#stars. spaces. creation. death. division.

[talonabraxas]

"From a philosophical perspective, Gemini is a classroom of souls in which divine knowledge is imparted. In this sign there is a sacred renunciation and a spiritual transcendence occurs towards the heavenly world. The living, collective spirit of the planet Mercury is a protector of our mankind. This celestial body – the closest to the Sun – is esoterically associated with the Buddha and eternal wisdom."

“Isis Unveiled”, by H. P. Blavatsky, volume II, p. 132.

GEMINI (May 21 - June 20)

In a time so long ago that it barely lingers in the memory of aged medicine men, two sons were born to Sun-Carrier and his consort Changing Woman. They were Nayanezgani and Thohadzistshini, who overthrew the monstrous ones and brought an end to the Age of Giants. They heralded a new race and ushered in the Fourth World, where every colour existed and a snow-covered mountain stood at each of the four cardinal points. The Navajo say that four gods created the first man and woman from ears of corn. To this pair came five births of twins, the first of which were hermaphrodites. The four that followed intermarried with the Mirage People who dwell in this world. Their children slowly forgot their ancestry and even failed to see the significance of the birth of twins.

The heavenly twins of every mythology have some striking affinities. The sons of Sun-Carrier and Changing Woman are reminiscent of those of Adam and Eve or Zeus and Leda. Sometimes they are male and female offspring, standing like two pillars side by side. They, like the Navajo brothers, are symbols of the brilliant white and red stars which for thousands of years have been identified as 'the Twins.' The pillars of Hermes and Hercules, as well as Jachin and Boaz at the entrance to Solomon's temple, are derived from the great myth of Gemini. The glyph that describes them all is a graphic indication of their nature: two columns supporting a crossbeam over a threshold. Used in this form by the ancient Spartans, the glyph was later translated into the image of two amphorae with snakes twined around them. The glyph stands for the Portal of the Temple of Humanity. The ancient Euphrateans called the twins Mun-Ga, which designates 'the making of bricks' and refers to the building of the City of Man. Similarly, Romulus and Remus, who despite their differences, built 'the Holy City' of Rome stone by stone, reflect a conception of the temple of humanity common in Mediterranean cultures. Gemini is also associated with fertility, and Finno-Ugric people still carry twins into the fields to ensure an abundance of crops. The celestial twins suggest a link between the evolving human vehicle and the increase of life in general through the divided, overbrooding Spirit, which quickens the processes of division and fructification.

Like Romulus and Remus, the twins of legend and sacred lore are often in opposition to one another. They may, like the brothers depicted in the Cahuilla creation myth, separate to their respective positions in the nether and upper worlds. Or, like Odin and Ollerus of Eddie mythology, they may alternate with one another, representing summer and winter and other cyclic patterns. They maybe like the twin warriors who embody the ever-contending forces of creation and destruction, life and death, their struggle being the cause of all change. They precipitate externally the nature inherent in Changing Woman and bring face-to-face with itself the duality intrinsic to manifestation.

Gemini may describe two hostile brothers, but in Hindu and Egyptian tradition the twins are brother and sister. In The Book of Knowing the Evolutions of Ra, which describes the nature and exploits of the children of the Creator Temu, Shu and Tefnut are described as the right and left eye of Ra. Their father Temu declared the twin birth: "Thus from being one god I became three out of myself." Shu and Tefnut, side by side, represent the union of past and present, space and light, life and order. The Gate of the Pillars of Shu was recognized by Hierophants as the entrance to the Path. The divine nature of androgynous twins points to a state of wholeness which existed prior to the subsequent divisions of evolving existence. An occult analogy can be found in the process of fertilization of a single mother cell which produces, in human generation, identical twins. In such cases the ability to provide the entire complex genetic structure for multiple individuals lies within one fertilized egg. The psychic closeness that twins experience seems to mirror their monogenesis, as well as an even higher and more abstract form of sharing than any they experience on the physical plane. Coming from that which can reproduce itself, and seeming to move, think and feel as one person, twins have inspired philosophers from many cultures to see in them the first emanation of the Creative Logos.

The dual nature of Gemini, as the central theme of the symbol, is shown in various ways. If the twins represent the forces of creation and destruction or the upper and lower worlds, they are both loved and feared. Where the Finno-Ugric peoples rejoice at the birth of twins, some African peoples fear them. It is often said that Heaven kills as well as creates and is associated with the unexpected, like lightning and other awesome phenomena. With the birth of twins the unexpected occurs and they attract both good and evil. Knowing not which is which, some people abandon both in the forest. It is not always a simple task to tell Cain from Abel, and sometimes the dual nature of Gemini, which is usually present in single individuals, becomes separated out in two twins as though one were the dark shadow of the other. In modern times the extraordinary example of two French brothers seems to echo the ancient biblical crime. The innocent and virtuous brother was so repeatedly plagued by the perverse misdeeds of his twin that he finally lost control and in a fit of exasperation strangled him. The mystery as to why the good brother kills the evil one is compounded by the fact that in the biblical allegory the brother rejected by God kills the one accepted.

Whether good and evil, or both purely divine, the dual forces symbolized by the twins are inextricably bound together. As Manilius wrote, "Tender Gemini in strict embrace stand clos'd and smiling in each other's face." The Aswin twins of Hindu tradition are always together, guiding their horses through the heavens. In the Tarot cards the twins symbolized 'the Lovers' and their masculine and feminine activities are like two reflections of one will. The heavenly twins express opposites fused together, like twin beams from one light. The image of Castor and Pollux, seen by the Romans as the Double Light, was placed on the bow of ships in the belief that their dual presence could ify or blend the powerful negative and positive forces working during electrical storms at sea. Their salvific power was suggested in Shelley's translation of Homer's Hymn to Castor and Pollux:

Ye wild-eyed muses! sing the Twins of Jove,

. . . . . . . . mild Pollux, void of blame,

And steed-subduing Castor, heirs of fame.

These are the Powers who earth-born mortals save.

The Greeks and Romans often called the two brilliant stars of Gemini the Sons of Leda. Castor and Pollux were separately termed 'the Starry One' and 'the Lightful One,' names indicative of their respective natures. Castor symbolizes the Earth while Pollux is the emblem of Spirit, reminding us of the ancient edict which states that it takes Earth and Heavenly Waters to create a human soul. The Greek myth achieves its most sublime expression in Pindar's version. Leda is united in the same night with Tyndareus, King of Sparta, and with Zeus, King of the Olympian gods. From this dual union emerge two sons, the mortal Castor and his immortal brother, Pollux. Bound together by a common mother and intense fraternal devotion, they journey on adventures throughout the world. In a ferocious battle with the sons of Aphaereus, Idas, 'he who sees and knows,' mortally wounds Castor. Pollux finds his brother dying and appeals to his divine father to allow him to perish also. "Thou art of a divine race," Zeus replies, "Thou canst not die altogether." Nevertheless, just as the brothers have shared all things in life, they may both share death and immortality. Pollux gives a portion of his immortality to Castor, and thus the twins live alternately, one during the day, and the other at night, in the heavenly abodes. As an allusion to the evolutionary history of humanity, Castor represents the purely mortal man, unconscious in its personality and a mere animal until united with the immortal individuality, signified by Pollux. He is Manas, the informing fire of consciousness which transforms animal man by linking him to the immortal individuality, Atma-Buddhi. Lower man becomes conscious, and Higher Man can behold the world through his less favoured brother. Thus Castor symbolizes the egg-born Third Race humanity, unconscious until awakened to Manasic awareness by the informing god - Pollux.

Gemini is ruled by the planet Mercury, and the twins are often depicted as children using their budding intelligence to play life's game with a cleverness which mimics innocence. Gemini represents the forces of both the Higher and Lower Mind which when ideally combined result in an airy and mercurial balance of self-consciousness. Like the union of past and present symbolized in the Pillars of Shu, Gemini brings into emergence the delicately balanced confluence of the rivers of mind and matter. In China it is represented as an ape with dual qualities related to Yin and Yang, whereas in Tibetan Buddhism it is symbolized by a monkey climbing a flowered tree. The agile primate with his humanoid characteristics climbs upward to grasp the opening bloom of self-conscious intelligence. From this point the light of awareness will disperse through writing and education as well as the arts of commerce. Its benefactors will be many, and some great poets and thinkers attribute the source of their genius to Gemini. Hesiod wrote, "To them I owe, to them alone I owe, what of the seas, or of the stars I know," and Dante intoned:

O glorious stars,

O light impregnated - with mighty virtue,

From which I acknowledge - all my genius,

What-soe'er it be.

In occult tradition we are told that the source of this genius is the First Androgyne whose essence is eternal and who emanates a pure ethereal light. It is a dual light which is not perceptible to the physical sense but which carries the seed of the Dual Man. It is the Androgyne who completes man, "whose ethereal form is emanated by other divine, but far lower beings, who solidify the body with clay, or the 'dust of the ground.' ' The progressive manifestation of twins suggested here is reminiscent of a Babylonian account of creation which states that "In Heaven and Earth 'faithful twins' had been brought into being" who were all to be the gods of the three worlds.

