#cosmogony: pre-orders

[you-are-my-neverland]

Hi hello hope you're well! Could you possibly tell me more about your nano wip Pirates? 👀

yes!! i could!!

well, firstly, as you can see, i don't have a title for it...so that's why it's just called 'pirates' for now. this wip is set in a fantasy universe where the earth, sea, and sky were created from the bodies of the great gods (not as gruesome as it sounds, but i love a good sacrifice/creation by dismemberment cosmogony. thank you mythology literature class i took over the summer). magic is therefore insinuated into nature itself; some are born with the ability to access it, while some can't (i.e some people have magic, some are Just Normal).

now, these great gods each have a Heart that was/is basically their magical core. whoever possesses these Hearts will have infinite power, etc; you know, the usual. there are two Hearts considered to be hidden in the actual world, the Stone Heart and the Star Heart. the Stone Heart is split into four pieces, presumably, two of which are with the overarching religious organization of the world, the All Seas Assembly (ASA), and the other two which are lost. the Star Heart has never been seen/found, and is the end goal of one of the wip's main protagonists, arete. arete's mother was a famous pirate on the quest to find the Star Heart, which she ultimately failed at. before passing, she magically imprinted a map onto arete's skin that would lead her to the Star Heart.

arete is ten when her mom dies, and manages to escape the destruction of their ship by being sent out to sea. she ends up on the island of caelus, near the village of kynohue, where akane lives with her mother. akane is our other protagonist, despite the fact that she'll be missing from much of the actual story. her father was killed by pirates after standing up to a crew who attacked their village, and so akane's life has not been great lately either. kynohue is now a tributary village that has to pay to the pirates monthly/quarterly in order to live.

the story as i conceptualize it now has at least two arcs. well, technically three if you count the pre-actual written story arc involving arete's mother, iriyin. the arc i'm working on for nanowrimo is an arc that covers arete and akane's life together in kynohue (with akane's mother, emi), which lasts for around five years (it won't be entirely sequential; there's mostly the beginning, scattered scenes showing growth and the passage of time, and then the end, but i'm still at the beginning if that makes sense). after those five years, when arete is fifteen and akane fourteen, they get separated after the village is attacked by the pirates, though not before making a promise to meet again one day.

after that, there's a six year time skip, and the story will pick up again with arete, now twenty-one, truly beginning to build her crew. her end goal has always been fulfilling her mother's wishes (which she is magically obliged to as well) and finding the Star Heart, but there's of course a lot of ocean to explore and other side routes to take before them. she's also waiting to reunite with akane as well; the two have no idea where the other is in the world, or if they're even alive. i've got a ton of cool characters in planning stages for their actual crew (a deaf swordsman, a miracle doctor, a navigator with a perfect sense of direction on a quest to find her brother, assassins, etc), but for nano i decided to focus on the first arc because that's what is solid in my head. not sure how much will actually make it into the main wip, but it's been ok so far.

alright, i hope this all made sense! there's a ton more worldbuilding behind the scenes, but these are the key conceptual details you need to know. thank you for your interest!

[legend-collection]

Moirai

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Moirai—often known in English as the Fates—were the personifications of destiny. The role of the Moirai was to ensure that every being, mortal and divine, lived out their destiny as it was assigned to them by the laws of the universe. For mortals, this destiny spanned their entire lives and was represented as a thread spun from a spindle. Generally, they were considered to be above even the gods in their role as enforcers of fate.

The Moirai were three sisters: Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (the allotter) and Atropos (the unturnable). But according to a Latin verse, their roles and functions were somewhat different: "Clotho, the youngest of the sisters, presided over the moment in which we are born, and held a distaff in her hand; Lachesis spun out all the events and actions of our life; and Atropos, the eldest of the three, cut the thread of human life with a pair of scissors."

In the Homeric poems Moira or Aisa are related to the limit and end of life, and Zeus appears as the guider of destiny. In the Theogony of Hesiod, the three Moirai are personified, daughters of Nyx and are acting over the gods. Later they are daughters of Zeus and Themis, who was the embodiment of divine order and law. In Plato's Republic the Three Fates are daughters of Ananke.

The Moirai were supposed to appear three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life, as in the story of Meleager and the firebrand taken from the hearth and preserved by his mother to extend his life. Bruce Karl Braswell from readings in the lexicon of Hesychius, associates the appearance of the Moirai at the family hearth on the seventh day with the ancient Greek custom of waiting seven days after birth to decide whether to accept the infant into the Gens and to give it a name, cemented with a ritual at the hearth. At Sparta the temple to the Moirai stood near the communal hearth of the polis, as Pausanias observed.

As goddesses of birth who even prophesied the fate of the newly born, Eileithyia, the ancient Minoan goddess of childbirth and divine midwifery, was their companion. Pausanias mentions an ancient role of Eileythia as "the clever spinner", relating her with destiny too. Their appearance indicate the Greek desire for health which was connected with the Greek cult of the body that was essentially a religious activity.

The Erinyes, a group of chthonic goddesses of vengeance, served as tools of the Moirai, inflicting punishment for evil deeds, particularly upon those who sought to avoid their rightful destiny. At times, the Moirai were conflated with the Erinyes, as well as the death-goddesses the Keres.

Bas relief of Clotho, lampstand at the Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C.

In earlier times they were represented as only a few—perhaps only one—individual goddess. Homer's Iliad speaks generally of the Moira, who spins the thread of life for men at their birth; she is Moira Krataia "powerful Moira" or there are several Moirai. In the Odyssey there is a reference to the Klôthes, or Spinners. At Delphi, only the Fates of Birth and Death were revered. In Athens, Aphrodite, who had an earlier, pre-Olympic existence, was called Aphrodite Urania the "eldest of the Fates" according to Pausanias.

Some Greek mythographers went so far as to claim that the Moirai were the daughters of Zeus—paired with Themis, as Hesiod had it in one passage. In the older myths they are daughters of primeval beings like Nyx in Theogony, or Ananke in Orphic cosmogony. Whether or not providing a father even for the Moirai was a symptom of how far Greek mythographers were willing to go, in order to modify the old myths to suit the patrilineal Olympic order, the claim of a paternity was certainly not acceptable to Aeschylus, Herodotus, or Plato.

Despite their forbidding reputation, the Moirai could be placated as goddesses. Brides in Athens offered them locks of hair, and women swore by them. They may have originated as birth goddesses and only later acquired their reputation as the agents of destiny.

According to the mythographer Apollodorus, in the Gigantomachy, the war between the Giants and Olympians, the Moirai killed the Giants Agrios and Thoon with their bronze clubs.

In the Homeric poems Moira is represented as a singular entity whose actions are not governed by the gods. Only Zeus, the chief of the gods, is close to her, and in some cases acts in a similar role. Using a weighing scale Zeus weighs Hector's "lot of death" against that of Achilleus. Hector's lot weighs down, and he dies according to Fate. Zeus appears as the guider of destiny, who gives everyone the right portion. A similar scenario is depicted on a Mycenaean vase, where Zeus holds a scale in front of two warriors, indicating that he is measuring their destiny before the battle. The belief was that if they die in battle, this was to be accepted as their correct destiny.

In Theogony, the three Moirai are daughters of the primeval goddess, Nyx, representing a power acting over the gods. Later they are daughters of Zeus who gives them the greatest honour, and Themis, the ancient goddess of law and divine order.

Even the gods feared the Moirai or Fates, which according to Herodotus a god could not escape. The Pythian priestess at Delphi once admitted that Zeus was also subject to their power, though no recorded classical writing clarifies to what exact extent the lives of immortals were affected by the whims of the Fates. It is to be expected that the relationship of Zeus and the Moirai was not immutable over the centuries. In either case in antiquity we can see a feeling towards a notion of an order to which even the gods have to conform. Simonides names this power Ananke and says that even the gods don't fight against it. Aeschylus combines Fate and necessity in a scheme, and claims that even Zeus cannot alter which is ordained.

A supposed epithet Zeus Moiragetes, meaning "Zeus Leader of the Moirai" was inferred by Pausanias from an inscription he saw in the 2nd century AD at Olympia: "As you go to the starting-point for the chariot-race there is an altar with an inscription to the Bringer of Fate. This is plainly a surname of Zeus, who knows the affairs of men, all that the Fates give them, and all that is not destined for them." At the Temple of Zeus at Megara, Pausanias inferred from the relief sculptures he saw "Above the head of Zeus are the Horai and Moirai, and all may see that he is the only god obeyed by Moira." Pausanias' inferred assertion is unsupported in cult practice, though he noted a sanctuary of the Moirai there at Olympia, and also at Corinth and Sparta, and adjoining the sanctuary of Themis outside a city gate of Thebes.

The fates had at least three known temples, in Ancient Corinth, Sparta and Thebes. At least the temple of Corinth contained statues of them: "[On the Akropolis of Korinthos:] The temple of the Moirai and that of Demeter and Kore (Core) [Persephone] have images that are not exposed to view."

The temple in Thebes was explicitly imageless: "Along the road from the Neistan gate are three sanctuaries. There is a sanctuary of Themis, with an image of white marble; adjoining it is a sanctuary of the Moirai, while the third is of Agoraios Zeus. Zeus is made of stone; the Moirai have no images."

The temple in Sparta was situated next to the grave of Orestes.

Aside from actual temples, there was also altars to the Moirai. Among them was notably the altar in Olympia near the altar of Zeus Moiragetes, a connection to Zeus which was also repeated in the images of the Moirai in the temple of Despoine in Arkadia as well as in Delphi, where they were depicted with Zeus Moiragetes as well as with Apollon Moiragetes. On Korkyra, the shrine of Apollo, which according to legend was founded by Medea was also a place where offerings were made to the Moirai and the nymphs. The worship of the Moirai are described by Pausanias for their altar near Sicyon: "On the direct road from Sikyon to Phlios . . . At a distance along it, in my opinion, of twenty stades, to the left on the other side of the Asopos, is a grove of holm oaks and a temple of the goddesses named by the Athenians the Semnai, and by the Sikyonians the Eumenides. On one day in each year they celebrate a festival to them and offer sheep big with young as a burnt offering, and they are accustomed to use a libation of honey and water, and flowers instead of garlands. They practise similar rites at the altar of the Moirai; it is in an open space in the grove."

[alephskoteinos]

Sorry to say that I expect to be distracted from Revolutionary Demonology for a little while, because I'm having to spend a week putting something together to fight for my job. Nonetheless, for whatever reason I found myself contemplating the way the book discusses the order of the cosmos as a "thermodynamic abomination". I find there's many contours there.

The word abomination here is an obvious rhetorical flair, but is conventionally a moral designation. There's a connection to the presentation of the cosmic order as being violently derived from its origin - carved in a Mother's flesh and blood as it were. "Abomination" is Latin in origin, meant colloquially to denote an object of almost supreme disgust but conceptually as a reference to some grievous offense against divine moral order. But perhaps for Gruppo Di Nun it's flipped, and the order itself is the grievous offense.

