Part 8: Stars and Star Myths, Cont.

The names Altair and Antinous have retained a curious cachet... they are associated with spanking and other not-exactly-sado-masochistic forms of sexual gratification. Equally curious is the previously mentioned Chinese custom of whipping the Spring Ox with a willow branch to remind the earth to renew itself and to ensure that the year will be a productive one. The ritual generally produces the desired results.

Apis, the Mighty Bull of Egypt who physically existed in both living bovine form and, through transference of his fecundating power, in the very person of Pharaoh, was also similarly flailed, and with the same beneficent outcome, by that monarch. The false beards that Pharaoh Hatshepsut wore fooled no one. Powerful woman that she was, she was still forbidden to assume the title "Mighty Bull" conferred automatically upon male members of her rank; although she was permitted to perform this annual whipping ritual in which, it is said, she took particular delight. And who can blame her?

The Pharaoh Hatshepsut performing the annual ox-whipping ritual to ensure agricultural abundance.

Scholars, when examining an artifact tend to emphasize those aspects of it which are of particular interest to their respective disciplines. This is a source of great confusion to the rest of us who, being well-rounded in ignorance, are not inclined to view anything in any preferential way. We include two pictures in this section which demonstrate the peculiar emphasis scholars have placed upon objects which seem far more significant in other unintended disciplines. (I feel compelled to make this point.)

What homosexuality, flagellation, androgyny, Dew of Immortality, elixirs, stars, eagles, bulls, oxen and spinning maidens have to do with anything is anybody’s guess. I just couldn’t ignore their contributions to the puzzle.

Vase recovered from Teotihuacan showing "Aquarian" figure.

First, speaking of water-bearers, we display a photograph of a ceramic figure (height 18.4 cm) excavated at Teotihuacan (the famous pyramids located outside Mexico City) and dated from between AD 400 - 900. The figure is currently in the possession of the Museo National de Antropologia E Historia de Mexico. Experts seem to find great significance in the figure’s suggestion of a water-delivery system for upper-storey temple builders. Personally, I find it infinitely more intriguing that the man depicted is unmistakably African. Aquarius he might be...though one wonders why there is no tumpline (forehead strap) for carrying such a heavy burden and why, for that matter, the vessel is so open-lipped for transporting water, or why he is dressed, coifed, and jeweled more like a nobleman than a worker, or why he is so slightly built for such labor, or why women were not used then, as now, to transport water in ollas on their heads... well, we are not experts and should no doubt shut up. Nevertheless, whether or not he is an Aquarius he is most definitely an African .. and what, we may all wonder, is his likeness doing in Toltec Teotihuacan? I don’t care what anybody says, this is a good question.

A Chinese cutting instrument recovered in the ruins of ancient Troy.

The second picture is of a fine Chinese cutting instrument - identified as an axe but, since its photograph was reproduced in a medical text, was probably of surgical or orthopedic use. This instrument was unearthed by Heinrich Schliemann in the ruins of Troy. Troy? As in Ilium? We knew that the Caesars wore Chinese silk... but Troy?.... that city-state fell to the Greeks more than a millennium before silk became the favored fabric of Roman potentates. What in the world were Chinese cutting tools doing in Troy?

The point of all this is that surely there was much more intercontinental travel going on in the ancient world than we’ve all been led to believe. We all grew up on a prejudicial diet of Columbus discovering America and Marco Polo discovering China. Somehow we’ve managed to starve ourselves of a few nutritious facts.

Well, regardless of the arguments of diffusionists and parallel-developers, we still have to account for the strange appearance of western-named stars in what is considered to be so natively Chinese as the Oxherder and Spinning Maiden myth. That these stars are so named in Chinese lore is beyond question: we quote Thomas Cleary’s Understanding Reality his translation of Chang Po-tuan alchemical treatise, Part 4, Item 12, "The feelings of Altair and Vega are joined, their paths meet." Romance is in the air.

China’s ancient astronomers are universally regarded as having been competent observers. They had no trouble identifying stars and grouping them into their own unique configurations and celestial divisions. It was their practice to depict significant events or persons with certain constellations, but in loosely drawn artwork corelating these constellations with the stars of "Chaldean" systems is often impossible.

First organizer of popular Daoism, Chang Tao-Ling, born 34AD with unidentified constellation.

Given that the stars, themselves, are a constant, and that they have been carefully recorded by both Chinese and "Chaldean" astronomers, the matchup of the respective names given them in these diverse systems is, and ought to be, a simple matter - except, of course, when it comes to those two stars who have so much to do with the 7th day of the 7th month.

Which brings us to another problem: the Chinese keep a lunar calendar and stars don’t rise by lunar time, they rise by solar time - in accordance with the earth’s movement around the sun. The Chinese New Year (1st day of the 1st lunar month) can occur during a twenty-eight day period within January and February of the Gregorian calendar. The formula generally given is the first new moon after the sun enters the Aquarius star-group. Since the sun now "conventionally" enters Aquarius on January 20th, the Chinese New Year can fall anytime during the succeeding 27 days, depending on when the lunation begins. It follows that the 7th month can also vary within a month of Gregorian time. Is the rising of Altair and Vega and their precise positioning on either side of the Milky Way, a rising that must also be consistent with the appearance of the Summer Triangle, susceptible of inclusion into any fixed lunar schedule?

Bonehead astronomy can get a person just so far....

In our next installment we’ll have a look at the Pamplona version of the 7th day of the 7th month... Gregorian style.

As a continuation of the Trataka exercise, after staring into the little birthday-cake candle flame for a the few minutes it requires to burn down, close the eyes and try to hold the bright after-image of the flame high in the forehead, between the eyes. Hold the image as long and as steady as possible. When the image has completely faded, the exercise is concluded.

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