Chapter 2: Zodiac
When you follow your bliss... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors, and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else. - Joseph Campbell
The second concept is the Zodiac. It is purple and is Heaven. The stars represent souls. Everyone is a star in Heaven. The constellations represent absolute forms or ideal concepts. It may look good, but beware. Too much Heaven would be death. Heaven is a blank, where nothing happens. Our soul chooses to live on Earth, where life grows. Religion must balance the spiritual with the material.
The Zodiac is the path the Sun takes during the year. The Milky Way splits the Zodiac in half. In my system these two halves are divided into twelve pieces of about the same size. Each piece is a constellation of the Zodiac. Some astronomers use a different method of dividing the constellations, so that their constellations are different sizes, but my twelve signs are all about the same size. They use the star Regulus as a guidepost for drawing their signs. I use the Milky Way, which divides Gemini from Taurus and also divides Sagittarius from Scorpio.
The Seasonal God is born during the spring equinox. The constellation that the Sun is in during that time is his sign. The equinox enters a new constellation every 2148 years, give or take a few years. During the years between 2000 AD and 4000 AD, the Sun will be more or less in Aquarius during the spring equinox, and this will be known as the Aquarian Age. Before this Age was the Piscean Age, where Christ was the Savior God. Before that age was the Arian Age, with Mithra as the Savior God. Mithra is often portrayed in art as killing the old Taurian God, who was the savior before him.
Some time around the year 4444 BC, the Zodiac, the equator and the Milky Way all crossed in the same place. This was also the time between the Age of Gemini and Taurus. In Greek mythology, Cronus, who is Saturn, ruled the Earth during the Golden Age. In my system, the Golden Age is the Age of Gemini. During that time, people lived in Eden as part of Nature. Zeus took over during the Taurian Age and started progress and civilization. The rise of civilization began as the Milky Way moved away from the equinox. Our ancestors became corrupt. The Taurian Age was a Silver Age. The Arian Age was a Bronze Age, which began around the year 2296 BC. During the Bronze Age the Aryan tribes swept across Europe and Asia, conquered civilizations, enslaved the aboriginal people, and developed ancient classical civilizations on the ruins of the older kingdoms. The Age of Pisces is an Iron Age, which began around the year 148 BC when Rome conquered Macedonia. During the Piscean Age, the equinox is moving farthest from the Milky Way. This is the Christian Age, the most corrupt of all, which will end when the equinox begins to move back towards the Milky Way. The new Age of Aquarius will begin when the equinoxes are halfway between the points where the Milky Way crosses the Zodiac. This may have happened some time around the year 2000 AD. I hope the world will get less corrupt and people will return to nature.
Some new age fans say that the Age of Aquarius begins in 2012 because the Mayan calendar ends at the year 2012 and the winter solstice sun will cover the galactic plane on December 21st, 2012 A.D. Other astrologers, using a different system, will give you a different date. On the standard astronomy charts used by most astronomers Pisces is too big. They say that the equinox will not enter Aquarius until the year 2500 AD. I do not use their system. You might compare my way of classifying signs with other ways and notice a big difference. I do not follow a tradition unless I want to. The meanings I give to each sign are very different from what most astrologer's use.
In my system each sign is identified with a God and a number: Leo is one and Lucifer; Cancer is two and the Zodiac; Gemini is three and Saturn; Taurus is four and Jupiter; Aries is five and Mars; Pisces is six and the Sun; Aquarius is seven and Venus; Capricorn is eight and Mercury; Sagittarius is nine and the Moon; Scorpio is ten and the Earth; Libra is eleven and Justice. The last and first sign, Virgo is zero and Vesta. Planetary Gods in Greek mythology are identified with animals that resemble the signs related above. The source of the Greek astrological system and some of their mythology may have come from ancient Babylon.
Astrologers invent rigid methods of reading the stars to tell what a person is. I do not think they know anything. Even if our fate were written in the stars, the astrologers would not have the slightest idea how to read them. To find what kind of person you are, you must look at the life you live.
The word "Zodiac" means circle of Animals. Each person is a Star. This star is your Dream Animal. To find this Animal, you might need to go on a vision quest. Perhaps you might not be sure of what you see. You might not see an animal at all. You just know that it is there. It is the kind of person you are. You might not know what kind of Animal it is. In a primitive society walking in the way of your Animal is considered sacred and powerful. A person's Animal may be very different from another person's Animal. A tribe functions as people walk as their Animals. A person will know his true purpose when he knows his Animal.