Perhaps in this configuration the order of the Man-God Machine emerges necessarily as crime, against the undifferentiated void that was once represented by a Mother, like Tiamat. In this sense we find ourselves in suspiciously familiar territory: that of Sethian Gnosticism. Here Marduk and Yaldabaoth almost look like the same person, and the Pleroma is the black void of the Mother's womb, what Gruppo Di Nun seems to figure as the objet du desir of a universal death drive. I suppose I can already sense a picture pregnant with Plotinus' old objection - that this world is such an utterly corrupt and criminal one, and yet here are the Sethians content to persist within it rather than excise from it. The void of the womb is such a wonderful place, the order of things is such an abomination, steeped in blood. Whatever are we doing here then? I suppose that's an answer I still have to find out by reading the rest of the book.

Much more intruigingly though, I almost feel an uncanny sense of a perspectivist dissolution of order and chaos here. Fundamentally, "abomination" is a category situated against pre-existing order. But for our "thermodynamic abomination" the "pre-existing order" is none other than primordial chaos. In the Sethian cosmogony there is a similar, somewhat inverted theme. It can be argued that, instead of primordial chaos, Pleroma if anything embodies a kind of primordial order, that being a necessary affect of the quality of divine unity that it's supposed to embody. And then Sophia and her son Yaldabaoth transgress and corrupt that unity and order: first by Sophia breaking the rules to conceive independently, and then by Yaldabaoth creating his own cosmos distinct from the Pleroma. Thus "chaos", of sorts, is introduced, and thence suffering.

Sophia herself is interesting to contemplate in this mix since, from what I have seen, Gruppo Di Nun places an intense focus on queer resistance to the heteropatriarchal social order, and so an antinomian queer rejection of heterosexual reproduction is very much in play, at least from what I've seen. This is represented in the figure of Apophis, the Egyptian serpent who ate the dead and battled Ra in its quest to devour the universe, and against whom a litany of spells were created for the sake of warding off, protecting from, or combatting. An uncreating force that continually overcomes creation, a recurring and unreproducing entity, the anti-dialectical power of extinction. And I thought of Sophia, as representing an entirely different rejection of hetero-reproduction, particularly in the Valentinian cosmogony.

Sophia "fell" because she tried to produce a new being without the aid of a syzgy, or twin, here meaning a male counterpart - as in, through parthenogenesis. The Aeons (including Sophia) were supposed to be emanations of the divine unity of God (that is to say the "true" God of Gnostic theology, which we must stress was still a Christian God), and as emanations they could only emanate other emanations through heterosexual reproduction. Syzygies were pairs of male and female Aeons who in turn emanated other syzygies, more heterosexual families of Aeons. Only God, who we should keep in mind was still called "The Father", was uncreated, and so only God could perform parthenogenesis. Sophia, however, wanted to understand God by way of imitation, and to do this she wanted to conceive a being without the aid of another being. This of course is an obvious flying in the face of heterosexual reproduction, which in Christianity both orthodox and Gnostic seems to be considered ordained by God. This attempt is regarded, in Valentinian terms, as a cosmogonic abortion that is in turn the cause of the creation of the physical world, and with it the suffering of all beings, and later regretted by a penitent Sophia. I would say that this narrative presents a profoundly negative attitude to abortion, even by the standards of "orthodox" Christianity at least up until the 19th century.

I can see, though, that this is not the ideal archetype for Gruppo Di Nun's worldview, since Sophia's fall is ultimately situated in a universe where divine unity is at the centre of the universe, where the fundamental opposite is the case for Gruppo Di Nun. And yet we could easily go back to the previous conversation of "thermodynamic abomination" as parallel to primordial cosmogonic transgression.

Thinking about the idea of transgression against the void is fairly fascinating for the rammifications it presents. But the nagging question of course would be should Life really have been expected to not emerge as it did, because it goes against Mother's wishes? That is the sense of what "abomination", as an inherently moral category, could as well imply.

[lesewut]

Excitingly presenting Count Maurice Maeterlinck's "The Great Mystery", published 1924 in Jena, Germany. Maeterlinck is presenting prehistoric occultism and archaic forms of religion with the focus on common metaphysical conclusions to show how the search for the primary reason can be found in discovering our transcendental I. The "Great Mystery" is not about doctrines of secret societies or exploited revelation through wonder and magic, it is about the purest knowledge we can have: Knowing to know nothing and the confession of the unrecognisable, because in all things we can just assume prohabilities.

Questioning existence and being, diving into ontological and metaphysical theories, is an advance for strenghtening the mindfulness and as well cures bias, that are preventing earthly ones to be fully capable of the One and Eternal Good.

Wonderfully Maeterlinck is underlining that the first primitive beliefs were too metaphysically, too incomprehensible, to nourish a religion. The highest wisdom of "Knowing of Not Knowing" and the confession of our mental limitation, are the most significant cognitical achievements. Especially in our science-optimistic epoch, it is easily to underestimate phenomena, because the technology to measure cannot be adequate.

Maeterlinck is consulting many regions and the theogony and cosmogony, to underdraw, that the One, who is the Cause and Reason of all, is defined in an analogous manner, but in order to reach more peple, were rephrased over the decades. This is also kind of the problem, we have today: In order to make metaphysical discoveries more understandable for the standard population, scholars invented assistance and therefore masquerading the Eternal Good, by materializing Divine essence creating a maladjustment, that haven't helped the majority, to come in contact with their inner God, because they were just made to catchers of miracles and slaves of their profane expectations. Who can be satured by the heavenly bread of self-denial? Anyone who is intended, to not see a deficit in "not knowing", but the biggest and holiest freedom, we could ever reach in this dimension of living?

This book is a good introduction for comparative metaphysical studies, but of couse, Maeterlinck had to compromise the opulence of the topics, so the impression of gaps in historical descriptions can be unsatisfying. But thousands of years of metaphysical questioning (from Ancient India and Egypt [wonderful how reciprocal their transcendental truth were formulated and transported over Chaldaia into the Bible and revitalized in Kabbala and Medieval alchemy...just to give a hint of connectness in ties and bonds...] over the Pre-Socratic philosophy, that had an understanding of the One and Absolute God [the Pre-Sorcratic philosophers were highly influenced by Egyptian belief, for instance the Orphism, metempsychosis of Pythagoreanism, ...] can not be compressed in 211 pages and mystic touched literature is a bridge building help for the searcher, the most work still has to proceed in the own mind :')

While reading "The Great Mystery" I though to myself, that I should dive more into the Ancient first wellsprings, for example reading the Rigveda or Sefer Yetzirah "The Book of Creation". But the reading list grows continuously and the books "I have to read" also. One examplar of interesting and fruitful sources Maeterlinck uses is the work of Wilhelm Nestle "The Pre-Socratic", but worthreading are many other books too:

Max Müller "Ursprung und Entwicklung der Religion" La Page Renouf "Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by the Religion of the Ancient Egypt" Bergaigne "La Religion védique d'áprès les hymnes du Rig-Veda" S. Karppe "Études sur les origines et la nature du Zohar" Knorr von Rosenroth "Kaballa Denudata" Blavatzky "Isis unveiled - A Master Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology" Louis Menard "Hermès Trismégiste"

And it is always an advantage to read tracts and theories of saints, priests and philosophers.

[cosmogonyzine]

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Cosmogony: Dawn of a New Age Store

[bleucommelhiver]

「 COSMOGONY ZINE 」» fatum penduli » the pendulum of fate

A story of the first Kings of Lucis, both true and false, and the first Oracle to commune with the Gods. Written for @cosmogonyzine​; available for pre-orders.

[tomasorban]

The Myth of Nü Gua (Nüwa) Snake Goddess

Introduction

In the Year of the Water Snake it is appropriate to tell some of the earliest creation myths of ancient China, the legends of the female divinity Nü Gua, a snake goddess. Many of these stories were transmitted orally; the specific details are influenced by the evolution of culture and by the philosophical, religious, and political movements that influence the retelling, reorienting, and transforming of the narratives. These stories are filled with supernatural beings, woven into shamanic rituals, and grounded with the cosmogony of tribes and clans that were later adopted into mainstream dynasties and cultures.

The roots of these myths may well come from pre-history; however, there is evidence of their existence dating to the early Neolithic period in China. There is reference to Nü Gua in the late Neolithic period in China during the age of the Three August Ones. Later myths from the Han Dynasty depict Nü Gua and her companion Fu Xi, one of the Three August Ones, as brother and sister, husband and wife, worshiped as the progenitors and ultimate ancestors of humankind. Fu Xi and Nü Gua are often represented as half-snake, half-human.

Snake worship is attributed to the Xia clan, which dominated the Northern regions of ancient China in the Yellow River area around 2200 BC. These myths are similar to other creation myths from around the world. In China, over time, the snake became the dragon, which is one of the most enduring symbols of Chinese culture and mythology.

The ancient texts identify Nü Gua as the original ancestor of humanity, half-snake, half-human. She is the creator who molded humans from clay. When the pillar supporting the heavens was damaged, she repaired the sky. After the chaos of the flood, Nü Gua restored order to the world, provided stability, and populated it. She was responsible for the restoration of order and brought the five phases back into harmony. Her actions regulated the movement of all celestial bodies, restored the seasons, and recreated the axis mundi. To create harmony on Earth she fashioned musical instruments. The ancient Chinese matriarchal society revered and celebrated Nü Gua as the powerful creator goddess, and the practices continue to this day.

Although Nü Gua originally stood alone, similar to the shifts we find in the West in later texts and iconography, Nü Gua became paired with Fu Xi, who is identified as her brother, a creator god. Fu Xi is credited with the creation of the hexagrams of the I Ching and many other inventions. Nü Gua and Fu Xi are represented as intertwined snakes, the embodiment of yin and yang. They are depicted holding the instruments of creation, the compass and the square, the tools that were used to take the measurements of the Universe at the founding of a new world following the great flood (Nibley, 1992). Although there is disagreement among the texts, there is some evidence supporting the idea that Nü Gua was one of the Three August Ones. These legendary rulers served around 3000 BC to 2200 BC before the Xia dynasty.

Nü Gua is also linked to Yu the Great and the flood stories. In some myths she is his wife, and Yu is depicted as a dragon rather than a bear. In these stories it is Nü Gua who works with Yu to hold back the floods. Yu is awarded similar mythical doctrines and tools consistent with those of Fu Xi. Together Nü Gua and Yu repopulate the world and establish order. It is Yu who establishes dynastic rule and the rights of Kings. This union between Nü Gua and Yu is one example of the shift from the matriarchal culture of the snake goddess to kingship and patriarchal rule.