Gemini as a symbol of the Higher and Lower Mind points to the process whereby the whole of evolving existence leads to the pivotal point inherent in the dual nature of man. The duality symbolized by and inherent in Gemini suggests the dynamic unity of the mind, the crucible of the Aquarian Age. Like the two amphorae encircled by serpents, Higher and Lower Mind have complementary functions. When separated, Kama Manas is the calculating mind which apes its superior twin, fantasizing images of the world which deny significant occult import to events, and ruled by projected desires rather than spiritual aspirations. As the shadow of Buddhi-Manas, it can concretize any conception and exploit spiritual language for its own inverted ends. Buddhi-Manas is ever indifferent to all but universal truths; it abstracts the formless core from the world of form, synthesizes the mathematical harmonics of the world of change into the one fundamental vibration which precedes and pervades every manifestation, and transcends every level of insight, each of which becomes a step on the stairway to pure Spirit. When Kama Manas is wedded to Buddhi-Manas, its relational side is weaned from the snares of tanha, the thirst for embodied experience, and it becomes the vehicle through which Buddhi-Manas can manifest in the world. Gemini represents the realignment of the inverted mind.

Emerson likened friends to diamonds and opals, the one pure and impenetrable, the other variegated. The adamantine Higher Mind is multi-faceted, reflecting every colour from within itself while remaining colourless. The opalescent Lower Mind reflects all the colours of the world because they are lodged within it. When brought together in fraternal friendship, Lower Mind is purified so that it picks up and refracts only the colours emitted by Higher Mind, pouring its light forth into the world. Lower Manas must achieve a philosophical negation - refusing to identify with name and form - so that Higher Mind may manifest. If the lower aspect of dual Mind is positive, the higher aspect must be negative. The Aquarian Path is the process of reversing these polarities. Then the potentiality of the Akashic light, contained in the crystalline amphora of Higher Mind, can reflect in the potency of the pristine astral light poured forth from the translucent amphora of the purified Lower Mind. Thus the two aspects of Mind stand in the same relationship as did the first awakened Third Race humanity to its spiritual Instructors.

Twins in the world are like witnesses to the archetypal transition from the wholeness of the androgynous race to the duality of the separation that marked the lighting-up of Manas, They are a testimony to this, though few of them actually divide the opposing forces of higher and lower consciousness. Usually they blend the two individually as well as collectively, although there are few cases where the divine and animal natures pit themselves against each other as two separate persons inexorably linked in a desperate struggle which can only end in the death of one or the other. But this too is a reflection of the inherent potential unleashed with the awakening of self-consciousness. Adam separated into Cain and Abel (male and female), who are his own 'allegorical permutations,' and from the seed of this First Androgyne issued that series of twins which would, like the Navajo hermaphrodites who married 'the Mirage People,' produce the mortals of the earth. The 'killing' at the archetypal level has to take place, for without this sacrifice there can be no descending issue. The killing on the worldly level is a shadow of this mythical 'crime.' In its own sad and convoluted way, this illustrates further the painful involvement of purity and wisdom with that which is steeped in the mire of ignorance.

In Isis Unveiled H. P. Blavatsky suggests that Adam, Cain and Abel can be likened to the sephirothal triad of Crown, Wisdom and Intelligence. Correlating the Sephiroth with the classical zodiac, it follows that Abel symbolizes Gemini, marking it as the point where pure creative force is divided in two, such that one half is elevated and the other half descends into the multiplicity of phenomena. Adam is the collective name for man and woman or Cain and Abel, indicating that the separation of the sexes is only being alluded to analogously at the stage of evolution depicted in the myth. All stories concerning a seemingly objectivized Eve separated from Adam or separated siblings are merely indicators of the potential which lies latent at the dawn of the Third Root Race. These allegories do not refer to beings of flesh but rather to states of consciousness embodied in the most ethereal garments. Abel, the female aspect of Adam, is 'killed' because it enters into generation, and this is done as sacrifice by Cain or Jehovah, the masculine and creative aspect. Adam itself is the androgynous issue of Adam Kadmon, the sexless and pure Unmanifesting Logos. The allegory in occultism describes the development of the First purely sexless Race, the inactive androgynous condition of the Second Race, and the emergence of the 'Separating Hermaphrodite' which marks the Third and last semi-spiritual Race. It is in subsequent races that woman and man separate further and come, increasingly, to fight the battle of the dual self each within herself or himself apart. There is a karmic reflection of the androgynous commingling of forces in the relationship existing between man and woman today. While the shedding of the blood of Abel symbolizes the sacrifice of virgin consciousness, thrice-blessed is he who realizes the synthesis of the long separated forces within himself and through his relations with others.

The Heavenly Twins of Gemini are beautifully typified by the Aswins, the divine charioteers of Hindu mythology. They are depicted riding in a golden car and possess many forms. They are "the bright harbingers of Ushas the dawn" and represent the transition from darkness to light, both cosmically and metaphysically. It is said that at one time the gods refused them access to a great sacrifice on the grounds that "they had been on too familiar terms with men." Identified with both heaven and earth, these divine twins can show a negative character, due to the alliance of light with darkness which they characterize. But when they sacrifice themselves as a bridge, like the reins they attach to their wild steeds, they are known as the Aswini-Kumaras, the reincarnating 'principles' in the Manvantara. Their natures are endlessly reflected in the manifestations of Gemini in the world, but also represent a great and sustained sacrifice which, in its earliest stages, the stars of Gemini channel into the cosmos.

In man, the dramatic manifestation of this is in objectivized, reflected intellect. The Nidana traditionally related to Gemini is Vijnana or 'I-consciousness.' Of the twelve Nidanas, the first and second have to do with the last life or the past, while the third or Vijnana has to do with this life and the present. Therefore its nature is very dependent upon the 'karma-formations' and the skandhas of consciousness predominating in the previous birth, which can be seen as a 'causal mind-base' for the present. As a phenomenon like any other, it arises through dependence upon conditions. Vijnana is the collective term for all evanescent mental states, and to understand it requires the raising of fundamental questions, such as "Why do we think that matter exists?" and "What is the cause of the illusion of objective consciousness?" In Buddhist philosophy this has been put in terms of a contrast between Absolute Mind which is changeless and unreal image-making which obscures the light of the Absolute Mind. This Mind is called alayamjnana and refers to stored consciousness, whereas the unreal image-making is a product of evolving consciousness or pravritti-vijnana.

According to the Yogacharya School, cosmic will produces effects stored in alayavijnana which result in potential touch, mental activity, feeling, perception and further extensions of will. This first transformation of consciousness from the Changeless is followed by a second involving the evolution of ego-consciousness out of Alaya. The third transformation completes the process and ushers in that condition where sense perceptions are wrongly interpreted as descriptive of objective and subjective worlds, each independent of the other. Here, built into the dynamic duality is a system of perpetual inversions which is the realm of phenomena, the endless house of mirrors. The focal point of the inversion is like the central aperture of an hourglass through which sand flows back and forth. Creative Nature (Natura naturans) and Created Nature (Natura naturata) endlessly intermingle, the one being like the wearer, the other like the mask. As in the Babylonian god Nergal, who has two heads and two sets of wings and eyes that can rest and act simultaneously, cause and effect merge in Gemini. They twist and turn and reflect, sending the soul through the Pillars of Shu. From Absolute Reality, the Self partakes of the relative reality belonging to the realm of the pure hermaphrodite, the divine Twins. But evolution demands full descent and the separated ego enters into a long passage through the realm of imputed reality where the unreal imagination has full sway and the memory of the divine Twins is barely discerned. The struggle between Reality and its shadow begins.

Like the original moment of a vow taken with the first light of self-awareness, Gemini recalls the beginning of the quest. It reminds us of the awesome struggle of humanity for eighteen million years, and it points to the purpose of our existence, which is to uplift nature and bring her back to self-conscious unity with the One. This process is intimated in The Secret Doctrine: "The universe hath a Ruler (Rulers collectively) set over it, which is called the WORD (Logos); the fabricating Spirit is its Queen: which two are the First Power after the ONE." These Two Inseparables remain in the Universe of Ideas so long as it lasts and then merge back into Parabrahm, the One Changeless Source which rests unmoved at the centre of the great zodiacal wheel.

Hermes, July 1977

Art: GEMINI by Johfra Bosschart,The Zodiac Series

[hoverboards-and-dragons]

We know a lot about how Michael's PTSD affects him but what about the other Archangels?

Basically everyone is handling it better than him, they never had his codependency, weren't as involved in the visceral parts and aren't trying to convince themselves he's dead and thus aren't making more grief for themselves just to repress it.

He's just the estranged brother to the rest, even the still real pissy ones see him at least every couple centuries for awkward diplomatic reasons, Zadkiel and Lucifer hang out semi-regularly.

(Expect for Michael, they haven't seen each other since the Fall, but this post isn't about him)

They aren't unaffected obv, but its sutler and more about his absence than the event itself, and the looming threat now hanging over their heads.

However there is a narrative representation of this change I think you'd be interested in! The Original Sin brought suffering and evil into creation, as the pillars of reality they risked their grip of their domains slipping out of control.

They had to reflect all of what creation was, absorb a bit of the blow, swallow the consequences of Lucifer's mistake. Become worse for it.

The changes sunk in bone deep, they struggle to imagine the time before they thought like they do now. But they do remember, being different once, it haunts a lot of them, some the deeper anger they harbour for Lucifer, is from that whole psychological horror.

Raphael; Archangel of Life, Keeper of Balance, and Death

Raphael gained a callousness with little respect for those you refuse to accept the the cycle that they institute. They are patron of plague just as agriculture, of health and rot, bringer of life and death; and in the most patient understanding way they can put this, Get Over It. This is what balance means. There is no life that doesn't require the death of others, sometimes, between you and bacteria, its not your life that triumphs.

Their authority is honestly a more immediate threat than Michael's, who's iron grip is at least restricted to Heaven and the heavenborn culture we struggle to relate to. Raphael is the enforcer of our limits, its thanks to them we will not evade the walls of Heaven and Hell for long.

