart Abel, wields a shepherd's staff. Cain later usurped the staff of Abel as a symbol for knowledge and the serpent of the tree from the garden is consistently depicted wound around it. Cain, "the possessor," is viewed from antiquity as Thoth, Hermes, or Mercury, god of commerce and possessions. He is the human carrying the bloodline of Lucifer according to Gnostic belief. A variation of Hermes in the Occult literature is Pymander, from the Greek Poimandres "shepherd of men," [659] a title of Hermes himself. In The Illiad Homer described Hermes as "the helper, cunning beyond all [660] others in his mind." This is the same description of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Symbols of the Mysteries Florence, the city founded by Mars, that Satan who first turned his back on his Maker, and from whose envy such great grief has come, coins and spreads that accursed lily flower, that has sent the sheep and lambs astray, since it has made a wolf of the shepherd. (Dante's Paradiso Canto IX:127- 142.) The Roman Salii priests of Mars wore a white cap called an "apex," an eggshell shaped hat [661] surmounted with a flat or crescent shaped disk and a point from the center. The symbolism behind the headgear of the Salii connected the ancient worship of the dualistic twins of Greek legend to the twin founders of Rome. While the Salii priests were a brotherhood which revered their "father" Mars and their "brothers" Romulus and Remus, the caps they wore represented the "egg shells" worn by the Greek Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux (Polydeuces). The twins of Gemini wore eggshell caps on their heads commemorating their birth from Leda who had been impregnated by Zeus in the form of a swan. Cygnus the swan is found in the heavens along the Milky Way. The disk and point of the Salii's caps also closely resembled the Egyptian hieroglyph for the star Sirius. Sirius is represented in cartouche with an obelisk next to a crescent circle that hovers over a 5- pointed star. All of these connections originate from the Egyptian cult of Isis, Osiris, and Horus. These three deities took on other names in their various aspects, but remained in essence the same. The goddess Isis was primarily symbolized by the star Sirius, but was also the moon, the constellation Virgo, associated with her friend the canine "Anubis" and various feminine aspects of nature. The god Osiris was associated with the stars of Orion, but also the sun, the constellation Leo, fire, Taurus the bull, the rising of the Nile River, and other masculine aspects of nature. Horus was the dualistic deity resulting from the union of Isis and Osiris, and was accurately rendered by a symbolic creature that was the union of Virgo and Leo, the sphinx , called Harmakhet , "Horus of the Horizon," a specific location on earth in relation to the heavens. Horus was the aspect of the mysteries--the union of the masculine and feminine, of Osiris and Isis, the sun and the moon, the heavens and the earth--represented by the dualistic siblings and twins of myth, such as Janus, Dionysus, Diane and Apollo, the Dioscuri, and Romulus and Remus. Isis and Osiris themselves had twin aspects who were their "dark side," represented by Nephthys and Set, respectively. The Minoan culture on Crete was named after the ancient King Minos of the Labyrinth and Minotaur legend. In the ruins of pillar crypts of Minoan palaces and villas on Crete, square piers have been found incised with a variety of evocative symbols, including the double axe, stars, and tridents. Although these pillars served a structural function, they were also considered by the Cretans to be sacred. The pier or pillar was a reminder of the connection between the earth and the heavens. The trident symbol often found on the Minoan pillars is very similar to the 23 Greek trident shaped rd letter ( ) Psi. The Greeks inherited this letter from the Pelasgians, along with their mystery religion. The word "trident" actually means three teeth and was always associated with Poseidon. It was trident- wielding Poseidon's grandson Cadmus who sowed the teeth of the dragon of Mars producing the Spartans. It was King Minos, grandfather of Cydon the founder of Cydonia, who built the Labyrinth at Knossos due to a punishment inflicted upon him by angered god Poseidon. In Hebrew the letter Shin meaning "teeth" was the penultimate letter of the alphabet, as was the Greek Psi. The shin was considered by Jewish scholars to represent the name of God. In the time before Moses, Abraham and his descendants had used the Shin as the first letter in the Hebrew name of God, Shadai. The shin is still written on the outside of the Mezuzah, prayer boxes that are attached to the doorframes of Jewish houses. In Israel when the temple to God in Jerusalem was in use, Levite priests would hold