However, in the earliest creation myths from China, Nü Gua is an independent powerful goddess, the creator of humankind. She is a matchmaker, bestows fertility, invents sound and music, and brings harmony to heaven, earth, and humanity. She is a benefactor to people and all living creatures. However, just as we see in the West, the power of the strong female creator Goddess is diminished first by pairing her with a male God, and finally by attributing all of her creations to a male God who usurps her power. One example would be the legends of P’an Ku, the male Titan who splits heaven and earth and creates the world and humans from his own body.

In the Year of the Snake it is important to remember and honor Nü Gua, who represents an important aspect of the Chinese matriarchy, culture, and cosmology. She is the Great Mother of Humans, a cultural heroine, and one of the most powerful and influential primordial goddesses in ancient Chinese mythology.

The Myths of Nü Gua

Nü Gua is the Great Mother Goddess in matriarchal society since antiquity and belonged to a tribe in Northern China with names and connection to the snail. It is said she was formed like a human; but, instead of legs, she had a serpent’s tail to glide over the Earth. She also had a long head with two fleshy horns, and her body was that of a snail; she was originally worshipped as such. She is most often portrayed as a snake deity much akin to other cross-cultural mythologies linked with the snake and creation, to matriarchal primogenitors. Nü Gua is mostly depicted as half-human, half-snake (later half-dragon) and always as a semi-mythical and supernatural being. The mythical figure of Nü Gua as a creator God predates the male creator stories of P’an Ku in classical mythology by six centuries. She appears early in the tradition referenced in “Question of Heaven” in Chu Chi, Songs of Ch’u and in the Shanhaijing, The Classic of Mountains and Seas, in Fengsu Tonji, Popular Customs and Traditions, and later in records from the Han Dynasty, including many descriptive passages in the Huainanzi, a major repository for Chinese myths, and in the Shou Wen Jia Zi, Talking About Text and Explaining Words.

It is important to mention that while the written Nü Gua myths started appearing during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), they were transmitted orally from a much earlier period. The first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) burned a huge number of literary texts and old myths to exert cultural and political control. As with most book burnings, the losses were irreparable, since they contained mythic themes, archetypes, and symbols critical to the survival of its culture. The Han Dynastic scholars revised what was left and reclaimed the Nü Gua myths from non-orthodox history, legends, and folklore, and, of course, added their own twist to these stories.

Nü Gua existed in the beginning of the world before there were any people. Most sources concur that it was her loneliness that provided the impetus for creation. She walked plains and valleys and felt that the world was a very desolate place without animation. She began with making chickens which cluck through creation, then dogs to run through the forests and glades, sheep to graze in the plains, pigs to root through the earth, gentle cows, powerful bulls, then horses to run free. On the seventh day, while walking along a river, she glimpsed her own reflection. She sat beside the flowing waters and ran earth through her fingers, then took water from the river and yellow Earth and molded the clay as little creatures, which began to laugh. She loved the noise and so continued to make more creatures. As the creatures came to life, they called her mother and wandered the Earth to repopulate the world. She is a self-aware, independent, creative, and powerful feminine force.

At some point, Nü Gua was so exhausted that she realized it was not in her best interest to continue to fashion each person individually. So she took a rope (which later became a measuring cord on her compass) or, in some texts, a piece of ivy or a vine from the mountainside, dipped it into the yellow clay, and then tossed the drops and bits of mud to all the directions. Each drop contained the essence of a distinct human. The rich and the noble were those hand crafted from the yellow clay, and the poor and the ordinary were the manifestations of pulling the rope through the mud and flinging it. Later with the establishment of class and privilege, the hand created humans become nobility and the rope drops commoners, so it is not only telling of creation but of social hierarchy. There are detailed descriptions in the Feng Su Tong Yi, Comprehensive Interpretation of Customs, of Nü Gua’s intention of enrichment and beautification of the world through her creation of human beings, not necessarily the creation of social classes.

In other variations of this myth, as Nü Gua listened to the laughter of her creations, she began to contemplate what would happen when they died. She was concerned that she would have to keep making more and more. It is written that she fashioned men and women in halves and taught them how to love one another so that they could repopulate the Earth. With this role she takes on the archetype of the first high matchmaker, the inventor of marriage, and comes to be identified as the goddess of marriage, fertility, and childbirth. Her temples were built near streams often depicted as the place of creation. Thus we see how she came to be identified in the classics of Chinese culture as the Mother Goddess, the Guardian Goddess, and a great matriarch. The snake in world mythology is believed to control the sources of water and is the hierophant of fertility and the creator of humans.

Nü Gua and the Flood, Repairer of Heaven and Great Guardian of Human Life

The most detailed accounts that link Nü Gua with water relate to the story of the taming of the floods that is chronicled in the Huainanzi. During antiquity, the sky and the earth were in total chaos, and humanity was in danger of extinction:

in ancient times the four limits (of the world, si ji,) collapsed and the Nine Provinces split apart. Heaven did not completely cover the world, nor did the Earth support all things. Fires raged without going out and water surged on without ceasing. Fierce beasts devoured the simple people, and the birds of prey carried off old and young alike. Thereupon, Nü Gua smelted the five-colored stones to patch up the azure sky, cut off the turtle’s legs to reestablish the four limits, and killed the Black Dragon to rescue Ji Province (the central of the Nine Provinces, which in this passage stands for the entirety of China). She piled up ashes from the reeds to halt the rampant waters. Thus the azure sky was patched, the four limits corrected, the rampant waters dried up, Ji Province restored to order, and the treacherous creatures died. The simple people lived, walking on the back of the square provinces (Fang Zhou, i.e., Earth) and embracing the round Heaven (lewis, 2006, p. 111).

The accounts in this text are concerned with the ravages of the cataclysmic flood and the tipping of the sky, and with fires that are intense and raging—linking fire and water as parallel catastrophic events. Nü Gua blends colored stones to restore order to time and space and to save the world from the utter chaos of the flood. The five colored stones are linked to the Five Phases, internal and external alchemy, and were used for medical purposes in the Han to cure illness. Much earlier the Zhou Li states: “In all cases of treating sores, use the five poisons, to attack them, use the five energies to nourish them, use the five medicines to treat them, and the five flavors to regulate them” (Lewis, 2006, p. 112).

The five poisons refer to the active ingredients, five minerals of five different colors, and the five medicines are the five stones, assimilated into the standard set of the five minerals that are used to patch up the sky and treat the body. They are also considered an important aspect of alchemical casting of metals for a proper marriage between fire and water. The earliest known inscription for rectifying the body through balancing the circulation of qi is an inscription carved on a piece of jade. Jade is said to be the only stone unused by Nü Gua because of its sacredness and ability to bring protection, healing, and balance by its mere presence.

Nü Gua had many roles—far beyond the restoration of the world to order and harmony. She is also credited with setting the seasons and reestablishing the poles. She became a savior figure and presided over the protection of humanity and reemergence through the granting of new life, namely the permutation of the fetus into life. She also captured and joined the energies of the sun, linked humanity with the heavens, and connected the macrocosmic with the microcosmic, fire and water. She presided over the relations of marriage metaphorically, alchemically, and literally. Later Taoists believed she alone holds the secret of the Way of the True Person and follows the eternal nature of Heaven and Earth.

There is a second and later version of the Flood myth in which Gong, the water dragon, destroyed one of the pillars supporting the sky, which caused cosmic chaos. A black hole in the celestial vault resulted in torrential rains and fires, and floods raged everywhere. Nü Gua melted stones of different colors and patched up the sky. She used a tortoise for support of the world, slayed the Black Dragon, and collected ashes and reeds to stop the flood. She mended the sky and repaired the earth from this disaster. The multihued clouds in the sky are from the colorful stones she used to patch the sky. The reason that western China is mountainous and the east lower is because she used the longer legs of the tortoise to support the west and the shorter ones for the east. In this version of the cataclysm the damage is permanent; the earth’s pillar is damaged and points northwest. There is a cosmic flaw, and this is why Chinese rivers flow towards the east. It also suggests that the cosmic order is disrupted through male violence and restored through female benevolence.

Nü Gua and Music

Nü Gua is credited with the invention of various musical instruments, including the shenhuang, a reed pipe wind instrument, and the xiao, a vertical bamboo flute, as well as many reed and wood instruments fashioned from organic materials. One part of her work for restoring the world was to create harmony between heaven and earth. She achieved this by gathering the ashes of reeds to stop the devastating floodwater. In later accounts of her subsequent death and transformation into a jingwei bird, she carried wood and stone to construct a dike against the raging Eastern Sea. In many sources, Nü Gua is said to have ruled through the mythic powers of wood to balance the element of water, whether in slaying the black dragon, or in using reeds or wood to control the floods. Her work in restoring harmony through music is also a cultural innovation, and many stories say that Nü Gua invented music and musical instruments to entertain the children she created.

Nü Gua and Fu Xi in Modern Mythology

Joining the myths of Nü Gua and Fu Xi marks the beginning of the suppression of female power in China. This change begins around the time of transition from the early Han to the later Han Dynasties. It is a period that is marked by military expansion. Nü Gua begins to be paired with the mythic figure, Fu Xi; and they are represented as a married couple and as patrons of marriage as an institution. Han iconography depicts these two as a primal couple who restored and populated the earth after the flood. They are both linked to snake or dragon spirits and to themes of creation. They are guardians of transformations, gatekeepers between the inner and outer, and protectors of tombs and of the crossing of boundaries from one state to the other.

A different rendering of the origins of humans appears in the Duyizhi, A Treatise on Strange Beings and Things that involves Nü Gua and Fu Xi’s brother-sister tryst. The myth is set at the very beginning of the world. The sole inhabitants are a girl and her older brother who reside on the mythic Kunlun Mountain. Although they wanted to marry to reproduce, they were shamed because of their blood connection. They plead and send prayers and declarations from the top of the mountain. “Oh heaven if thou wouldst send us two forth as man and wife, then make all the misty vapor gather. If not make all the misty vapor disperse” (from Tu, yi chih, Birrell, 1993, p. 35).

Of course, the prevailing winds worked in their favor and gathered and united the vapors—so they were wed. In other accounts the vapors are smoke snakes and rings. Nü Gua is depicted as very shy and ashamed. She gathers reeds and grasses to weave into a fan to cover their faces. So we see both shame and guilt about intercourse, no fig leaf, but incest. The difference here between Adam and Eve is that their union is condoned and receives the stamp of approval. This custom of brides holding fans over their faces during wedding ceremonies persists today.

There are many other accounts of the coupling and creation, including the use of clay to create human figures and the power to animate them, and countless local folktales and myths about the signs for the go ahead to marry and join forces. Remember that childbirth in more primitive times was rather miraculous, not requiring male participation—and children knew only their mothers. As the reproductive process became more obvious, ancient China moved toward a patriarchal structure, and Fu Xi became an icon of the utmost importance.