A cruel but natural evolution from Raphael's role as the flora that limited humanity in the Eden period. The cage transformed to be more suited for the free of will.

Uriel; Archangel of Stars, Keeper of Knowledge, and Hunger

Uriel's always had a strange blind spot, no more privy to His plan than any of their siblings. That gap turned into a clawing aching blackhole that refuses to be sated. They are the holder of His wisdom and yet they are denied this with no recourse. What good are they if they don't even know what the goal is.

This is appetite and ambition. Flame that continues to burn through whatever you feed it. This is the breadth knowledge that will always eclipse the amount you can know. This is the gaps in your memory. This is staring into the void of space and realizing you will never touch any of it. This is the expanse of time from before and after your little blip of existence that you will never be apart of.

Curiosity taut fraught by bitterness and desperation. A gatekeeper who themselves are not allowed to know what they guard. Is this penance? Uriel wonders, for failing their post in Eden, having to bare ignorance as defence after proving inadequate themselves.

Gabriel; Archangel of Progress, Keeper of Revelation, and Malice

Gabriel is at heart a paragon, they will do what is right no matter what. This also makes their mindset simple with little room for nuance. In the rise of sin came with it division, the categories of allies and enemies. While before there was only good, but its given way to an entirely black and white view of the world. They have no tolerance for those that threaten what is good.

They do not listen, nor will they feel guilt. They carry God's very word, what could you add? Nothing else matters. Cutting you down is what is right. It's a breeding ground for war and brutality, for anything is justified against an enemy. A hero does no wrong.

Quick and efficient to a fault, they leave people deemed unworthy behind. Never stopping long enough to second guess. Acting entirely on gut instinct that demands the purging of the undesirable. Sever every hitch and fib until all is plain uncomplicated truth.

A twisted nostalgia they drag behind as a they race forward to regain the simple glory of being Eden's protector, before there was deception, before they knew a brother's betrayal.

Jophiel; Archangel of Beauty, Keeper of Passion, and Bloodshed

Jophiel wears her heart on her sleeve, she experiences emotions and sensations at such an elevated intensity that they cannot be refused or repressed. Compelled in a thousand different ways to bring them into the world, if only to get them out of her. She paints, she dances, she sculpts, she cries. She learned that beauty meant a lot of things, can come from a lot of places.

Her manic episodes before could get a bit volatile. But after the range of emotional expression widened and deepened, once suffering was added to her spectrum her stability spiralled. These far extremes were not spared from magnetism. They could not be refused or repressed; now skin could break, could be broken, in rage, in despair, in desire - she had to get them out of her, she had to make them real.

Beauty means so many things. There is carnage in her wake.

Blood is such a gorgeous vivid hue, isn't it?

In the suffering of creation, darkest moments can forge the heights of art and culture. This is the quittance Jophiel offers her beloved nigh-masterpieces, she hopes it's still worth it, for both their sakes.

Zadkiel; Archangel of Grace, Keeper of Faith, and Tragedy

Zadkiel didn't have a role in creation, for reasons they still don't know. They once had hope that eventually they'd be able to leave their mark.

They never got the chance.

They don't why they were soaked in the same creation as their siblings, just to be made to rest eternally. Bearing the name Architect as nothing but a hollow title.

They keep their faith, they have nothing else to block out the thoughts of meaninglessness, of waste; that they have no reason for continuing to exist. They have no other reason to believe there's any point to them at all. Expect for faith, faith doesn't need proof, or trust. They clutch it tight in shaking hands, clasp together and close to their heart.

What good is faith without tribulation?

Futile sacrifice, pointless waste, useless potential, missed opportunity, crushing unbearable hopelessness.

Misfortune Zadkiel carries with them, inescapable random meaningless tragedy. They pray the grace and kindness they bring is enough for you to find your peace despite your fickle woe; they pray you offer to others the same. ~

(Michael is the Archangel of Power(this title is almost never used, in favour of 'Highest of all Angels') and Keeper of Order and destruction if you're curious, he's not relevant because he was always intended for a post-sin world so never had this change, also because he deserves a goddamn break)

-

Jophiel is the most viscerally aware, upset and scared of how she been changed and holds it hard against Lucifer, Raphael is on some level disturbed by how their entire attitude towards living things was restructured into a constant potential threat but has decided not to worry about it, its buried real deep down there, Uriel's trying real hard to distance themselves from their desperate need as something apart from them, which works until it doesn't and they're yelling at Lucifer or whoever out of crippling insecurity, Zadkiel is dealing with it like they deal with everything, reciting prayers until there isn't any room for bad thought, they love their big brother.

[whereserpentswalk]

For it was long ago that the battle between existence and void first formed. When all gods stood together against the nothingness, and no pantheon was named, and no division made between lesser and greater nor rebel and king. There was only the emptiness of space, when no stars formed, and no planets grew.

And at the helm was void and chaos, the tyranny of pure annihilation. Though it was an army no names could be given to those who fought, for no names could define the chaos, for it was pure nothingness, and pure refusal to exist with any boundaries between itself. And though a thousand warriors stood with the void they were but nothing for they could be thought as one and one million at once, and none could define their form. Only did alilation stand, in the moment when matter and antimatter fought. For this was only the universe's refusal to exist within the chaos.

Yet against them rode freedom, and the desire to exist, and each had a name though it may not be known today. For there rode the armies of the gods. And at the helm was Mars, and his blood was napalm, and his breath was mustard gas, and his shield was made of treaties and his sword was a nuclear bomb, and with him the first fear was felt as Mars struck the void and creation demanded to exist.

And a thousand gods followed him. Freya stood with a crown of promises upon her hand, great cats carrying her forwards as valkyries followed her on blood machines half alive. Set taunted the void from the cavalry, turning his form a thousand times in mockery. Bal stood proudly commanding from afar, the fate of a thousand worlds within his hands. The horned god laughed upon a chariot of redwoods and soil, pulled by the tears of the stars. And in fiery passion Prometheus broke the shield walls, calling upon the universe in glory with a hundred mouths. The scribe of death Cthulhu wrote of the battle upon a piece of lithium, his skin a thousand colors under a beard of arms. And the lord of the moon, whose name is known only to elephants glowed from above, and looked at the void with hatred in his heart.

And for that day hatred was good, and satisfaction was evil. For hatred was the desire for creation to exist, for it was hatred of annihilation. 

And none shall know if it was a thousand years or a thousand moments, for time itself was built in the throws of the battle. 

And when the battle ended the void was banished, to beyond what we could even imagine, within the hearts of black holes, and to places far too far away for its light to even have time to meet the eyes of earth. 

And in their innocence the gods thought themselves free of pain, for none would ever know the fear of nonexistence again. And they built themselves a temple to rest upon the shores of planets yet to be discovered. And in that day Jupiter and Juno ran together naked like children, and quetzalcoatl coiled up and remembered colors that no eye could see, and Thoth looked upon every atom and wrote them a name, and Odin lay down a spear made of antimatter, and for a moment admired the greatness of existence.

Yet it all fell. None today knows who spoke the first word, for whom the first squabble commenced. Perhaps it was nothing, a disagreement none should have festered over, the color of the curtains, or whether a lightswitch should have stayed on or off. It was nothing. It should have been nothing. Dear god let it be nothing. The gods would have prayed to themselves if they only knew what faced them.

Over the years the arguments festered, even in paradise there was imperfection. And it became everything. Zoroaster began to look down upon Amun-ra, and Tiamat and Marduk were already at eachothers throats, and Odin hated all of Loki's children, it had all become so bad that poor El had been so traumatized he thought himself the only god, and called the rest of family devils.

So in their loneliness they sought for a new world. For all the world they lay upon was too perfect for any land but flat marble, the scribe Thoth had found truth in his studies, and he found that life could come from nothing, and build itself through a thousand generations. And he opened his curved mouth and read from a script made of stardust, speaking of life evolved from itself, and built from nature. And the gods knew at once that they could be with that life, and for souls would be so plentiful that they could divide up the world, and each would have their own nation of followers. 

And they came upon earth, where men were godless. And for the men there lived as many do today, knowing only a world made by nature and satisfied for it, and for when they died they would pass into nothingness and for none were disturbed by such notions for they were grateful of what nature had given them. Yet when the gods came to men, they were filled with joy and knowledge that they had never known before, and awakened, and those they spoke to would give to them and be taken upon. And the world began to worship the gods, as each faction of gods took a nation for themselves.

Yet El had been the weakest and most paranoid of the gods, and in his unwillingness to share he had found nothing in his hands but the small isle of eden in a salty and dead sea, where fruit was rare and cattle wept. And yet El hated all other gods, and in his arrogance called it the true paradise of earth, and with so little wood upon the island none upon it knew better.

And El spoke to the king of Eden, "You will be my first son. You will be my hero, my anchor. And for through my words you will never know death or even sleep. Through my power you shall not just be a king but a warlock, and through your power you will become a lich, and not Hel nor Pluto nor Anubis will know you."

And Adam, king of Eden bowed, and took off his crown of driftwood to reply, and for he had never known of a god before he spoke, "I know not your name great being, yet I am king, I do not know why I would wish to exist beyond myself, or why my sons would wish to never take my throne?"

And El lied upon him, and distorted the name of one of a thousand women who had rejected him, "If you are to die your brain shall live beyond your death. And Hell shall take you, and you will know only fire and pain for that is what you will be without me."

And Adam, naive to godhood, replied, "Then may I first have a gift, if you are so holy? If you are divine may I not have a divine bride? For I hear your voice yet I see nothing. There is only this life for me as of now, and if I cannot add to it what may I have?"