their hands in a form of the shin while reciting blessings and prayers. This symbol can still be [662] seen on the ancient gravestones of Priests in Israel. Poseidon was worshiped in Greece during the festival Neptunalia that was held on the 23 of July. rd During this time the star Sirius rises from behind the sun after having been hidden. On July 23rd both the Sumerian and Egyptian New Years were celebrated according to the rising of Sirius. This time has been called the "Dog Days of Summer," because the "hot" star Sirius rose in the east after its long absence. The Greeks considered the 23 letter Psi a representation of the human soul. Plato used it to represent the rd tripartition of the soul ( ) in Greek, transliterated psuchè. Plutarch, a Greek author of the second century A.D., wrote that the Carian (a southwest Anatolian population) word for double ax was labyrs, a word connected with the Palace of Minos at Knossos [663] Crete, and the Minotaur's lair, the Labyrinth. A labyrinthos can mean, "the place of the double ax." The double ax, and especially the type of double ax most represented in Minoan art, was a very accurate symbol for the shape of the constellation Orion, underlying Taurus the bull. The bull, ax, snake and woman were the main symbols of the Cretan mysteries. The lily and the iris were favorite flowers among the Minoans and appear in both natural and conventionalized forms that are hardly distinguishable from each other. Both the lily and Iris, like the lotus of Egypt, had a symbolic and religious meaning. Early representations of the lily were discovered in a villa in Amnisos, Crete, which dates from the Minoan [664] Period, about 1580 B.C. The lily was the Minoan sacred flower, a special attribute of the Great Minoan Goddesses who originated from Neolithic times. In Greek and Roman myth the lily was dedicated to the goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus. Zeus wished that his half mortal son Hercules partake more fully of divinity. To this end he brought the baby Hercules to Hera and placed it at her breast while she slept. Hera awoke in surprise and flung the baby from her. Some of her milk gushed across the heavens and formed the Milky Way. A few drops fell to [665] earth and from those drops sprang the first lilies. The lily has adorned the coat of arms of the kings of France since 1179. Chlodwig I allegedly received this fleur de lys symbol from an angel. King Louis XI (the 11 ) of France had as his motto: Domine Elegisti Lilium Tibi (O Lord Thou hast chosen the lily th for Thyself ). The lily was featured on the coat of arms of the Venetian Medici family, and later on the [666] arms of Florence and Tuscany. The three-pronged lily or iris is a naturally occurring trident like the Greek letter Psi or Hebrew letter Shin, which in its earliest Greek form was the personal weapon of Poseidon, the trident. Poseidon was the inventor of horses. The winged horse Pegasus was the son of Medusa and Poseidon, the god who embodied the cosmic time clock of the Ouroboros--Milky Way. Pegasus preserved a mystery in his name, from the Greek pega "springs" combined with sus from the Hebrew meaning "horse," or more significantly, "leaper." This again corroborates the connection between Poseidon and Mars. Pegasus, "the leaper," was the son of trident-wielding Poseidon, and the "leaping" Salii priests of Rome, in their pointy apex caps, considered themselves the sons of Mars. The first horse Arion, from aris (first) the same root and meaning as the god Ares, was the offspring of Poseidon or Neptune (god of the sea) and Ceres (goddess of the harvest). The literal meaning of the patriarch Moses is "water leaper" or "springing forth from the water." When the daughter of Pharaoh took Moses out of the water she called him in the Egyptian language MOU-SES or as later Grecianized "Moseus." Ancient authorities confirm that the Egyptian word for water is MU (similar to the Hebrew Mem), and SES in both [667] languages means "leaping out." The origin of the Greek Aphrodite lies in the previous aion, in the myth of the overthrow of Uranus, the elder god of the heavens, when Chronos (Time) castrated him and tossed his severed genitals into the sea. The sea-born goddess Aphrodite arose from the foam (aphros) of the sea, and has been remembered in myth as the great love of the god of Mars, Ares. The origin of Aphrodite was echoed in that of Pegasus, who sprang forth when the blood of Medusa made contact with the seafoam. In the heavens both Pegasus and Sirius (Isis Aphrodite) can be found on the edge of the ocean of foam, the Milky Way. The constellation Pegasus is between Aquarius and Pisces, demarking the first, and the last, of the five suntelias that will have occurred during the Great Year of the Precession of the Equinox. The concept of "lying