We can safely say that Nü Gua’s divinity was suppressed—her independence eroded. Her divine pairing with Fu Xi is similar to Zeus and Hera in the Greek pantheon. Edward S. Shafer (1973), a prominent American Sinologist and Tang Dynasty scholar, states: “Her gradual degradation from her ancient eminence was partly due to the contempt of some eminent and educated men for animalian gods, and partly due to increasing domination of masculinity in the elite social doctrine” (p. 29).

The Balance of Yin and Yang, Fu Xi and Nü Gua

Fu Xi invented a writing system by carving small pictures and numbers onto bones and tortoise shells.

Fu Xi is depicted as a major deity and helper to humanity. Although some myths articulate his primal coupling with Nü Gua, he also stands alone as a separate powerful creator deity. But perhaps the greatest legacy of Fu Xi is that he shared mythic attributes with Nü Gua which may well have provided a foundation for the development of the Han yin/yang cosmology, which facilitated our understanding of the interdependence between the male and female.

Fu Xi appeared in the Han as the first in a lineage of sages and, more specifically, sagekings. He is credited with being the creator of the trigrams of the I Ching. His direct connection to and contemplation of the natural world revealed to him the theory for complementarity. This concept of complementary pairs is the very foundation of the Universe, as their dynamic balance and tension lead to change and transformation.

When Fu Xi ruled the world in ancient times, he looked up to examine the images in Heaven, and down to examine the models on Earth. He examined the markings of the birds and the beasts, and their suitability to the terrain. Near at hand he took it for himself, and at a distance, from objects. Therefore he created the eight trigrams in order to communicate with the powers of spirit intelligences, and in order to categorize the natures of myriad objects. He invented knotting cords to keep records and made nets and snares for hunting and fishing. He took this form from the hexagram li (from Treatise of the Yi Jing, lewis, 2006, p. 117).

Fu Xi is the ultimate progenitor of human technology, as evidenced through his invention of the trigrams of the I Ching. He is also credited with the invention of the calendar, writing, and numbers. Ruling jointly with his wife Nü Gua, we are provided with the foundational spirit for yin and yang, sun and moon, birds and beasts, and the distilling of all things into categories. He taught humanity survival skills such as fishing, creating nets, and tool making and was said to have brought the Great Waters of the Universe into order by digging dikes, canals, and irrigation ditches to tame the Yellow River. He, like Nü Gua, is credited with the invention of musical instruments, such as the guqin, a seven-stringed musical instrument, and the pipa, a lute, which he taught people to play to accompany the telling of stories. Fu Xi is a major force in his own right. He received The Yellow River Chart from creatures that rose out of the Yellow River and the Luo Writings, which are the Lou Shu Emergence that provide the knowledge for the organization of time and space. It is said that he discovered the trigrams on the back of a tortoise.

United as the divine creators of the world, Fu Xi and Nü Gua hold back the floods and provide the structural and the functional principles of an ordered world. The best-known image of Fu Xi and Nü Gua appears in the Wu Liang shrine where they are co-creators of the world. Their intertwined serpent bodies rotate around an invisible vertical axis mundi (cf. Santillana and Dechend, 1969). Fu Xi holds the carpenter’s square used to establish divisions and create the trigrams, and Nü Gua has a compass, to restore the circular heaven to its place (Nibley, 1992). These tools are complements, as the square is associated with the feminine principle of earth and the circle with the masculine principle of heaven, and are used for taking the measurements of the world, for keeping order in the world.

The union between Nü Gua and Fu Xi might be viewed as the first sacred marriage, the joining of two equal powers that provides order and structure to the cosmos. Their bond bestows a foundation to understand the connections among Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. As co-creators they give birth to The Three Treasures. They are the guardians of the tombs, gatekeepers of the sacred waters, twin snakes of life and death; they have the power to transform, regenerate, and create. Their paired bodies provide the creation of all origins, the DNA of life, including the trigrams, hexagrams, protein bases, and the fertile water from which all life emerges. Together they are yin and yang; they control the floods, pole shifts, and soul shifts, wind and rain, fires and alchemical gold. This is the mystic marriage of heaven and earth, the creation of an ordered and dependable cosmos, the foundation of the collective identity of all people.

There is a word in modern Chinese, a phrase really, kuci chu; and it signifies “the way things should be, the moral standard.” Literally it means the compass and the square. May we embody both Nü Gua and Fu Xi striving always to restore and maintain the sacred and constant balance among heaven, earth, and humanity.

[adraveins]

My most coherent thoughts about Eoran philosophy / science:

First of all, philosophy and religion and science all beget each other and overlap, and some branches have probably been fucked to hell in Eora because of Engwith, the Leaden Key, Hand Occult, etc. If you tried to trace the development of certain ideas, you’d run into mysterious gaps and places where scientific / philosophical thought shouldn’t be lacking or incongruous, but is.

In terms of Eoran philosophy, epistemology (theories of knowledge) and metaphysics (theories of existence) have probably taken the biggest hits from that active suppression of knowledge and cultural bulldozing. I think Deadfire even says that metaphysics is a very young field, even though it’s old as dirt in the real world.

And then, of course, there are probably fields dedicated to Fantasy Philosophy that you wouldn’t find among the irl philosophical categories -- for example, theories of magic (arcanology?)

I am DYING to know what Eoran cosmogony is like, as that’s where my main interest lies -- cosmogony as philosophy and science both. For example, Grand Unified Theory, quantum cosmology, and their cousins are just the primordial ocean / chaos / void under another name and with hypotheses and experiments. However, I don’t recall a whole lot of genuine creation stories among the religious variations that we do see in Eora. Edit: The Huana do have one about a world egg, which is typically a variation on “from chaos to order,” and I’d be willing to bet that chaos -> order would be the most prominent ideas about the gods that are floating around.

Essence and souls and the Wheel obviously dominate philosophical thought (and we see that in-game), and that in and of itself has a lot of focus on “fundamental” qualities, but I think if you start asking too many questions about the fundamental nature and origin of things, you edge a little too close to realizing that kith and the gods are cut from the same cloth. So that’s one way to explain a dearth of creation stories and philosophy, for the same reason that metaphysics is a young field.

My clearest thought is that Eorans are aware that something is literally pulling souls down (the pull of Eora), and fundamental forces have often been mistaken for each other irl (gravity was thought to be a part of electromagnetism at one point). I definitely remember the word “gravity” being used in-game, and while that can be attributed to Earth words slipping into writing, I prefer the idea that 1) the concept of gravity-as-a-force is known in Eora and 2) the prevailing theory as of now is that it’s the same as the thing pulling souls down (though it isn’t).

So if you were going to find more creation-based philosophies and religious concepts in Eora, a lot of them would be concerned with the idea of “down” and a “below” coming first, or resting as the metaphysical bedrock (a bit similar to the Greek Tartarus / Gaia / Chaos), and maybe in the form of a primordial sea of essence.

Or maybe other creation stories would take the form of a world created from the corpses of gods (like the Mesopotamian Tiamat), since we know the gods had very large physical forms at one point.

Or maybe others would feature some kind of world tree / tree of life (like the Hindu / Scandinavian variations), considering the way that adra grows, with its “roots” (the deepest part) being important.

And as said above, from the way Woedica describes the process of reincarnation pre-Engwith’s meddling, some ideas of primordial “chaos” before the gods and “order” because of them are probably floating around.

I would love to know what cosmogonic thoughts existed pre-Engwith, as I think a lot of “below” and “down” concepts would still be prevalent, since essence being pulled down is an observable phenomenon and is also deeply culturally relevant even now.

On a different topic entirely: Due to the prevalence of fantasy creatures and fantasy races (who can’t reproduce with each other, making them different species), taxonomic arguments are probably VERY intense and VERY problematic at times. There was definitely some Eoran Diogenes (definitely from Ixamitl) who was like BEHOLD A KITH, and it’s been memed about for centuries.

And it’s interesting to think about how taxonomic ranks might manifest in Eoran classification systems, and whether certain hierarchies influence that, considering the presence of fantasy vs. non-fantasy creatures (is a dragon a reptile? discuss), and how some sapient species are considered kith and some aren’t. This is probably an area where philosophical concepts are very, uhhh, problematic in their influence on taxonomy.

[hadeans]

A glimpse inside Queen of the Seven Crossroads

We’ve had a few requests for more information about Humberto Maggi’s Queen of the Seven Crossroads, our forthcoming title which is currently open for pre-orders. The fine hardcover edition is litho-printed, section sewn with gold foil blocking on the front and spine, and covered in Skivertex Malaga. The hardcover and paperback edition can be pre-ordered now; the digital edition will be made available on 11 August, the official date of release.

I accepted this title for publication because I am interested in the history of magic, and especially in how spirits have developed to become what they are today. Queen of the Seven Crossroads combines both in its description of this particular Pomba Gira. Maggi describes her history, attributes, the influences that shaped her, and her imagery, and shares some information about his own experiences with this Afro-Brazilian spirit.

Introduction

The Queens of Quimbanda, Queens of Magic and Sorcery, and Queens of Hell are considered to be powerful spirits who deserve great honors and reverence. To each of them are assigned Astral Kingdoms that govern over different aspects of magical work and that connect with the mundane plane strongly at specific places and times, though their power in truth knows no limits or boundaries.

Like the dead heroines of older times, who received cult and were expected to aid the living, the Queens of Quimbanda, as with most of the lesser spirits in this system, are reputed to have been extraordinary whilst living – for good or evil. The diabolical aesthetics and the historical origins of Quimbanda associated and associate these women with the Devil – although here the Devil is not seen as the orthodoxies teach. Quimbanda moves toward a restoration of the original cosmogonies misrepresented by the Christian churches. It accepts the superficial ideas and images developed by Christianity to accuse and to frighten, but proposes a core interpretation that in the end completely undermines Christian theologies.

The Quimbanda that arose in Brazil is a fig tree with roots in European witchcraft and African religions; it is the inheritance of people who were exiled and enslaved – at its core it is reaction and rebellion against Church and State, against Inquisition and Slavery.

History and myth come together to create and continuously develop the definitions and the interpretations of who or what the Queens of Quimbanda are. Research and revelation compose this short treatise dedicated to the Queen of the Seven Crossroads with whom I have being working for several years. She came into my life at a moment of great and difficult change, and she has guided me faithfully since then. Often experiences with the Queen of the Seven Crossroads are frightful – but there is always a surreptitious feeling that things are under control and all is for the best. These are entities that test and improve their protégées.