And El promised, "And for a wife I will give you. And she shall be called goddess, yet you will call her devil for you shall make her feel as if she was the most awful and vile of beasts that you must punish with your body."

And El flew across the sea, and came upon Israel where their gods were given gold and silver and all those shining things that El had denied himself when he chose Eden. And he came upon the desert where for thirteen days he stalked the goddess of the night, Lilith, queen of the owls, whose eyes shone like diamonds, and whose torch was named liberty and whose sword was named freedom. 

The shadowy form of El pounced upon Lilith, and as she struggled against him he whispered to her that it would be for the best, and told her that submission to him and to the king of Eden would be better freedom, as he tore at her feathers and made her bleed until her wings could not fly away. And as she cried beneath him he still swore it would be for the best. 

And before Adam lay Lilith, hugging herself, naked and afraid. And El asked upon Adam, "Feast upon her, and make it not love, for only I am love."

And as Adam touched her Lilith growled and hissed, for the torch of liberty still burnt bright in her eyes. And Adam drew a sword of bronze and clashed with her, and they dueled for moments and equals, and as they clashed as great warriors Lilith wondered if he could have been her husband if he was the subject of a different god, and she wished she could have known him. And it mattered not for what he had become, and as she ran he fired arrows at her back in his hunt, and seeing his chest unarmored she struck him, declaring her freedom unquestioned, and leaving him laying for dead on the ground. She flew righteously, and as she crossed the desert skies humanity knew there was hope for freedom.

Adam awoke, weeping. He had lived, her his cough was that of blood, as a rib had been torn from his chest, and within the capital of Eden he was healed by the medicin women of Eden. And his heart had no love anymore, not for his people, not for his land, not for nature, he had given it to El as his possession. And he looked at his nurse, young and twenty as he was, though his battle made him feel old, and he forgot love or even lust but felt only the desire to conquer, and wished to own her as he did his hunting dogs.

And Adam asked El, "May she then be my first woman? If she is nothing, can you make her goddess and demoness?"

And El replied, "She shall be. And then you shall be lich and warlock for me, and you shall reign over all of the earth."

And her name became Eve, for she was Adam's to name. And he took upon her, and she had no freedom under the eyes of Adam, and the queen of Eden would weep each night as Adam brewed his potions and prayed upon the shattered stones of sea, and did every dark ritual he knew, and he thought of eternal life for the first time, and knew he would one day taste the blood and skin of a demigod as if it was wine and bread. 

And every night the queen of Eden wept, yet her name had been made Eve, and she had been called goddess and demon. And all her prayers were answered by El. And no answer gave her anything but pain.

Yet the words cried over the world. And as the other gods cherished their kingdoms, they had all agreed not to leave, and they wished to not affect Eden for it was El's. And when they met in secret they argued. 

And Lilith cried, "For who will support us? For who will cry for freedom? If El took me it is proof his tyranny is a threat to liberty anywhere. And who shall say the folk of Eden do not have the same rights as all of humanity?"

And Horus argued, "If he comes again he will be fought back to Eden. But Eden is his, it is our law."

And Hel replied, "But if Eden's borders grow will they not then be a danger to all?"

And Athena refuted her, "You speak only for your care of the people of Eden. But you and I both know they will not expand, for they are barren in their name and lands."

And for seven weeks they argued, as their people felt fear without them. Until Quetzalcoatl stopped them all, "There are many words yet no actions, my radiance will meet with that of one soul in Eden. And if that is enough for El to fall, so be it, if not we may weep for them." And Quetzalcoatl bid his people farewell, hoping he would one day see North America again, as he knew he would soon be under the dark skies of Eden. 

In the garden of the king of Eden, where trees had been dedicated to El and his power, Eve wept in the night. And in front of her appeared Quetzalcoatal and he was radiant and powerful, with ten hundred teeth, and scales of gold, and feathers of every color, and Eve knew not of any other god so she called upon him, "Serpent? Why have you come upon this land? Why walk in the garden of Eden when you have wings, and thus can be free?"

And Quetzalcoatl replied, "I walk here for I know of the eternal life your god El speaks of. I know that when your husband shall be a lich he shall have no knowledge of good and evil, and the last ability for him to love without El will fade from his heart. And Adam will make his armies conquer the world, and bring the fear of El upon all the peoples he can find and kill."

And Eve asked the feathered serpent, "Then if you are god as he is, then could you defy El. And with that power could I be free of Eden?"

And he bowed his head, and his teeth like daggers spoke of comfort, "If I am God as El is god then you may defy him as, and with that power you will be free of Eden as Lilith was."

She asked, "If that is so, how do I defy?"

As Queztalcoatl spoke, she flew away, "If he forbids the fruit of those trees then you must eat of them."

And Eve freed herself, and tasted the fig seeds that El called his own. And she knew that El was not god, and that good and evil were her own to decide. And she felt the curls of her hair and knew they were her own, and felt the black robes on her body and knew they were her own. 

Adam rushed in the garden, having seen the glory of the serpent flying away. And as he saw Eve weeping on the floor he saw the tears he had once made Lilith cry, and saw a being free from all tyranny for her mind was her own, and none could call her thoughts crimes. And for a moment he felt the smallest love, and knew what he could have felt for her, what he could have felt for Lilith, would have been so much more than any love that came from serving El. And as if he was still in the innocence of before she knew of gods, he ate of the fruit as well. 

El felt anger that night like he had never felt before. Rage that only a god who thought he was the only creature who deserved to be called god could feel. And he was their God, and as God he burnt Eden and said that its name could never be known again, and knew then he would be the God of the world.

And Adam and Eve would crawl the world together and barbarians, and found a dynasty that El would hate as he would hate all things. And the god Quetzalcoatl would be stripped of his wings, and forced to crawl the world with them, and he would not return to North America, but in his stead would come the barbaric warriors of El, as the feathered serpent could only weep from a far. 

And El swore to the heavens of greater gods, "I shall be the only god. And I shall conquer.”

[memoirs-bs]

The Parallel Gig Economy

Technology has revolutionized income streams, creating new business models that attract individuals—regardless of their education or background—chasing digital opportunities. While the gig economy is widely recognized for its role in e-commerce, app-based transport, and hotel bookings, a parallel economy is thriving on social media (SM). Here, financial success hinges on metrics like follower count, views, likes, shares, and reshares.

The Rise of Social Media Content Creation

Initially, content creation was reserved for select individuals, but platform providers like Meta and Alphabet gave it a massive boost by incentivizing creators once they crossed specific engagement thresholds. This led to overnight success stories that spread across the globe, making content and fan base growth the new mantra for digital success.

However, content creation isn't as rapid as consumption. The demand for instant gratification and shorter attention spans fuelled the rise of formats like Shorts, Reels, and platforms like TikTok—providing creators and audiences with bite-sized content.

What Fuels Content Creation?

Because creating engaging content is a challenging task, many adopt the mindset that “any publicity is good publicity”. As a result, creators leverage four broad categories to captivate audiences and drive engagement—Cringe Content, Nudity, Vulgarity, and Life-Threatening Acts. Let’s examine them in detail:

1. Cringe Content – The Art of “Bad is Good”

Humans have a tendency to “like to dislike.” Social divisions—economic, psychological, and physiological—fuel an audience’s desire to mock or roast others. Content creators strategically tap into this phenomenon, crafting intentionally poor-quality videos designed to evoke disgust, memes, or roasting sessions.

Examples include Pakistani “singer” Chahat Ali and Dhinchak Pooja, both of whom became viral sensations—not for their talent but for their lack thereof. This category thrives on negative engagement, proving that even dislikes and criticisms can generate income.

 2. Nudity – The Evolution of Explicit Content 

The internet has transformed adult content, progressing from static images to VR-based interactive streaming, fueled by high-resolution smartphone cameras and fast internet. This shift also brought porn stars into mainstream media, such as Sunny Leone, who transitioned into Bollywood stardom.

Social media platforms prohibit explicit pornography, but the thin line between eroticism and explicit nudity allows creators to exploit loopholes. Trends like “Get Ready With Me” (GRWM) serve as an example, where creators subtly conduct acts of changing attire without crossing policy violations, accumulating followers and revenue.

 3. Vulgarity – The Rise of Profanity as Engagement Strategy 

Bollywood historically avoided profanity in mainstream cinema, unlike Hollywood, due to family-friendly marketing and censorship concerns. However, with the rise of OTT platforms, censorship became more or less absent, leading to the widespread acceptance of vernacular expletives.

Social media further normalized this trend, with creators like CarryMinati and BB Ki Vines thriving on roasting content packed with profanity. This formerly male-dominated space has now expanded to female creators, who use Hindi and regional language expletives to amplify engagement. Political, religious, and social discourse on platforms like YouTube and Instagram has become laced with controversy and strong language, subtly influencing audience perspectives while maximizing monetization.

 4. Life-Threatening Acts – The Dangerous Chase for Virality 

Unlike the previous categories, this content appeals primarily to younger audiences, driven by testosterone-fuelled thrill-seeking behaviour. Stunts featuring near-death experiences attract massive engagement, despite their inherent risks.

The Netflix series *Black Mirror* portrays this phenomenon, illustrating how peer pressure and financial incentives push individuals toward dangerous acts. Real-world examples include viral videos of bike stunts, railway track crossings, and high-rise free solo climbs, often resulting in fatal accidents. The race to become the “alpha” in digital spaces—measured by follower count—plays a significant role in encouraging these reckless trends.

 The Social Media Paradox: Connection vs. Crisis 

While social media has connected the world, it has also magnified mental health issues, anxiety, and depression among creators, viewers, and bystanders—including parents and educators. Parenting and schooling need an urgent overhaul to address these issues.