A person may learn more about his Dream from other people with similar Dreams. If his Dream involves a craft, he may chose to join a group that can teach him. There may be ceremonies or tasks, which he must do. Some tribes have different Dreamer Cults that all contribute to the tribe's culture in some way. In some cultures the Dreamer is celebrated in elaborate rituals.
The Animal could be a sexual attitude. What you are is what you are. Primitive religions are full of sexual symbolism. Different people think about these symbols in different ways. A horse is domesticated. A Horse Dreamer might think that sexual behavior should obey tribal laws. An elk has more than one mate. The Elk Dreamer might develope a diffent point of view from a Horse Dreamer. A cow is domesticated and useful. A spider is skillful. A fox is clever.
The different dreams of people in a tribe are all interconnected in the Dream World. The tribe is a body, which can feel its needs in the dreams of its people. Different tribes have different needs. The Dream shows the way that the tribe should follow. It is all part of our nature. The Dream also shows the way that the induvidual should follow. The dream is a mixture of instict, culture and destiny.
Many civilized people never know their Animal. Civilization makes people act in ways that they were never meant to act, forcing them to ignore their Dream. Sometimes civilization will use a person's Dream in unnatural ways. The beast is caged and domesticated in civilization and will never know freedom or its true place in this world. A person must be free to be what that person is.
I remember once an old man told me that he did not follow his Dream. He knew his Dream when he was young, but chose to ignore it. He spent his life living another life. He could have been what he should have been, but never was.
The Native American Berdach and the Siberian soft-male are examples of what is know of as two-spirit. Not all two-spirit people are prostitutes, but some are. Back in ancient times Temple prostitutes were mostly men who acted as women. They ministered pleasures of the flesh for religious reasons. Shemales were considered sacred. Each village had at least one. Women prostitutes did not become common until civilization invented money and made people economically dependent on money.
I remember talking to someone about sacred prostitutes. This person considered prostitution a degrading act, which uses people as a biological toy for pleasure. This may be true in civilized cultures, which force people into degrading roles, but some people have a calling to be a biological toy for pleasure. A person should not be a prostitute unless their Dream says that they should. In my religion such people would be sacred, they would be the true representatives of the temple. The Babylonians had temple prostitutes, and they might have had similar ideas about the Zodiac and sex. I do not know.
I went on a vision quest and came up with these weird ideas one night, while walking down a beach in Florida. I could see Scorpio in the sky in the direction that I was walking. I do not want to end up like the man who never followed his Dream, so I went to find my Animal. My Animal is something many people would consider perverted. I will not tell you what it is, but I will tell you a little about how I found it.
As I walked along the beach, on one side was the salt-water ocean, which the Babylonians would have called Tiamat. On the other side was a fresh-water swamp. The Everglades probably look like the Sumerian Absu before civilization dried it out. I could imagine a temple rising out of the Absu where people would perform all kinds of fornications. I could imagine the High Priestess of Ishtar, the Whore of Babylon, herself. There was no Moon that night, and was very dark.
Eventually, I reached a road that went into the Swamp. I decided to walk the road. I was going west through the Abyss on a black road and could hear frogs singing all around me. There was a building up ahead, with people going in and out. I was hoping to see more that night to stimulate my imagination. When I got to the building, it was a sleazy strip bar, definitely not the temple I had imagined. But let's go in anyway. Several people offered me sex for money. I turned them down. One girl told me that I did not look like the kind of guy who came into places like this. I told her that I hung around places like this all the time. She did not believe me and asked what I was doing there. I told her that I did not know. She asked me if I wanted anything sexual, and I told her that I did not want to have sex in that particular situation. Then she said, "You think I'm just some goddamn titty bar dancer. I don't want to work in this place. Fuck you." She continued to ask me if I was sure I did not want anything. Eventually she left me alone.
These girls want money: some have kids to support; some spend money on expensive drugs; some are psychologically ill. These girls do not keep the money long; a boyfriend will get the money. The customers have some money, so they spend it to get off. In a civilized society people chase money. An office or factory worker is just a cheap moneymaker. Anyone who uses money is selling temeselves cheap. They make money, spend it and that is their life. It occurred to me that in my religion, there would be prostitution without money. People would do what their Dream led them to do. They would be paid back something greater than money. What is it? I had to think a little more.