The idea of writing a short treatise on the Queen of the Seven Crossroads came to me during one of the works I do regularly with her. I have a large image of her at home, and a smaller one that travels with me wherever I go. Under her guidance we are going to survey the historical developments that influenced the creation of this concept in the Quimbanda that emerged in the first half of the 20th century in Brazil, as well as the ideas and techniques inherited both from Europe and Africa; we also are going to follow the thread of inspirations I received and we will borrow from the practices I learned both as a Chief of Quimbanda and as a researcher.

The aim of this treatise is then to provide the conceptual background for a better comprehension of the identity and role of the Queen of the Seven Crossroads which will enable the devotee to develop a consistent practice of work and communion with this elevated spirit. 

Humberto Maggi

I hope that sheds a little more light on what can be expected with this book. I’ll of course post photos of the hardcover edition as soon as it lands in the warehouse.

with love as always, Erzebet

[myoyakodon]

The Dawn and the Night Sky

“…and the True King banished the Darkness once and for all, returning Light to Eos,” Ignis speaks into the recorder in his hands. “The King made—” he continues, but the words catch in his throat. He pauses the recorder.

It’s silent in his study now, except for the tick-tock of the wall clock. Ignis takes a few deep breaths. It’s alright, you’re alright, he tells himself.

Once he feels grounded enough, he returns to the task at hand, turning the recorder back on. “The King,” he starts over, “made one final sacrifice. He gave his life for his people, for the future of Eos. His sacrifice opened a new era; we call it the Dawn of a New Age.” 

He switches off the recorder.

Happy birthday to our best boy ✫ Noct ✫! Such a wonderful day to post a preview of my piece "The Dawn and the Night Sky" for the @cosmogonyzine!! 

 ...Although I'm ashamed to admit the story's about his...death-day and not his birthday. Oops...

The Cosmogony zine is open for pre-orders ✫ here ✫ This zine is absolutely gorgeous; it’s just like you would imagine a storybook in the world of Eos!

[ignis-sassentia]

Cosmogony Preview

[July 13th, M.E. 773

Begin transcription:

Annals of Lucis Part Seventeen as recorded by Councilman Ignis Stupeo Scientia]

Contrary to what is likely to become popular belief, Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV was not a natural-born warrior, but rather a reluctant leader who never had an opportunity to reach his full potential. Even as of this recording, tales of King Noctis’ kindness are spreading throughout Lucis, hand-in-hand with stories of his grand defeat of the Starscourge and The Immortal Accursed.

What these tales do not address--nor perhaps should they, when the people of Lucis require stability and heroic figures now more than ever--is that His Majesty struggled for quite some time to accept the burden the gods placed on his shoulders.

A little teaser for my submission to @cosmogonyzine, which is now open for pre-orders! Every part of this zine is gorgeous and fantastic, and if you like FFXV, I highly recommend grabbing a copy! 

[one-of-the-birds]

Greek Deities and Spirits: Primordial Deities

 Hello lovelies and welcome to the first “chapter” of my series called Lesser Known Greek Deities and Spirits (or LKGDS).  This first chapter will be over the primordial deities of Greek Mythology.  There will be a lot of information packed into each of these chapters. I try my best to keep things organized, but if I went overboard with the information please let me know. Since this is the first chapter I wasn’t sure how much I should have put in or edited out. I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions!!

If you want to learn more about the Greek Primordial Deities continue reading down below!

Primordial means “from the beginning” or “earliest stage of development”. When using this term when talking about Deities this will cover the ones who either created the universe or were created when the universe itself was born.  

From my research I found that were two Greek poets/scholars who wrote about the primordial deities and as you can imagine they each had their own order of who came first. The two poets are Hesiod (who wrote the Theogony – which is a large poem that describes the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed c. 700) and Orpheus (for the Greeks he is considered the founder and prophet of the so-called "Orphic" mysteries. He was given credit for the composition of the Orphic Hymns and the Orphic Argonautica).

Hesiod's Theogony (c. 700 BC) tells the story of the genesis of the gods. After invoking the Muses (II.1-116), he tells of the generation of the first four primordial deities:

   "First Chaos came to be, but next... Earth... and dim Tartarus in the depth of the... Earth, and Eros..."

According to Hesiod, the next primordial gods that come to be are:

Darkness and Night (born of Chaos); Light and Day (born of Night and Darkness); Heaven and Ocean ( virginally born of Earth).

In Orphic tradition, the primordial gods were born from Chronos and Ananke with Chaos being their first born. Orphic poetry (c. 530 BC) made Nyx the first principle, Night, and her offspring were many. Also, in the Orphic tradition, Phanes (a mystic Orphic deity of light and procreation, sometimes identified with the Elder Eros) is the original ruler of the universe, who hatched from the cosmic egg. 

(For the most part I will be sticking as close to Hesiod’s version of the order of which the primordial deities were created.)

Below will be the “order” of which the Primordial Deities came to be and what they ruled over.

Chaos: refers to the void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos in the Greek creation myths, or to the initial "gap" created by the original separation of heaven and earth.  Chaos was the first thing to exist in Greek Mythology.

Gaia (also spelled Gaea): Gaia is the ancestral mother of all life: the primal Mother Earth goddess. Hesiod's Theogony tells how, after Chaos, "wide-bosomed" Gaia (Earth) arose to be the everlasting seat of the immortals that possess Olympus above. He then tells that Gaia brought forth her equal Uranus (Heaven, Sky) to "cover her on every side" and to be the abode of the gods. Gaia also bore the hills (ourea), and Pontus (Sea), "without sweet union of love" (in other words without a father). Afterwards with Uranus she gave birth to the Titans, as Hesiod tells it:  She lay with Heaven and bore deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronos (Cronus) the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire. 

Tartarus: considered to be the third of the primordial deities, following Chaos and Gaia, and is also a deep abyss that souls are judged after death and the truly wicked get their punishment. 

Eros: According to Hesiod's Theogony, one of the most ancient of all Greek sources, Eros (the god of love) was the fourth god to come into existence, coming after Chaos, Gaia (the Earth), and Tartarus (the abyss).  The Orphic and Eleusinian Mysteries featured Eros as a very original god, but not quite primordial, since he was the child of Night (Nyx). Aristophanes (c. 400 BC), influenced by Orphism, relates the birth of Eros:    At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night (Nyx), Darkness (Erebus), and the Abyss (Tartarus). Earth, the Air and Heaven had no existence. Firstly, blackwinged Night laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Darkness, and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Love (Eros) with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in the deep Abyss with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light. 

Erebus: primordial god of Darkness and one of the first five to be born of Chaos. Said to be the brother of Nyx and fathered several other deities with Nyx; depending on the source of the mythology, his children are Aether, Hemera, the Hesperides, Hypnos, the Moirai, Geras, Styx, Charon, and Thanatos.

Uranus: the primal Greek god personifying the sky. Uranus or Father Sky was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth. According to Hesiod's Theogony, Uranus was conceived by Gaia alone, but other sources cite Aether as his father. Uranus and Gaia were the parents of the first generation of Titans, and the ancestors of most of the Greek gods.

Nyx: the primordial goddess of the night. Said to have been around since the dawn of time. Viewed as an extremely powerful goddess, so powerful that even Zeus himself fears her wrath.

The Ourea: The Ourea were progeny of Gaia, who were the first-born elemental gods and goddesses. According to Hesiod: And [Gaia] brought forth long hills, graceful haunts of the goddess Nymphs who dwell amongst the glens of the hills.There are nine Ourea:  Aitna, Athos, Helikon, Kithairon, Nysos, Olympus, Oreios, Parnes, and Tmolus. The Greeks rarely personified an individual mountain; an exception might be Tmolus, both a king and a mountain in Lydia. Each mountain was said to have its own local nymph, an oread.

Pontus: is an ancient, pre-Olympian sea-god. Son of Gaia and according to Hesiod has no father. With Gaia, he fathered Nereus , Thaumas , Phorcys and his sister-consort Ceto, and the "Strong Goddess" Eurybia. With the sea goddess Thalassa, he fathered the Telchines and all sea life.

Aether: the personification of the upper air. He embodies the pure upper air that the gods breathe, as opposed to the normal air breathed by mortals. Brother to Hemera and fathered by Nyx and Erebus.

Hemera: personification of day and one of the Greek primordial deities. She is the goddess of the daytime.  She is the female counterpart of her brother Aether.

Phanes (also known as Protogonus): is the primordial god  of creation in the Orphic cosmogony. He was the generator of life. Tthe driving force behind reproduction in the early cosmos. Phanes was hatched from the world-egg.

[slowlyteenagestarlight]

Tiamat

This realism are/is technology used to program the heavily compromised fluoride induced Communities. Look at the most violent behavioral states/cities/counties and unfortunately countries. Why is this? The connective truths are the above listed . Quite possibly to include video games/and as Henry Kissinger stated, “useless eaters “ where do you pre-suppose this verb originated? This events are erroneously becoming compartmentalized. This is comprehensible due to the enormity of such a scheme as so many are unable/unaware to grasp the significance. Globally massive and too indicative for all to surmise total randomness. That’s how it’s perpetrated. This puzzle is too massive to be correlated as one planetary scheme of attack. All at the same time {?} Similarly to the limited knowledge of Tiamat.

by Joan d’Arc

2002

from ParanoiaMagazine Website

Spanish version

 

 


According to the harmonic rule known as Bode’s Law, a planet should exist between Mars and Jupiter - some 260 million miles from the Sun.

 

Beginning in 1801, tiny rock and metallic objects were discovered to be orbiting the Sun at about this distance. Since then, several hundred thousand large asteroids have been catalogued, and it is estimated that there are more than a million 1 km asteroids. 

Stretched out at a distance of 205 to 300 million miles from the Sun, this band is known as the Asteroid Belt.

 

The asteroids range in size from Ceres, which has a diameter of about 1000 km, down to the size of pebbles. If the estimated total mass of all the asteroids was gathered into a single object, the object would total about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) across - less than half the diameter of the Earth’s moon.

 

 

 

 

Astronomer H. Olbers discovered the second asteroid, Pallas, in 1802, and the fourth asteroid, Vesta, in 1807.

 

In his time, Olbers thought these bodies were fragments of a planet that had exploded. Another generally accepted theory suggests the asteroids are the remains of a planet that was destroyed in a massive collision. Nonetheless, it had earlier become evident that much of the material of this ’missing planet’ had been pulled into the orbits of Earth, Mars and Jupiter as either meteors or orbiting satellites. 

Among catastrophists there is substantial disagreement on the matter of the "missing" fifth Planet from the Sun, in the place of which lies the Great Band, the debris of an enormous planet which the Sumerians knew as Tiamat. There are various opinions on what caused the Asteroid Belt; for instance, Tom van Flandern’s Exploding Planet Hypothesis in Dark Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets, asserts that a former major planet between Mars and Jupiter exploded about 65 million years ago.

 

Van Flandern believes this event is the origin of the great bombardment of comets and asteroids which ended the reign of the dinosaurs on Earth.