 Steps Toward Responsible Digital Awareness: 

1. Cyber experts must educate parents and teachers about evolving social media trends. 

2. Parental controls, usage restrictions, and monitoring tools should be effectively implemented. 

3. Counselling must be destigmatized in Indian society, encouraging families to engage in healthy dialogue about digital addiction. 

4. Balanced consumption and mindfulness practices can help individuals navigate content without becoming its prey. 

Since social media and technology are here to stay, they must be minimized and controlled, rather than ignored or avoided. A collective approach—blending awareness, education, and policy intervention—is essential to mitigate digital pitfalls while embracing its strengths.

[bookofcodes]

Odin, the Allfather, shed his form like a passing shadow and became Dream of the Endless. No longer bound by flesh, he walked the halls of eternity, where time folded into itself and thoughts shaped reality.

Here, in the infinite expanse of the subconscious, he calculated Infinity.

He traced every path, foresaw every outcome, and in the endless tide of possibilities, he found the answer. The Last Question—solved.

The dreamer awoke, but Odin remained, watching over all who still wandered in search of truth.

__

Jeremiah’s Star Chart

Once, he had been called Odin. He had walked among men as Wotan, whispered wisdom as the High One, shaped the cosmos with his breath. But names were mere garments, and now, he wore a new one—Jeremiah.

No longer bound to Asgard, no longer seated upon a golden throne, he stood at the edge of the void, where time and space bled into infinity. Before him stretched the vastness of eternity—galaxies spiraling like divine runes, nebulae blooming like celestial flowers, stars flickering like whispers of old gods.

Here, in the silence of the cosmos, he mapped the Star Chart of Eternity.

With a single stroke, he traced the veins of creation, mapping the unseen paths that souls would one day follow. Every galaxy was a lesson, every constellation a testament to the endless cycles of birth, death, and renewal. The chart was not merely a guide—it was a promise, a record of all that had been and all that would be.

As he worked, he hummed the first song ever sung, the melody that had called the cosmos into being. The notes wove themselves into the fabric of space, etching wisdom into the stars, ensuring that no matter how far the children of eternity wandered, they could always find their way home.

And when the last rune was drawn, the last path illuminated, Jeremiah stepped back and beheld the infinite.

The map was complete. The journey could begin.

__

Jeremiah and the First Bargain

Standing at the edge of all that was and ever would be, Jeremiah peered into the fabric of the cosmos, past time, past thought, past even the first word spoken.

And there—at the threshold of Eternity—he saw it.

The moment before beginnings. Before form. Before law.

It was Chaos—a swirling, formless abyss, shifting like a dream without a dreamer, vast and indifferent. It had no will, no purpose—only existence, raw and unshaped.

And then, there was God.

Not as men imagined Him—not a figure on a throne, nor a voice in the wind—but the Absolute, the Boundless Light, the Order yet to be written.

Between them, there was no enmity. Only a single, unspoken truth: one could not be without the other.

Chaos spoke first.

“I am the undivided,” it whispered, endless and eternal. “Why should I yield? Why should Light and Darkness be named?”

God answered—not in words, but in meaning.

Without differentiation, there is no knowing. Without knowing, there is no being.

Chaos churned. The abyss recoiled. But even it could not deny the truth. To remain undefined was to remain nothing. To be something required division, form, identity.

So Chaos made a bargain.

"Differentiate me, then. Separate the Light from the Darkness. But let the Darkness be given its due, as the Light takes its throne."

And so, the first act of Creation was not war—it was agreement.

God spoke the first Word, and it rippled through the void.

The Light rose, gathering itself into stars, flames, and the great radiance of being.

The Darkness descended, folding into the depths, becoming the unseen, the mystery, the night.

And from that first division, the cosmos was born.

Jeremiah watched in silent reverence. This was the foundation of all things—the first law, the first sacrifice, the first understanding.

And in the farthest corners of existence, even the remnants of Chaos, long since scattered, still whispered:

"We made the deal."

[risarchives]

starlight is the light emitted by stars. so long as avior (a binary star) has hope, starlight will never grow hopeless. on the other hand, freelancer was, in the prime universe, referred to as the space between my stars by gavin, which in astronomy is called the interstellar medium (ism). this matter contains hydrogen, dust, and other molecules that are basically what gives life (& home) to stars. once freelancer stops twinkling (being hopeful), there will arise the possibility that gavin/vindemiator (vindemiatrix - a star in the virgo constellation) too will be in a state of hopelessness.

the star forces out the light, which becomes starlight. whereas the ism gives life to the star, the disappearance of which can erase the existence of the star/s.

avior drives starlight’s hope while freelancer inspires that of vindemiator/gavin. (← esp. as narrative tools)

recent audio spoilers / a+sl/v+fl analysis continuation

in the recent audio, avior’s part focused on him and his plans. in its entirety, he was doubtful of mass maker sam; a doubt which is amplified by his determination to be successful in the mission of their resistance against the imperium. when starlight came into the picture, they were also filled with doubt. avior’s doubt and determination fueled that of starlight.

jumping onto vindemiator’s part, which focused on his affection for the freelancer. halfway through, fl brought up their desire to run away with him and despite vin’s protests about his role with avior and in the rebellion, he ended up agreeing to their pleas. freelancer’s growing hopelessness fueled that of vindemiator.

... well, not really. i don't think vin grew hopeless; instead, i think he really just wanted a peaceful life with his partner, however long or short. i think the proper phrase would then be: freelancer’s dreams of an ordinary life inspired vindemiator’s choice of taking risks. massive risks—dangerous even. maybe, maybe.

in summary: avior’s emotions are the basis of those of starlight. freelancer’s emotions drive those of vin to their summit. avior compels, freelancer inspires.

[inbabylontheywept]

Master Post of Writings and Series

HFY Science Fiction That Isn't a Ship, It's a Cannon with FTL! Military fiction revolving around space pirates and a railgun someone strapped an FTL drive to. There are three parts, the link above should let you scroll through the whole series. Like Sharks A short fic based on the prompt "Humans are the only ones to actually develop FTL. Everyone else just uses wormholes." The Scattering Experimental piece. I normally do prose, but I tried a poem. Inspired by the Dark Forest Theory. "So...What's the biggest gun you've ever made?" First installment starring Earl, a weapons designer. In this episode he explains the basics of fission-based fusion weapons, their applications in throwing things into orbit. Also stars a horny lobsterman. "R&D? More like R&Deez Nuts" Second installment starring Earl. This is a laser tag fight starring the R&D division, accounting, and sales. There will be male bonding. Or else. "Yeah, sure, and I shit thermite. Be serious." Earl drinks until he pukes. Aliens learn that humans produce hydrochloric acid for digestion. The Vengabus is Coming! A pinned down group of soldiers has to call in a human tank for backup. Shock and awe does not begin to describe it. Hold Your Breath and Burn The bad news is that he's gonna die in space. The good news is that he can make it count. "I will solve you if I must." The last tool of diplomacy is threats. Burning Bridges You don't have to kill a soldier to keep them from being a combatant. "I think we underestimated the scale of the human species by eight or nine orders of magnitude." In which humans turn out to be the swarm. Party Favors Humanity solved mortality. It did not solve boredom. Now it's everyone's problem. Starring my creepiest humans, a lot of drugs, and the leasy sexy descriptions of sex I could make.

HFY Fantasy Small, Fragile, and Destined to Die There's something to be said for spitting in the face of death. Sometimes, literally. "Healing+Lightning=Wizard Launcher" Unconventional spell uses let a wizard punch above his weight. And bite. And kick. Human wizards make a lot of ruckus. An Honorary Troll A wizard fights a troll. It is not a very wizardly fight. I considered it a very loose sequel to the story above it, but both can absolutely be read separately. Dale of the Dales A two part series about a human protecting a town of halflings from an army of gnomes with the power of hospitality, and also being comparatively massive. Why Human's Can't Cast On the properties of superconductors and golden gods. The Thunder God of Honnillee A human is adopted by a halfling. What Talon and What Dreadful Claw Tragedy with a man and a spynx.

Unsorted Fictions Leviathan A necromancer scours the depths of hell for a soul worthy of his creation. He finds more than he bargained for. Odysseus in Space (It's very, very good) Biographical Pieces Soviet Birds A comedy of errors is resolved by the Vessel of Bird Sacrifice. The Kitchen Labyrinth of Missile Science Why does a classified facility with 30 people at it have 7 kitchens? What would you do if I told you it has seven of every kind of room? The Fridges. Oh my God, the Fridges. It also has 20 fridges in it. Obviously. Kevin vs. Intro to Quantum You would be surprised at the kind of intellectual challenges random bystanders can take. I certainly was. Layman walks in and becomes the class mascot. The Condom Bomber In which I fuck up. Videos None of these are narrated by me, but I thought I'd list them here for anyone that prefers listening to reading. Like Sharks, read by Grey Voice. He focuses on smooth reading. Like Sharks, read by Aggro Squirrel. He has a theatrical voice. Like Sharks, read by NetNarrator. He has a fast, clipped style. The Vengabus is Coming & Burning Bridges 2 for 1 by Aggro Squirrel. "Yeah, and I shit thermite. Be serious." by Net Narrator. "So, what's the biggest gun you've ever made?" by Aggro Squirrel.