between," or of an equinox, is embodied in the Roman word for horse, Equus. Ares was often called Ares Hippios, God of Horses. Like his Greek counterpart, the Roman Mars was the patron of horses as well. The Equiria, a festival said to have been instituted by Romulus in honour of Mars, was celebrated in ancient Rome on February 27 and March 14, traditionally the time of year when new military campaigns were prepared. Horse races in the Campus Martius marked the [668] celebration. Melkart, the Sidonian god of Mars and of Tyre, was depicted in art riding a [669] hippocampus, Greek for "seahorse." Pegasus, the "leaper" son of Poseidon, was a popular subject for artists, since it was from under the feet of Pegasus that source of the sacred springs of the Muses (goddesses of inspiration) arose. The Muses were the Daughters of Mnemosyne (Memory), who inspired the arts and sciences, associated with the origin of Sagittarius. In the Greek myth, the hero Bellerophon (Dart Bearer, similar to Sagittarius Arrow Bearer) tamed Pegasus. Bellerophon rode Pegasus and with the help of Athena, killed Chimaera (she goat) offspring of the serpentine Typhon and Echidna. Interestingly, myth preserves Chimaera as a sibling of the Theban sphinx that was defeated by Oedipus. The Theban sphinx strangled all who were ignorant of the answer to her riddle. The Chimaera "she goat" was a sacrifice made when one had sinned through ignorance, according to the Hebrew authors of the Old Testament (Numbers 15:27). Clearly the Egyptians realized that the layout of their country itself mirrored the Orion constellation, the abode of Osiris. The Nile was the earthly Milky Way. The fish of the Nile was actually the fish of the Milky Way, Pisces who swallowed the knowledge that Sagittarius/Mars guarded the mouth of the Ouroborus. During the age of Pisces immediately after the age of Aries, the knowledge of Martian civilization and its influence went underground. The phallus represented the portion of Osiris necessary for complete recovery of the lost knowledge of the Nephilim . The obelisks of Egypt were phallic images as well as symbols for the rays of the illuminating sun. Obelisks were also arrow shaped monuments that represented the arrow pointing out the location of the Egyptian Duat at the mouth of the Ouroboros. At the location where the ecliptic intersected with the Ouroboros, Sagittarius served the function of a guardian of heavenly knowledge. Sagittarius the arrow holder possessed the lost body part of Osiris. The secrets of Isis could once again come to light when the next sunteleia arrived in the sign of Sagittarius. Euphratean Cuneiform inscriptions associated the constellation Sagittarius with Nergal, the god of Mars. These texts called the constellation Sagittarius "the Strong One" or the "Giant King of War, Illuminator of the Great City." Nergal of the Sumerians was known as the "great hero" and the "god of the [670] chase," that is, "The Hunter" (tzidon). The Mesopotamian archer-god Nergal was associated with war, fire and the planet Mars, and was the double of the constellation Sagittarius, the arrow-man who pointed the sign of the suntelia in the mouth of the Ouroboros. Myth was a preservation of the mysteries in a form that could be remembered--a gift of Mnemosyne and her daughters the Muses. The prototypical centaur Crotus--beloved of the Muses--was deified as the centaur with the Cydonian bow, Sagittarius. The Cydonian Archer was an incarnation of the god of Mars, Ares, who was placed in the heavens guarding the gateway to the "sacred river of souls" the Milky Way, which was also the serpent Ouroborus. The truths were remembered in other incarnations as well, most notably the foundation story of Thebes. In this version it was the Dragon of Ares who guarded the gate to the "sacred springs," and the Cydonian Cadmus who defeated him, founding the city of Thebes by sowing the "teeth of the dragon of Ares." The Cydonian Poseidon, the god of the Ouroboros, weilds the "three teeth" trident. At the Sunteleia, the sun rises at equinox or solstice from the mouth of Ouroboros into the Phoenix beginning the new Aion. Fleur de lis circled by the Ouroboros. Various forms of the bow and arrow of Sagittarius. The fleur de lis, Greek letter psi, Hebrew letter shin, and ionic Greek column. The astrological glyph of Neptune. The 21st Hebrew paleo & square script letter shin. The zodiac sign Sagittarius holding the psi-shaped bow and arrow. Psi, the 23rd Greek letter. Poseidon riding his sea-horse-pulled chariot and holding his trident. Stylized Armenian rendering of Sagittarius with his arrow aimed at the mouth of Ouroboros. "Symphony of the Zodiac," 1461. Alchemical manuscript image of Hermes. A Salii, (Mars) priest. [A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.] Eggshell caps worn by Gemini.