 

However, according to Zecharia Sitchin in The Twelfth Planet, written accounts left by the lost Sumerian civilization state that Tiamat isn’t missing, it just moved shop. Tiamat is the planet on which we are standing right now. 

This article will discuss two anomalies that suggest the Earth was once further away from the Sun, suggesting that prior to a grand cataclysm described in the Babylonian Enuma Elish, the Earth was the planet which the Sumerians called Tiamat. According to Sumerian/Babylonian cosmogony (cosmic genesis), the fifth Planet from the Sun, Tiamat, was shunted to third position by a calamitous event, one now well known by followers of Planet X Theory.

 

First, a quick overview of the Sumerian/Babylonian story of Tiamat is in order.

 

 

 

 

Nibiru - The Retrograde Interloper


Ancient Sumerian texts indicate that Tiamat was struck by a large planet, which moved it into its present orbit, and also created the Earth’s moon and the Asteroid Belt.

 

In his books, The Twelfth Planet and The Cosmic Code, Zecharia Sitchin outlines this "celestial battle" as described in the Babylonian text Enuma elish.

 

The planet "Marduk" (the Sumerian "Nibiru"), as it came into the solar system on its 3,600-year clockwise (retrograde) elliptical course, struck Tiamat, which was moving in its ordained counterclockwise orbit. 

According to Sitchin’s well-known translations, one of Marduk’s satellites struck Tiamat first, followed by two more of Marduk’s moons. Then Marduk itself, an enormous cosmic entity, struck Tiamat, smashing one half of the planet into pieces, which became what the Sumerians called the Great Band.

 

The remaining half of the planet, which was struck by a smaller moon of Marduk, was catapulted into a new orbit, along with a chunk of material which became its moon. According to the Enuma elish, Tiamat’s original moons were dispersed, many changing the direction of their orbits and rotations. 

There is indeed evidence of this great cataclysm in our solar system today.

 

Tom van Flandern, a specialist in Celestial Mechanics at the US Naval Observatory, has suggested that the great rift on Mars may be the impact site of a former moon, the moons of Neptune show evidence of violent disruption, Mercury was originally a moon of Venus, Mars once had many more moons, and Pluto and Charon are escaped moons of Neptune.

 

Van Flandern finds the retrograde rotation of Venus peculiar, he believes that our moon originated from the Pacific Basin of the Earth, and he agrees that there is probably an undiscovered planet beyond Pluto which belongs to our solar system.

 

 

 

 

In addition, Hubble recently investigated one of the largest asteroids, Vesta (image above), and found evidence of differentiated layers similar to the terrestrial planets, distinctive light and dark areas like the face of our moon, and a geology similar to the Earth, including evidence of ancient lava flows. 
 

 

 


Impossible Knowledge


Sitchin believes that the "impossible knowledge" of the Sumerians was imparted to them by "Anunnaki" space travelers in a series of texts forming the basis of ancient science and religion, and was translated into many languages, including Greek and biblical Hebrew.

 

According to Sitchin, all ancient mythologies stem from this original knowledge imparted to earthlings by spacefaring ETI hailing from this wayward bowling ball, Nibiru. According to Sitchin, the Anunnaki called our planet ERIDU, meaning "Home away from Home." 

Sitchin also argues in The Cosmic Code that the Anunnaki used their detailed sky charts to group the stars into constellations, and then honored their leaders by naming the constellations after them. Thus, the Sumerian god EA, ("Whose Home is Water") was honored by the zodiacal signs of Aquarius and Pisces, and the "priests who oversaw his worship" were dressed as Fishmen.

 

Enlil, the strong-headed one, was honored by the sign of Taurus. Ninmah was Virgo. The warrior Ninurta was Sagittarius. Over time, Sitchin explains, as second and third generation Anunnaki ’gods’ joined the scene on Earth, "all the twelve zodiacal constellations were assigned to Anunnaki counterparts." He argues, "not men, but the gods, devised the zodiac." 

The continent that the ancients called Pangea likely represents the prehistoric truth regarding the land formation on the Earth after it was involved in this collision. Over time, the continents then drifted to where they are now.

 

As Sitchin points out, Earth’s largest landmasses are mostly on one side and the oceans take up the rest of the planet. Looking at the Earth’s globe from a distance, if you took the water away, what’s left is a "cleaved planet," which is the meaning of "KI" - the Sumerian word for the present embodiment of Earth. 

According to the Enuma Elish, the Earth came to rest as the third Rock from the Sun after this watery calamity. Here is where the Biblical genesis tale picks up the story, only telling it as a beginning, at the point where the waters of these two great bodies separated in the firmament, the waters belonging to two worlds going bump in the night.

 

Current advances in astronomy have, in fact, corroborated certain aspects of this tale. 
 

 

 


Planet X in the News

Mathematical irregularities in the orbits of the outer planets, in particular, strange wobbles and gravitational anomalies noted in the orbits of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, have prompted astronomers over the past hundred years to search for a large planetary body in the outer solar system.

 

Based on mathematical evidence, astronomers have been so sure of the reality of this planet that they named it Planet X. The name stands for the tenth planet, as well as the mathematical symbol for an unknown quantity. (see d’Arc, "Planet X", in suggested reading list below) 

Many articles have been written about Planet X over the last twenty years. On June 17, 1982, a NASA press release from Ames Research Center officially recognized the possibility of "some kind of mystery object" beyond the outermost planets.

 

Astronomy magazine published an article in December of 1981 entitled "Search for the Tenth Planet," and another article in October of 1982 entitled "Searching for a Tenth Planet."

 

Newsweek covered the story of Planet X on June 28, 1982 in an article entitled "Does the Sun Have a Dark Companion?"

 

This article,

"implied that the tenth planet was a twin sun, stating that such a "dark companion" could produce the unseen force that seems to tug at Uranus and Neptune, speeding them up at one point in their orbits and holding them back as they pass... the best bet is a dark star orbiting at least 50 billion miles beyond Pluto... It is most likely either a brown dwarf, or a neutron star."

Andy Lloyd later went on to more than speculate that we live in a binary star system (www.darkstar1.co.uk).

 

The Washington Post covered the story of Planet X on the front page on December 31, 1983 called "Mystery Heavenly Body Discovered." This story reported that the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) detected heat from an object about fifty billion miles away. 

A NASA/ARC press release published in Newsweek on July 13, 1987 disclosed that:

"an eccentric 10th planet may or may not be orbiting the Sun."

 

The article stated that NASA research scientist John Anderson "has a hunch Planet X is out there, though nowhere near the other nine."

 

The article concluded, "if he is right, two of the most intriguing puzzles of space science might be solved: what caused mysterious irregularities in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune during the 19th Century. And what killed off the dinosaurs 26 million (sic) [actually 65 million] years ago."

This brings us quite neatly to the first anomaly which suggests the Earth was the late great Planet Tiamat. 

 

 

 

Anomaly One - Dinosaurs and Gravity


It is a curious fact that the antediluvian world somehow supported 350 pound flying creatures, while today’s gravity only permits flying creatures weighing at max about 30 pounds.

 

Even at 25 pounds, the great hunting eagles bred by Central Asians had great difficulty getting off the ground.

 

 

 

 

The flying Pteranodons (an ’antediluvian predator’ in a world where a worldwide flood ’never happened’) are now thought to have been carrion feeders, not fishers.

 

How these "living gliders" could have taken flight after gorging themselves on rotting dinosaur flesh is a real brainteaser, according to Douglas Lawson of U. Cal. As Ted Holden explains in "Dinosaurs and the Gravity Problem" in The Anomalist, this flying reptile was fairly lightweight, about the size of a modern turkey, but with a wingspan of up to 50 feet. 

It has been proposed that certain flying vertebrates depended on air currents for liftoff.

 

This theory would have them perpetually perched on the edge of a cliff waiting for a breeze. Others proposed that they took a running start and launched themselves into the air, but a general lack of musculature likely made these vertebrates unable to run that fast.

 

Even more importantly,

"wings of such an extraordinary size could not have been flapped when the animal was grounded," Holden explains.

These assumptions present an engineering Catch-22:

The Pteranodon would have needed tall stilt-like legs to allow its monstrous flapping wings to clear the ground.

And this is certainly not the largest of the antediluvian flying predators. According to Robert T. Bakker in The Dinosaur Heresies, some pterosaurs had wingspans of 60 feet.

 

Bakker has agreed that,

"a creature that large would have broken its arm bones if it tried to fly."

There are other factors which now limit the size of creatures on the Earth.

 

Let’s consider elephants. As Holden explains, it is well known that elephant-sized animals cannot afford to fall down, and that even the slightest tumble can usually prove fatal, breaking bones and destroying tissue. Yet, the elephant doesn’t even live a predator lifestyle.

 

As Holden points out:

Predators live by tackling and tumbling with prey. One might think that this consideration would preclude the existence of any predator too large to sustain falls. Weight estimates for the tyrannosaurs, however, include specimens heavier than any elephant. That appears to be a contradiction...

 

Moreover, elephants are simply too heavy to run in our world. As is well known, they manage a kind of fast walk. They cannot jump, and anything resembling a gully stops them cold. Mammoths were as big and bigger than the largest elephants, however, and Pleistocene art clearly shows them galloping.

 

 

 

Saturn Myth Theory


Holden wonders if some aspect of the Earth’s environment might once have been vastly different.

 

 

 

 

He concludes,

"There are categories of evidence, derived from a careful analysis of antediluvian predators, to show that gravitational conditions in the distant past were not the same as they are today."

He concludes that the super animals of Earth’s past could not live in our present world.

 

Holden ventures an explanation:

The laws of physics do not change, nor does the gravitational constant, as far as we know. But something was obviously massively different in the world in which these creatures existed, and that difference probably involved a change in perceived gravity.

 

This solution derives from the continuing research of neo-catastrophists, that is, followers of the late Immanuel Velikovsky, and is known a the ’Saturn Myth’ theory...

The basic requirement for an attenuated perception of gravity involves the Earth being in a very close orbit around a smaller and much cooler stellar body (or binary body) than our present Sun.

 

One pole would always be pointed directly at this nearby small star or binary system. The intense gravitational attraction would pull the Earth into an egg shape rather than its present spherical shape, so that the planet’s center of gravity would be off center towards the small star. This would generate the torque necessary to counteract the natural gyroscopic force and keep the Earth’s pole pointed in the same direction as it revolved around the star. 

Holden goes on to suggest some of the consequences of such an intense gravitational pull:

• it would allow for gigantic animals like the dinosaurs

• it would tend to draw all of the Earth’s land mass into a single continent (Pangea)

• there would be no seasons because the Earth’s pole would be pointed at this star or binary system

In fact, ancient literature tells us that in antediluvian times there were no seasons. Holden ventures an explanation:

"The state of the present solar system indicates that this previous system was eventually captured by a larger star, our present Sun. But the pieces of this old system have not vanished. The influential small star or binary system of the past remains, though its reign of power has ended."