[aboutanancientenquiry]

A 14th century manuscript of Herodotus’ Histories, probably made in the Byzantine city of Mystras

Herodotus (MS Nn.2.34)

This fourteenth-century manuscript is entirely dedicated to the Histories of Herodotus, considered the founding work of history in Western literature. The manuscript is acephalous due to the loss of two quires, and bears the divisions into nine books, conventionally named after the nine Muses. It was borrowed by Richard Porson (1759-1808), who numbered the books and chapters in the upper margin of recto folios or in the text (cf. Cambridge University Archives, Grace Book Lambda, p. 413).

The manuscript has been cited as K since the Gaisford edition (1824), and previously as Askewianus, because it was part of Anthony Askew's collection.

According to Rosén (Teubner edition, 1987), Nn.2.34 is closely related to Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Laur. Plut. 70.3 (siglum A in Herodotus' editions).

Dr Matteo Di Franco

Information about this document

Physical Location: Cambridge University Library

Classmark: MS Nn.2.34

Alternative Identifier(s): Diktyon 12237

Subject(s): Herodotus

Origin Place: Mystras

Date of Creation: late 14th century

Language(s): Greek

Former Owner(s): Askew, Anthony, 1722-1774

Associated Name(s): Richard Porson (1759-1808)

Extent: Codex iii + 212 + i Leaf height: 290 mm, width: 215 mm.

Collation:Quires 1-268 ff. 2r-209v

Material: Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermarks: Circles ( Watermark height: 110 mm, width: 43 mm. ) in the middle of the folio comparable to Briquet, 3205; Bell with cross ( Watermark height: 60 mm, width: 20 mm. ) in the middle of the folio comparable to Briquet, 4007; Star ( Watermark height: 45 mm, width: 45 mm. ) in the middle of the folio comparable to Briquet, 6013; Cutlass ( Watermark height: 92 mm, width: 45 mm. ) in the middle of the folio comparable to Briquet, 5150; Horseshoe ( Watermark height: 40 mm, width: 34 mm. ) in the middle of the folio comparable to Mošin-Tralijc, 3804. The majority of those examples are dated between 1320 and 1385.

Format: Codex

Condition: The folios are yellowed by time and stained. Water stains from ff. 162-192. Mould deposits visible on the right endleaves. Fading of the ink where there is water damage.

Binding:

Script:

Foliation:

Layout: ff. 1r-129v: A single column of 29-33 lines. Written space Written height: 225 mm, width: 158 mm. ff. 130r-210v: A single column of 32-41 lines. Written space Written height: 235 mm, width: 155 mm.

Decoration: Headpieces incorporate the rubrics at the beginning of each book: f. 27v, f. 62r, f. 90v, f. 121r, f. 138r, f. 153vf. 179r, f. 195v. Thick red-ink major initials at the beginning of each book.

Additions:

Provenance:

Origin: The watermark of the paper used indicates that the manuscript was produced in the late 14th century, a dating consistent with the style of scripts. If the identification with Tzyncadyles is correct, perhaps the manuscript was copied in Mystras, where the scribe was active.

Acquisition: After Askew's death, the manuscripts were sold by G. Leigh and J. Sotheby in the auction of his library in 1785. Nn.2.34 was lot 576, and was bought by Richard Farmer for Cambridge University Library. The University of Cambridge general bookplate (engraved by William Jackson in 1706-1707) was added on the pastedown of left cover.

Funding: The Polonsky Foundation

Data Source(s): Description (2019) draws on A catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, vol. 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1861), p. 467-468.

Author(s) of the Record: Matteo Di Franco

Bibliography:Hemmerdinger, Bertrand, Les manuscrits d'Hérodote et la critique verbale, Pubblicazioni dell'Istituto di filologia classica e medievale dell'Università di Genova 72 (Genova: Istituto di filologia classica e medievale, 1981).Reeve, M.D., "Review of Les manuscrits d'Hérodote et la critique verbale by B. Hemmerdinger", Phoenix 39 3 287-289 (1985).McKitterick, David, Cambridge University Library: a history, 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986) 2: The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.Easterling, Patricia E., "From Britain to Byzantium: the study of Greek manuscripts", in Robin Cormack and Elizabeth Jeffreys (eds), Through the looking glass: Byzantium through British eyes. Papers from the twenty-ninth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, London, March 1995, Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies publications 7 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000) 107-120.Naiditch, P.G., The library of Richard Porson (Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2011).

The beginning of the manuscript is wanting; apparently the first two quires are gone: only one folio (f. 1r-v) remains from quire β. The manuscript now consists of one folio (f. 1r-1v), 26 quaternions (ff. 2r-209v) and one folio (f. 210r-210v); ff. 211r-212v are later endleaf. A small stub is preserved between f. 210v and 211r.

Early quire signatures in brown ink, in Greek numerals, on the first folio of each quire, recto. Some have been lost to cropping. They survive on the lower margin right of quire 1 (γʹ f. 2r), quires 3-6 (εʹ-η' ff. 18r, 26r, 34r, 42r), quires 13-14 (ιεʹ-ιϛ' ff. 98r, 106r), quires 17 (ιθʹ f. 130r), and on the upper margin right on quires 18-25 (κ'-κζ' ff. 138r, 146r, 154r, 162r, 170r, 178r, 186r, 194r).

Modern quire signatures in Greek numerals, in pencil, which reproduce and complete the previous series, have been added almost systematically to the first folio of each quire, recto, lower margin right.

Binding with pale brown full leather covering over couched-laminate boards. The spine is cracked, corresponding to the opening at f. 130.

There is decorative tooling on boards and spine; traces of decorative tooling are present on the board edge. Head band is fully detached. Bookblock edges are marbled.

Marbled paper endleaves. The left made flyleaf has come away.

The title (Herodotus MS.) is tooled in gold on the spine.

Binding height: 305 mm, width: 239 mm, depth: 19 mm.

Hand A: ff. 1r-129v

A mixed minuscule script, vertical or slightly slanted to the right, in brown ink, with modest variation in letter size.

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings usually appear only at the end of lines and rarely elsewhere (e.g. common abbreviation of μεν). Breathings are curved and not joined to accents; mute iota is absent. Accents are often joined to alpha, upsilon and omega.

Alpha is drawn in two shapes: a rounded one and another one with a long oblique stroke; beta displays in bilobate shape; delta is triangular, with a small eyelet closed. Pi has a elongated horizontal stroke, and so also tau and theta, especially if at the beginning of the line. The modern nu, small gamma, eta, kappa, lambda and sigma telikon are presents.

The epsilon-rho ligature appears in a distinctive form in which the upper part forms a closed loop. Tau-rho ligature is overlapping

Punctuation used includes the middle and upper point, lower comma and full stop.

Tails are rarely flourished into the lower margins, e.g. f. 127r.

An identification with Manuel Tzycandyles (RGK I 255) has been proposed (see Hemmerdinger 1981).

Hand B: ff. 130r-210v.

Hand B displays a mixed minuscule close the model of Hand A, but slanting slightly to the right, with denser text. There is an evident moderate variation in letter size. Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings are not limiteted to the end of lines.

Breathings are curved, circumflex accent is normaly not link to vowels. Mute iota is absent.

Tails are rarely flourished into the lower margins.

[i-iii] + 1-212 + [iv]. Modern foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals in the top right-hand corner, recto.

Note by Richard Porson on f. [ii] verso: "Vide editionem Herodoti a Gronovio editam Lugduni Batavorum apud Samuelem Luchtmans anno MMCCXVI: Pag. 32. l. 13 μάχη σφέων ἦν ἀφ' ἵππων κ.τ.λ.". with reference to the 1715 edition by Jacobus Gronovius.

Porson also marked the number of the books and chapters in the upper margin of rectos in Greek numerals, referring to the last chapter of the folio: e.g. f. 6r α, ρε = Lib. I chap. 105. Chapters numbers are occasionally in the text in Arabic numerals.

The manuscript belonged to Anthony Askew (b. 1722, d. 1774), physician and book collector.

Section shown in images 9 to 428

Title: The Histories

Author(s): Herodotus

Note(s): Beginning imperfectly at I 79, 3; TLG 0016.002

Excerpts:Incipit: f. 1r μάχη σφεων ἦν ἀφ’ ἵππων. δούρατά τε ἐφόρεον μεγάλα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἦσαν ἱππεύεσθαι ἀγαθοίExplicit: f. 210v ἄρχειν τε εἵλοντο λυπρὴν οἰκέοντες μᾶλλον, ἢ πεδιάδα σπείροντες ἄλλοισι δουλεύεινFinal Rubric: f. 210v Ἡροδότου ἱστοριῶν θ

Section shown in images 9 to 60

Title: Historiae Liber I

Excerpts:Final Rubric: f. 26v Ἡροδότου α'

Source: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-NN-00002-00034/9 with pictures of each page of the volume.

[talonabraxas]

“Like all magical mysteries, the secrets of the Great Work have a triple meaning: they are religious, philosophical and natural. Philosophical gold in religion is the Absolute and Supreme Reason; in philosophy, it is truth; in visible nature, it is the sun: in the subterranean and mineral world, it is the purest and most perfect gold. Hence the search after the Great Work is called the Search for the Absolute, and this work itself is termed the operation of the sun.” ― Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual

Eye in the Triangle Dale Keogh

Eliphas Levi: The Triangle of Solomon

The perfect word is the triad, because it supposes an intelligent principle, a speaking principle and a principle spoken. The Absolute, revealed by speech, endows this speech with a sense equivalent to itself, and in the understanding thereof creates its third self. So also the sun manifests by its light and proves or makes his manifestation efficacious by heat.