I left the bar and continued walking down the road. An ugly, bad-smelling black male transvestite began to follow me. He wore a skimpy, dirty, faded yellow dress and had numerous pus-filled lacerations all over his body. I told him that I was trying to think and that he should go away. He would not leave. He would not shut up. He would not stop asking for money. He started to play with himself and asked me if I wanted any. I tried to walk away from him. He continued to follow me. I told him that I was trying to explore the underworld, because I am a Devil-worshiper who wants to find a way to end civilization and start a orgy cult, where even he would be considered sacred. I had never told anyone that before. He asked me why I wanted to do that. I could not think of an answer. Eventually, he left and I continued walking.
Finally, it was quiet again. Only the singing of frogs could be heard. Scorpio was still in the southern sky. I walked a long time and eventually could see the lights of a city up ahead. Civilization, they do not understand. What was it I now understood? I came to a main avenue that led back to the beach, sat down, and waited for the Sun.
If civilization fell today, a lot of people would be in trouble. We must stop being dependent on civilization. I believe that our inner nature can show us how. Our inner nature guided us back when we were part of Nature. Our inner nature was molded by Nature, it should all fit.
You might ask, how could there be prostitution without money? I am not sure. The legal definition of prostitution involves money. You might wonder why I do not use another word. I do not know any other words. There may have been one, but it has been long forgotten. So the word "whore" will have to do. I know a girl who considers herself a Succubus. She sure looks like a Succubus. She says that she will not turn tricks for money. I do not know what her rewards are. Somehow they are connected with her Dreams. She does not like me, so she has never offered me her services. I regret that a lot. She has caused other guys to fall from grace, and for that I admire her.
We must practice our orgy cult. Only then can we find out what works and what does not. We will be rediscovering an art that has long been forgotten. I looked out over the ocean and said, "Tiamat, teach me how to make the water of life." I then said said EVOI. EVOI is the name of the moment that exists right now. It is not the answer to my question. It is a word we say at the end of a spell.
Let Us Pray
I believe in one mystery. A star among other stars, who created the Heaven and the Earth. In Humanity who was begotten of Nature, not separately made. In an Earth Mother, the completion of all forms, life of all life, from where we were born and to where we will return. In a true path of both giving and taking, according to our biological needs. In a balance of Nature, which has existed and should continue to exist after me. In a full life as part of this balance. In a world full of happiness everlasting, that I was born to experience.
A soul is born, who came down from Heaven to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. He became life of life, desire of desire, true life of true life, one in being with the environment. Let Earth conceive a son. My truth and my will shall be with him, and in my name he will be exalted in his life to be. He will travel through the four seasons and five stages of life. Glory be to conception, growth, learning, maturity and death.
We live upon the Earth. Nature has given us a place to grow and enjoy the growth. Let us celebrate the fullness thereof. It is truly good and right that we should at all times and in all places enjoy the Holy Mother, upon whom our lives grow. As whom our lives grow. All that is needed is provided in a world that we are designed to fit. For this is the ground my feet stand upon, the cup of my blood, the breath of my life and the fire of my soul. Blessed is the fruit of her soil. She has given us the will of the hunter and the shape of the path. We live as the Earth. Together we journey, now till the hour of our death.
What dies in Winter is reborn in Spring. The son will become the father. The daughter will become the mother. The created will be creator. His seed shall be mighty upon the Earth. Thanks be to all that has existed, for now the path is complete. What is important is where we are. For this is where we were and this is the complete picture of what we are.
We are gathered here to experience a ritual celebrating life. I feel the water of life flowing from the temple. It is good, because life living touched another life. Each moment of human touch is eternal. Let us break bread in the temple of life. It is right to break bread in the temple of life. Witness the life and life-giving bread. Heaven and Earth are full of your glory. My flesh of our flesh. My blood of our blood. Hoc est corpus.
May the harmony of Nature be with you. May you choose the right path as you walk through life. Through life, with life, in life. The word has been made flesh. Arise and live as part of Nature's balance. An inescapable fantasy, of undeniable ecstasy. Roam the wood passionately, with the Horned God. EVOI
Sources and related topics
Lucian, The Syrian Goddess. http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/tsg/tsg07.htm
Walter L Williams, The spirit and the flesh. Sexual diversity in American Indian cultures. Published by Boston. Beacon Press, 1986. ISBN 0-8070-4602-7.
Spirituality, Gender, Antiquities and Humanism. http://www.aztriad.com/