Holden suggests those small stars are Jupiter and Saturn, the two chief gods in the religious systems of old. He writes:

"There is no reason why they would worship as gods two planets which most people cannot even find in the night sky, unless of course those bodies occupied a far more prominent place in the heavens than they do today."

 

 

 

Effects of Jupiter and Saturn on Nearby Orbs

Indeed, if the Earth was once in fifth position, its closest neighbors would have been Jupiter and Saturn.

 

One of the most fascinating discussions of these two spheres is contained in a 1954 book by Rodney Collin entitled The Theory of Celestial Influence.

 

 

 

 

Jupiter has twelve known moons, four of which are visible by telescope.

 

As Collin explains,

"The relation of Jupiter to the Sun appears to follow a definite and significant ratio. The system of Jupiter, in number of satellites, their size, distance, speeds of revolution and so on, seems to present to us an exact model of the Solar System." As Collin explains, "Jupiter, like the Sun, is a complete living entity or cosmos."

Collin, who was a disciple of P.D. Ouspensky and G.I. Gurdjieff, asserts that the Jupiter system is highly developed and is almost a complete reflection in miniature of the Solar System.

 

He states,

"the influence or radiation produced by such a system must be an extremely subtle one, incorporating a large number of different frequencies in harmonic relation."

The system of Jupiter, Collin explains, includes 15 to 20 harmonic frequencies. Jupiter’s world must produce "an extraordinary wealth of overtones which would put it in the same relation to Venus as a cello to a penny whistle." 

Collin also notes that both Jupiter and Saturn support,

"complete systems of satellites and may even be faintly self-luminous, though this luminosity is rendered unnoticeable by the infinitely greater brilliance of the Sun."

Collin notes that Jupiter and Saturn "are evidently trying to become suns."

 

He also notes that,

"every 390 days, Jupiter and Saturn return to a mean relation with the Earth, and make equal angles with the Earth and Sun, and their influences become balanced."

Thus we see, as Holden states above,

"the pieces of this old system have not vanished."

 


 

Satan’s Fallen Angels - The Asteroids?


According to Collin, it is interesting to speculate what kind of influence the motion of countless asteroids might produce on the magnetic field of the Earth.

 

Imagine the discordant effect of this,

"throng of particles of varying sizes, pursuing at different speeds hundreds of separate and highly eccentric orbits."

Collin points out the physical relationship between the asteroidal mass and individual planets. He wonders, might this relation represent the independence or insurrection of component units against the whole?

 

As Collin notes,

"pathological conditions are caused by the independent action or inertia of separate organs or cells of the body; while rebellions and revolutions represent such a condition in the body politic."

Collin also calls attention to the strange affinity between the asteroids and the idea of "corruption."

 

He notes the connection between asteroids, as a throng of particles, and ancient "legends of crime" on an angelic or planetary level. The rebellion of Satan, the fall of Lucifer, are stories told in the context of the planetary demiurges, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

 

As Collin notes, the asteroids are never mentioned by name, but in every case we are told of a ’fallen angel,’ such as in,

"How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, star of the morning?"

(Isaiah xiv)

Might ancient legends be describing as fallen angels the falling debris of a great cataclysm as an insurrection in the solar system’s body politic? In the Book of Revelations, visions are assigned to each of seven planetary angels.

 

In the place of the fifth angel, we are told that a star was seen to fall from heaven,

"into the bottomless pit, from which arose clouds of smoke which darkened the sun."

The angel of this bottomless pit was Apollyon, who was later to be called Satan. We must realize that the asteroids now fill the fifth place in the planetary sequence. The fifth planet is "missing."

 

A further vision describes,

"a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."

Collin describes this vision as,

"a personification of the descending scale of worlds from the twelve zodiacal signs of the Milky Way through the Sun down to the moon."

The woman, he explains, is about to give birth "to a new satellite."

"Satan waits to devour the infant and there is a war in heaven between Satan and his demons and Michael and his angels (Sun and major planets). The great Dragon is cast out (of the world) and cast into the Earth with his angels. Lucifer is the spirit of multiplicity, chaos and disorder among a mass of disorganized individuals."

Planet X Theory is beginning to fill in the details of this ancient myth of a War in the Universe.

 

The great Dragon could be Nibiru (Sol B), the Sun’s dark twin, which was cast into (collided with) the Earth, and which indeed "devoured the infant" (taking a big bite out of its side) and was cast out of the world for the time being. 

As Collin concludes,

"at a remote time period in the history of the solar system, some tremendous cosmic tension may have been set up which represented ’night’ for the Earth, producing the cataclysm which engulfed Atlantis and made an almost complete break in human history... The legend of the Fall of Lucifer and the war of the other planets against him... finds itself transcribed into astronomical language."

 

(Note: however, that Nibiru and its entourage of seven moons is on a recurring 3,600 year periodic orbit around Sol A, and the cataclysm that ended the Atlantean civilization is not necessarily the same one that ended the reign of the dinosaurs.)

 

 

 

Speculations on Dinosaurs and the Gravity Problem


Returning to the dinosaur/gravity problem, as Holden notes,

"something was obviously massively different in the world in which these creatures existed."

Could it have been a different world entirely, one situated as the fifth rock from Sol A, and in close orbit around a smaller, cooler binary body, Jupiter or Saturn?

 

As Holden points out, one pole of the Earth would be pointed in the same direction as it revolved around the small star. The intense gravitational attraction would pull the Earth into an egg shape, so that the planet’s center of gravity would be off center towards the small star. Might the consequences of such an intense gravitational pull allow for enormous flying creatures?

Within this context, we must also consider van Flandern’s thoughts on the matter: the peculiar retrograde rotation of Venus (was it once Tiamat’s moon?), that Mercury was originally a moon of Venus, that Mars once had more moons, and Pluto and Charon are escaped moons of Neptune. With Tiamat as a giant 8-ball, it would appear that a cosmic game of pool has been played out. There is much to consider now that catastrophists are finally having their day in court. Ask questions, even if they sound absurd, for in this context we know nothing! 

In essence, the Dark Star Theory asserts that we are living in a binary star system. We have truly been thrown a curve ball.

 

The Sun’s dark twin also provides an explanation for the ever-present Christ/Satan dualism in our religious systems, an enigma discussed in detail by Andy Lloyd on his Dark Star section.

 

This brings us quite neatly to the second anomaly which suggests the Earth was the late great Planet Tiamat. 
 

 

 


Anomaly Two - Water, Water, Everywhere!


The second argument for the Earth being the Sumerian planet Tiamat was recently suggested by Andy Lloyd, and has to do the overabundance of water on Earth.

 

As the Sumerians claimed, Tiamat was struck by a moon of Nibiru and was cleaved almost in half, taking on the water of this watery world. As Sitchin points out, all the water on the present Earth is mostly on one side. If you took the water away, the Earth looks torn in half. 

As Andy Lloyd explains in his essay "The Great Water Conundrum," the source of the Earth’s oceanic water is indeed curious.

 

Where did it all come from? A 3/23/02 article in Science News written by Ben Harder explains the problem.

 

As Harder explains, the Earth is too close to the Sun to contain the amount of water it contains. The water, so crucial to its biosphere, should have been expelled from the early inner solar system before the Earth formed. Being as close as it is to the Sun, the Earth should be a much drier planet. 

Early theories proposed that the Earth’s water originated from comets impacting the Earth very early in its geohistory.

 

But recent data suggests that the isotopic ratios of terrestrial water and cometary ice are quite different. Comets contain large quantities of deuterium, an isotopic form of water that is rare on Earth. If this is representative of solar system comets in general, then we can attribute very little of the Earth’s water to cometary impact. Lloyd suggests perhaps only half of the Earth’s oceans could have been deposited by comets. 

Yet, we shouldn’t be surprised that planetary scientists are intent on working within the currently accepted paradigm, which is largely controlled by Darwinian gradualism and is vehemently opposed to catastrophism.

 

As Lloyd concludes:

"The solution is staring all of these planetary scientists in the face."

He concludes:

"The Earth has a rich mixture of volatiles, including water, because our planet originally formed much further away from the Sun."

Lloyd looks at the ’embryo’ theory of Allessandro Morbidello, who has proposed that the Earth formed from,

"the coalescence of moon-sized embryos derived from various chaotic orbits in the primordial solar system."

These "volatile carriers," Morbidello explains, would have formed at about 4 Astronomical Units, which is about four times further away from the Sun than the Earth. This would put the early formation of the Earth somewhere within the orbit of Jupiter. 

Interestingly, Morbidello also notes that "the water-bearing carrier from 4 AU would have been geo-chemically unique in the solar system." As Lloyd concludes,

"If the Earth was once four times further away from the Sun than it is now, then we must explain how it managed to find itself in its current close proximity to the Sun. Somehow, it was shunted into the inner solar system from an orbit originally much closer to that of Jupiter."

As Lloyd concludes:

"There it encountered a watery world at about 4 Astronomical Units, and a great ’celestial battle’ took place between these planetary ’gods’. The result was the shunting of this Water World, ’Tiamat’, into the inner solar system, where it became the Earth. The intruder, ’Nibiru’, spun off into an eccentric orbit beyond the known planets, where it remains to be re-discovered to this day."

Lloyd takes note of Earth’s "special character."

[satoshi-mochida]

Square Enix has announced Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which will launch alongside Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition for Steam, Origin, and Windows 10 on March 6 for $49.99.

Both Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition and Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition feature the base game and over 20 game add-ons / downloadable content, as well as new features including an expanded map of Insomnia with new enemies and side quests, and a first-person camera mode.

Here is the full list of features, via Square Enix:

Expanded Map: Insomnia City Ruins – all-new side quests and enemies such as Cerberus and Omega will be available through the expanded map of the Crown City of Insomnia. Players will also take on the Rulers of Yore.

A fully-controllable Royal Vessel boat, expanding the world of Eos and allowing players to explore the area between Cape Caem and Altissia. Players will also be able to fish aboard the vessel and discover new fishes and dishes.

A new accessory that can activate the new action “Armiger Unleashed” – players will be able to unleash powerful attacks while the Armiger is summoned. After collecting all of the royal arms, players will be able to find an accessory in an unidentified part of the world, enabling access to Armiger Unleashed.

A new first-person camera mode, allowing players to experience the game from Noctis’ perspective.

More than a dozen pieces of downloadable content including weapons, Regalia car skins and item sets

All season pass content including Episode Gladiolus, Episode Prompto, Multiplayer Expansion: Comrades, and Episode Ignis

Archive – players can review the “Cosmogony” stories scattered throughout the Final Fantasy XV world. Additional local myths and legends will also be placed in various new locations, allowing players to obtain more information about the world.