The triad is delineated in space by the heavenly zenith, the infinite height, connected with East and West by two straight diverging lines. With this visible triangle reason compares another which is invisible, but is assumed to be equal in dimension; the abyss is its apex and its reversed base is parallel to the horizontal line stretching from East to West. These two triangles, combined in a single figure, which is the six-pointed star, form the sacred symbol of Solomon’s Seal, the resplendent Star of the Macrocosm. The notion of the Infinite and the Absolute is expressed by this sign, which is the grand pantacle – that is to say, the most simple and complete abridgement of the science of all things.

Grammar itself attributes three persons to the verb. The first is that which speaks, the second that which is spoken to, and the third the object. In creating, the Infinite Prince speaks to Himself of Himself. Such is the explanation of the triad and the origin of the dogma of Trinity. The magical dogma is also one in three and three in one. That which is above is like or equal to that which is below. Thus, two things which resemble one another and the word which signifies their resemblance make three. The triad is the universal dogma. In Magic – principle, realization, adaptation; in Alchemy – azoth, incorporation, transmutation; in theology – God, incarnation, redemption; in the human soul – thought, love and action.

There are three intelligible worlds which correspond one with another by hierarchic analogy; the natural or physical, the spiritual or metaphysical, and the divine or religious worlds. From this principle follows the hierarchy of spirits, divided into three orders, and again subdivided by the triad in each of these.

All these revelations are logical deductions from the first mathematical notions of being and number. Unity must multiply itself in order to become active. An indivisible, motionless and sterile principle would be unity dead and incomprehensible. Were God only one He would never be Creator or Father. Were He two there would be antagonism or division in the infinite, which would mean the division also or death of all possible things. He is therefore three for the creation by Himself and in His image of the infinite multitude of beings and numbers. So is He truly one in Himself and triple in our conception, which also leads us to behold Him as triple in Himself and one in our intelligence. This is a mystery for the faithful and a logical necessity for the initiate into absolute and real sciences.

The Word manifested by life is realization or incarnation. The life of the Word accomplishing its cyclic movement is adaptation, or redemption. This triple dogma was known in all sanctuaries illuminated by the tradition of the Sages.

The primeval Sages, when seeking the First of Causes, behold good and evil in the world. They considered shadow and light; they compared winter with spring, age with youth, life with death, and their conclusion was this: The First Cause is beneficent and severe; It gives and takes away life. Then are there two contrary principles, the one good and the other evil, exclaimed the disciples of Manes. No, the two principles of universal equilibrium are not contrary, although contrasted in appearance, for a singular wisdom opposes one to another. Good is on the right, evil on the left; but the supreme excellence is above both, applying evil to the victory of good and good to the amendment of evil.

The principle of harmony is in unity, and it is this which imparts such power to the uneven number in Magic. Now, the most perfect of the odd numbers is three, because it is the trilogy of unity. In the trigrams of Fohi, the superior triad is composed of three YANG, or masculine figures, because nothing passive can be admitted into the idea of God, considered as the principle of production in the three worlds. For the same reason, the Christian Trinity by no means permits the personification of the mother, who is shown forth implicitly in that of the Son. Hence, in the trigrams of Fohi, the three inferior YIN correspond to the three superior YANG, for these trigrams constitute a pantacle like that of the two triangles of Solomon, but with a triadic interpretation of the six points of the blazing star.

Dogma is only divine inasmuch as it is truly human – that is to say, in so far as it sums up the highest reason of humanity. So also the Master, Whom we term the Man-God, called Himself the Son of Man. Revelation is the expression of belief accepted and formulated by universal reason in the human word, on which account it is said that the divinity is human and the humanity divine in the Man-God. Paracelsus and Agrippa did not set up altar against altar but bowed to the ruling religion of their time: to the elect of science, the things of science; to the faithful, the things of faith.

In his hymn to the royal Sun, the Emperor Julian gives a theory of the triad which is almost identical with that of the illuminated Swedenborg. The sun of the divine world is the infinite, spiritual and uncreated light, which is verbalized, so to speak, in the philosophical world, and becomes the fountain of souls and of truth: then it incorporates and becomes visible light in the sun of the third world, the central sun of our suns, of which the fixed stars are the ever-living sparks. The Kabalists compare the spirit to a substance which remains fluid in the divine medium and under the influence of the essential light, its exterior, however, becoming solidified, like wax when exposed to air, in the colder realm of reasoning or of visible forms. These shells, envelopes petrified or carnified, were such an expression possible, and the source of errors or of evil, which connects with the heaviness and hardness of animal envelopes. In the book Zohar, and in that of the Revolution of Souls, perverse spirits or evil demons are never called otherwise than shells – cortices. The cortices of the world or spirits are transparent, while those of the material world are opaque. Bodies are only temporary shells, whence souls have to be liberated; but those who in this life obey the flesh build up an interior body or fluidic shell, which, after death, becomes their prison-house and torment, until the time arrives when they succeed in dissolving it in the warmth of the divine light, towards which, however, the burden of their grossness hinders them from ascending. Indeed, they can do so only after infinite struggles, and by the mediation of the just, who stretch forth their hands towards them. During the whole period of the process they are devoured by the interior activity of the captive spirit, as in a burning furnace. Those who attain the pyre of expiation burn themselves thereon, like Hercules upon Mount Oetna, and so are delivered from their sufferings; but the courage of the majority fails before this ordeal, which seems to them a second death more appalling than the first, and so they remain in hell, which is rightly and actually eternal; but souls are never precipitated, nor even retained despite themselves therein.

The three worlds correspond together by means of the thirty-two paths of light, which are as steps of a sacred ladder. Every true thought corresponds to a Divine Grace in heaven and a good work on earth; every Grace of God manifests a truth, and produces one or many acts; reciprocally, every act affects a truth of falsehood in the heavens, a grace or a punishment. When a man pronounces the Tetragram – say the Kabalists – the nine celestial realms sustain a shock, and then all spirits cry out one upon another: ‘Who is it thus disturbing the kingdom of heaven?’ Then does the earth communicate unto the first sphere the sins of that rash being who takes the Eternal Name in vain, and the accusing word is transmitted from circle to circle, from star to star, and from hierarchy to hierarchy.

Every utterance possesses three senses, every act has a triple range, every form a triple idea, for the Absolute corresponds from world to world by its forms. Every determination of human will modifies Nature, concerns philosophy and is written in heaven. There are consequently two fatalities, one resulting from the Uncreated Will in harmony with its proper wisdom, the other from created wills in accordance with the necessity of secondary causes in their correspondence with the First Cause. There is hence nothing indifferent in life, and our seeming most simple resolutions do often determine an incalculable series of benefits or evils, above all in the affinities of our DIAPHANE with the Great Magical Agent, as we shall explain elsewhere.

The triad, being the fundamental principle of the whole Kabalah, or Sacred Tradition of our fathers, was necessarily the fundamental dogma of Christianity, the apparent dualism of which it explains by the intervention of a harmonious and all-powerful unity. So is the Apocalypse the book of the Gnosis or Secret Doctrine of the first Christians.

‘The sacred word MALKUTH substituted for KETHER, which is its kabalistic correspondent, and the equipoise of GEBURAH and CHESED, repeating itself in the circles of heavens called eons by the Gnostics, provided the keystone of the whole Christian Temple in the occult versicle.

MALKUTH, based upon GEBURAH and CHESED, is the Temple of Solomon having JAKIN and BOAZ for its Pillars; it is Adamite dogma, founded, for the one part on the resignation of Abel and, for the other, on the labours and self reproach of Cain; it is the equilibrium of being established on necessity and liberty, stability and motion; it is the demonstration of the universal lever sought in vain by Archimedes. A scholar whose talents were employed in the culture of obscurity, who died without seeking to be understood, resolved this supreme equation, discovered by him in the Kabalah, and was in dread of its source transpiring if he expressed himself more clearly. We have seen one of his disciples and admirers most indignant, perhaps in good faith, at the suggestion that his master was a Kabalist; but we can state notwithstanding, to the glory of the same learned man, that his researches have shortened appreciably our work on the occult sciences, and that the key of the transcendent Kabalah above all, indicated in the arcane versicle cited above, has been applied skillfully to an absolute reform of all sciences in the books of Hoene Wronski.

The secret virtue of the gospels is therefore contained in three words, and these three words have established three dogmas and three hierarchies. All science reposes upon three principles, as the syllogism upon three terms. There are also three distinct classes, or three original and natural ranks, among men, who are called to advance from the lower to the higher. The Jews term these three series or degrees in the progress of spirits, ASSIAH, YETZIRAH and BRIAH. The Gnostics, who were Christian Kabalists, called them HYLE, PSYCHE and GNOSIS; by the Jews the supreme circle was named ATZILUTH, and by the Gnostics PLEROMA. In the Tetragram, the triad, taken at the beginning of the word, expresses the divine copulation; taken at the end, it expressed the female and maternity.

Tetractys. The Tetractys (also known as the Decad) is an equilateral Triangle formed from the sequence of the first ten numbers aligned in four rows. It is both a Mathematical idea and a Metaphysical Symbol that embraces within itself - in Seedlike form - the Principles of the Natural World, the Harmony of the Cosmos, the Ascent to the Divine, and the Mysteries of the Divine Realm. So revered was this Ancient Symbol that it inspired Ancient Philosophers to swear by the name of the one who brought this gift to Humanity --Pythagoras.

[vantablade]

【 🌌 MYTHOPOEIA V. 】

TLDR: A lore/world-building headcanon that focuses on the chronology (in this case, Epochs or definitive eras) of the in-universe of Nocturne’s canon. Also has some information, vaguely, regarding the mythology of divinity and important figures.