Quest to obtain and Strengthen Regalia Type-D

New Trophies

The Final Fantasy XV base game

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition will feature a new package design by Yoshitaka Amano. For existing Final Fantasy XV owners, a “Final Fantasy XV Royal Pack,” which includes the new downloadable content in Final Fantasy Fantasy XV Royal Edition, will also be available on March 6 for $19.99.

A benchmark tool and instructions to help players optimize their PC for Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition will launch on February 1. Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition supports native 4K and 8K resolutions with HDR10 and DOLBY ATMOS along with ongoing mod support. Here are the minimum, recommended, and 4K PC specifications:

OS

Minimum Specs: Windows 7 SP1/ Windows 8.1 / Windows 10 64-bit

Recommended Specs: Windows 7 SP1/ Windows 8.1 / Windows 10 64-bit

4K HDR Specs Windows 10 64-bit Fall Creators update 

CPU

Minimum Specs: Intel Core i5-2500 (3.3GHz and above) AMD FX-6100 (3.3GHz and above)

Recommended Specs: Intel Core i7-3770 (3.4GHz and above) AMD FX-8350 (4.0 GHz and above)

4K HDR Specs: Intel® Core i7-7700 (3.6GHz and above) AMD Ryzen 5 1600X (3.6GHz and above)

Graphics Card

Minimum Specs: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 AMD Radeon R9 280

Recommended Specs: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB VRAM Radeon RX 480

4K HDR Specs: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 

Main Memory

Minimum Specs: 8GB 

Recommended Specs: 16GB

4K HDR Specs: 16GB

Screen Resolution

Minimum Specs: 720p 

Recommended Specs: 1080p 

4K HDR Specs: 4K(2160p)

Hard Disc Free Space on SSD

Minimum/Recommended Specs: OVER 100GB 

4K HDR Specs: OVER 155GB

Sound Card

DirectSound Sound Card, Windows Sonic or Dolby Atmos

DirectX

DirectX 11 

Other

DVD-ROM／DVD-ROM Drive*, mouse, keyboard, gamepad** *A DVD-ROM Drive (one-sided 1 layer / 2 layer) is required **Game is compatible with gamepad but not required

Starting February 1, users who pre-order the PC version will receive store-specific pre-order and early purchase bonuses:

Windows Store – By pre-ordering through the Windows Store, fans will receive the bonus “Final Fantasy XV Powerup Pack.” This pack contains items designed to power up the player’s performance in combat.

Steam – By pre-ordering through Steam, fans will receive the bonus “Final Fantasy XV Fashion Collection.” This pack contains a selection of outfits for the prince and his pals.

Origin – Those who pre-order on Origin will receive the bonus “Final Fantasy XV Decal Selection.” This pack contains an array of cool and colorful decals for the Regalia. More details on the early purchase bonuses will be available at a later time.

More information about pre-order bonuses can be found at the Final Fantasy XV official website.

Watch the Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition and Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition trailers below. View a set of screenshots at the gallery.

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition

Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition

[Small update: apparently, the price for the RE additions was listed wrong; there isn’t a set price yet]

[cosmogonyzine]

Cosmogony Zine Update: PRE-ORDERS START IN A WEEK

Hey there everyone!

Thanks for your patience and support while we got everything ready! We are excited to announce that pre-orders for Cosmogony: Dawn of a New Age will kick off next week, on August 26!

There will be five tiers for the zine:

Titan Tier: PDF copy of the zine

Ramuh Tier: Physical copy of the zine + 1 random postcard

Leviathan Tier: Physical copy of the zine + 1 random postcard + 1 random bookmark

Shiva Tier: Physical copy of the zine + 2 random postcards + 1 random bookmark + 1 random charm

Bahamut Tier: Physical copy of the zine + all 3 postcards +  both bookmarks + both charms

We will reveal the tiers themselves once the sale starts - we can’t wait for you to see all the hard work of our participants!

[tomasorban]

THE SEPHIROTH : ANGELS OF WILL, WISDOM AND INTELLIGENCE

UNIVERSES are formed and permeated by an in­finite, creative, vitalising and transforming deific Power which, in Tibetan, is called Fohat. This One Life contains within itself infinite potential­ities for the production of universes, beings and forms. It has two modes of existence, one passive, one active. During the reign of the passive mode, from the objective point of view, darkness alone exists. The processes of emergence, densification, evolution and transformation of universes, beings and forms into spiritual states occur during the period of activity. These two phases, the passive and the active, alternate ceaselessly throughout eternity. In the world’s cosmogonies they are known as Nights and Days.

At the opening of the creative period, the principle of Ideation inherent in the One Life becomes manifest as Uni­versal Mind or divine Intelligence. This is not yet a Being, but a power which awakens from boundless Space at the fructifying touch or “breath” of the One Life. Within Uni­versal Mind, localised or focussed areas of divine Thought appear. These are the “nuclei” within the first “thought cell” of a universe, from which emanate creative impulses. They are not yet individual Beings, though they contain the potentiality of all beings.

The process of emanation continues, the first to emerge being the Sephiras, the Numerations, the divine Creative Intelligences. These combine under numerical law to carry out the designs included within divine Ideation. The highest Archangels, from whom in turn the Angelic Hosts emerge, are included within such Emanations. Angels are thus Mind-born Emanations from Absolute Life and the nearer in time and condition to Absoluteness, the greater the beings… Thus hierarchy is part of the established order of Creation. At the summit of the ladder of angelic existence are the pri­mordial Sephirothal Intelligences, the Archangels of the Face, the Mighty Spirits before the Throne. These are the First Born, the highest, greatest—save for the Primal Embodi­ment of Universal Mind—manifestations of Creative Intelli­gence and Power in the Universe. They are everlasting, existing from dawn to eve of Creative Day. At the other end of the scale of angelic existence are the last born, the minute lives emergent from the ocean of Life, the Sephiras in miniature, the nature spirits.

THE SONS OF WILL

Within this hierarchically-ordered race of beings are at least seven main divisions, classified according to the pre­dominant power manifest in each. The Sephira of Will gives birth to innumerable, but not unnumbered, “sons”, each in its turn the parent of a vast progeny, all imbued with the fire of the omnipotent Will. Their attribute is power and they are agents for the manifested will of that summation of the Sephiras which is the Logos of the Universe. Invested

with cosmic power, robed in white radiance, these parent “Morning Stars” shine more brightly than a thousand suns. They are creators in that the creative ray, the fohatic “dart”, the arrow of Eros, is by them as “bowmen” directed to its mark, which in the beginning is that region of space in which the universe is to appear. Throughout its formation and growth they continue to direct the fiery ray which, “bursting” into innumerable, whirling shafts of force brings atoms into being. Primordial atoms are of one kind alone. They form the upper layer of each of the seven degrees of density of matter of which the seven worlds or planes are formed. Different atomic combinations form different substances or chemical elements in both the noumenal and phenomenal aspects of the universe. The atom-forming power is Fohat.The directors of the process are the Sephira of Will and its Emanations.

In full self-consciousness, the Will-Archangels wield this mighty power. In diminishing degrees, angels of will perform their parts. Pure instinct guides the nature spirits in their functions as servants of the One Will. These are the gnomes, the elementalis of earth.

THE SONS OF WISDOM

The Sephira of Wisdom and its “sons” embody and make manifest the principles of cohesion, balance, harmony, inherent in Fohat and all that it creates. They also direct the vitalising currents of solar energy by which atomic com­binations, molecules, substances and forms are given co-ordi­nation and life. They are called Sons of Wisdom, because Intelligences which blend and harmonise are ever wise. They consciously maintain the balanced equipoise of Nature’s several and diverse parts. Each enfolds vast regions within its aura and serves as both vehicle and container for outrush- ing and returning fohatic shafts of power.

These activities of the Sons of Wisdom and other Sephiras were portrayed in the language of the Mysteries as creative intercourse, lawful or unlawful, between Gods and Goddesses and as the progeny supposedly produced. Sephirothal func­tions and the resulting natural phenomena were thus explained by allegory and fable which, revealing the sacred truths to the sanctified, concealed them from the profane. For such has ever been the method of the Mysteries.

Angels of Wisdom serve in regions of lesser dimensions and deeper density. Nature spirits of water as a subtle ele­ment, the great container and conductor in Nature, instinctively play their parts in the outermost regions and densest states of substance in the universe.

THE SONS OF INTELLIGENCE

The Thought that slept as a potency throughout creative Night awoke at Dawn to find embodiment in the most tenuous of all substance, pre-atomic Space. When, thereafter, Fohat formed the first atoms, Mind directed their formation. When atoms blended into denser substance, Mind ordered the pat­tern of their cohesion. When elements appeared, it was Mind that conceived them. When forms followed, Mind fashioned them according to a transcendental “dream” from which it had awakened at Dawn. Mind is the Artist-Crafts­-man of the universe.

The Sephira of Mind, through and from itself, brought forth innumerable progeny, the Angelic Hosts of Mind from which, in their turn, came forth sylphs and nature spirits, fairies and all the aerial hosts. These serve the Universal Mind. These fashion Nature’s outer garb. These conceive and, plane by plane, mentally project the Archetypes, until the densest world is reached and earthly forms appear.

The Universal Mind is omnipresent. With the Egyptians, the God Tehuti, Sephira of Thought and Law, was its symbol and embodiment, preceding in time yet standing behind the creative Logos, ram-headed Amen Ra. Upon his palette he both calculates and records the cosmic cycles and the Nights and Days of Ra. Even Fohat is obedient to the Sephira of Thought, the Lord of Number and of Law,

GODS AND GODDESSES

Each Sephira is assisted by its twin. Every Archangel has its counterpart which is the animate “shadow” of itself, its duplicate. All Gods thus have Goddess consorts who are spiritual embodiments and expressions of their powers, just as the Gods themselves are in their turn embodied Universal Power in one or more of its many aspects. The last three of the seven Sephiras are the reflections of the first three, their Goddesses, though each is a mighty individual Intelligence which, in this and preceding universes, has evolved to its present high degree.

Each of the seven Sephiras is an Official, appointed to an office in the government of the universe. Each is a specialist in one group of creative activities, an expert in creative pro­cesses, with special powers in one of the seven “fields”.

Sephirothal Intelligences are great beyond the compre­hension of man. Will and thought are virtually omnipotent in them. By means of these two agencies they establish and maintain throughout creative Day those regions within the circumscribed field at which sun and planets will later be built. Throughout the periods of densification from pure Spirit-Matter to physical sun and globes, and the subsequent progressive etherealisation back to the original pure state, the concentration by which these phenomena are produced is perfectly sustained. Perpetually creating according to numerical law by the action of unified will-thought, the Sephiras are the motionless Lords whose concentration is unbroken and unwavering throughout the whole period of creative activity.