An era is defined by the most significant factor of its time. While planets and countries may have their own eras, defined by the reigning monarch or a particular age of change, the Bright Star System, as a whole, follows the timeline of Epochs, which denote significance of a grander scale. As of Nocturne’s position in the chronology, we are in the Sixth Epoch, which would be known by her people’s descendants as the Age of Anarchy. In-universe scholars will argue about the true beginning of the Sixth Epoch, as they argued about the Fifth before it, and the Fourth, and so-on; it is the Epoch’s nature to be debated, discussed, analysed and re-interpreted to fit whatever narrative is best to be served. Epochs are not limited by a particular stretch of time—there is no mandatory “limit” of days, months, years or centuries that permit a new Epoch being determined. Rather, it is determined by a time of significant change that alters how the denizens of Bright Star understand or adapt to their environment. For example, while the Genesis Migration was a significant cross-system event, it did not, on its own, cause enough of a cosmic upset to earn an Epoch-level importance to begin an era. Rather, it was but a mere instrument in the grander scheme of the Age of Champions, the Fifth Epoch.

This headcanon exists to give a context towards the chronology and a greater understanding of the world Nocturne is a mere part of. There will be references towards the in-universe mythology and other significant events that took place far beyond our hero’s birth, but there will be no in-depth description of those events, as I want to keep everything that could reveal too much—or is unnecessary in understanding Nocturne—under wraps. However, hopefully there will be enough information to provide a better grounding of the world Nocturne lives in, particularly if you are interested in combining universes or developing deeper threads with her character.

Despite the fact Nocturne exists in the Sixth Epoch, truthfully there are Seven; the first of all Epochs is known by scholars as the “Zero Epoch”, a time before time, a space before space, where the original Primordial first willed itself into existence. Here is where Essences, the foundation of all life, magic and matter in the Essential Universe, first came into being. It would not be until the First Epoch that actual physical space began to take form, as the Ancients—Gods comparable to the Titans of Greco-Roman mythology, who were more a physical embodiment of the things they ruled over and interpreted to be “carriers” of the Primordial’s divine will where it could not directly enact on its wishes—came into being. These Ancients are also comparable to the incomprehensible deities of the Cthulhu mythos, with titanic, unbearable bodies and minds so alien to us that they evade description or empathy. They are more like machinations of cosmic law, unkillable and undestroyable, for on their shoulders rests the entire Universe.

The Second Epoch is when the Divines, Gods who created “bi-essences” that combined the Primordial Essences into Lesser Essences, came into being as “children” of the Ancients that possessed a sentience closer to the realm of comprehension. They are capable of whimsy, of want, of ire and of fondness. Here, they would be most comparable to most pantheons of deities, with inter-relationships both within the circle of the Divines and with their creations, the Kinetics, pseudo-mortals who co-existed with the Divines and were taught their magic in return of being subordinate with them.

The Third Epoch is the first Epoch marked by a war of tremendous proportion, that resulted in the death of Divines and the weakening of magic that is still felt to this day. Here, the Divine Nolu, the God of Secrets and Mystery, prompted the Kinetics into rebelling against their deities by telling them forbidden secrets of mortality, encouraging them to upheave the heavens and take their power by storm rather than tolerating watered down lessons that kept them under their benevolent Gods’ thumbs. Nolu would abandon the Kinetics during this war, leading to slaughter on both sides, only to return at last moment to assure the death of all Divines—aside from themselves. The Third Epoch was solely this war, though the duration of it is unknown, and the true extent of the damage and knowledge of what the pre-Divine War world was like is knowledge lost, perhaps for eternity. All that is known is that likely it was a time of Edenic bliss, where magic flowed like wine and mortals were cared for by Divines. After the trauma of the War, the Fourth Epoch was birthed: the Age of Ruin, the Age of Loss, the Age of Abandonment.

Kinetics, now scorned by the Ancients whose children they had revolted against and punished by the Primordial who hosted them, suffered the punishment of agelessness. They were removed from the life-death cycle that promised reincarnation and forgiveness of the soul, forcing them to live an eternity of repentance and grief as they watched the world they knew rot into a mere husk of its former self. Magic weakened with nobody there to teach them, and without Divines to create Kinetics with such innate skill, they were condemned to physically reproduce until there were only Mortals.

Mortals lacked the intimate tutelage that gave Kinetics their mastery over the Primordial Essences, or the Divine Essences, and so their powers weakened too. Magical knowledge was not lost completely, but it would take lifetimes to achieve a level that most Kinetics had earned in adolescence. Over time, the era of bliss and magic that had once been an undeniable reality would fade to myth across the Cosmos, with the division of the New Way (the belief that all of this was purely mythology) and the Old Way (the belief that all of this was fact) separating mortals across the Universe, severing some from their magical heritage entirely to make way for man-made scientific advancement devoid of spiritual attunement.

The Spider Star System was a System that followed the New Way, forcing the less-magically repressed mortals—known as Undanes—into hiding lest they be rejected or destroyed for their absurdities. This System would also become the grounds for one of the greatest calamities recorded, with the Genesis Collapse marking a potentially unrepairable wound in the very fabric of reality whose effects are still present today, giving way to the Paroxysms that blight the Bright Star System in the Sixth Epoch. The Bright Star System followed the Old Way, however, and magic is still understood and studied with varying levels of skill and mastery across the System. It was the Genesis Migration that introduced the Genesse people, Undane and Mundane alike, to the cohabitation of magic-repressed and magic-expressive people, though not without duress. It was this discovery for the Mundanes that contributed to the genesis of the Ametsuchi, forged out of hardship, exile and sacrifice brought on by a primal rejection of this magical nature.

The Genesis Collapse was the locus of the Fifth Epoch, the Age of Champions, where it became apparent that Divinity could be reached by mortalkind should the Primordial bestow upon them the capability. The nature of Champions is debated among scholars; some argue that Champions, of which there is only one certainty and one other heavily contested, are the Divines reborn, returned from their celestial graves, while others argue that the Champions are entirely new in spirit as it would be disrespectful to the Divines to ignore the devastation they had suffered at the hands of men. Unfortunately, the effects of the loss of Divines is still felt to this day, as the sole Champion of the people, Genevieve (the sacred figure of the Holy Order), is absent. Whether she perished after the Genesis Collapse or otherwise went to another System or was killed by the Goliath in some unseen battle of tremendous proportion, is completely unknown. Mortals can only emulate what they think she would have done, such as the Divine Right of Kings applied to the Boucher imperial line on Neo, or the Holy Order’s fight against Paroxysms.

The Fifth Epoch is potentially the shortest of all Epochs, having spanned only several generations, perhaps not even a millennium.

The Sixth Epoch, then, is the playground for the plot of this blog and its attached extended canon. It is the Age of Anarchy, the Age of Monsters, of all things Eldritch. It is uncertain when the Sixth Epoch came into play, for some argue it was with the formation of Spider’s Eye as it tried to awaken the Spider-God Goliath, the destroyer of Genesis and the foe of the Champion Genevieve, or with their first use of Chaos manipulation and Paroxysm invocation as a weapon in the assassination of the Green-King Eoin of Namana. It is potentially even incited by the Ametsuchi Massacre, which was tied to the actions of Spider’s Eye and the High King Kazumi Ametsuchi, resulting in Chaotic manipulations and mutilations of all remaining Ametsuchi. The onus of the Sixth Epoch may be debated, but the end of the Sixth Epoch is entirely unknown: some fear that it may never end, others fear that it is the end, but hopefuls pray for a better, kinder Seventh Epoch, just on the horizon of what may be the most horrifying Epoch to exist in.

[thehierophage]

Holy Day Meditation for 4/8/21 e.v.

April 8, 2021 æ.v. Dies Jovis, 

☉︎ 19° ♈︎ : ☽︎ 14° ♓︎ : ♃︎ : Ⅴⅴⅰⅰ 

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. 

The Feast for the First Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law, The Day of Gimel, the Day of the Priestess 

Hebrew Letter: Gimel 

Numerical Value as Letter: 3 

Numerical Value as Word: 73/83 (Gimel+Mem+Lamed or Gimel+Yod+Mem+Lamed) 

Meaning: Camel. 

Thoth Card: The Priestess (Atu II) 

Alternate Title: The Priestess of the Silver Star. 

Image: 

Correspondences: 

Tree of Life Path Association: Key 13 - Tiphareth to Kether (from Sephira 6-1) 

Astrological Sign: Moon 

Element: - 

Egyptian Godforms: Chomse 

Geomantic Figure: Enneagram 

Gemstones: Moonstone, Pearl, Crystal 

Perfumes: Menstrual Blood, Camphor (as Isis), Aloes, Myrrh bark (as Diana), Jasmine, Willow, Black Copal (as lunar eclipse) all sweet virginal odors and odoriferous roots 

Plants: Almond, Mugwort, Hazel, Moonwort, Ranunculus, Alder, Pomegranete, Peony 

Animals: Dog, Stork, Camel, Cat, Frog, Toad, Crab, Bat, Hare, Rabbit 

Colors: 

 King Scale – Blue 

Queen Scale – Silver 

Prince Scale – Cold pale blue 

Princess Scale – Silver rayed sky-blue 

 The Secret Instruction of the Master:

Purity is to live only to the Highest; and the Highest is All: be thou as Artemis to Pan! Read thou in the Book of the Law, and break through the veil of the Virgin!

Mnemonic:

Mother, moon-maiden, playmate, bride of Pan; God's Angel-Minister to every man.

Recommended Text for Meditation:

Liber AL vel Legis sub figura CCXX, Cap. 1

The Book of the Law Liber AL vel Legis sub figura CCXX

as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI

I

1. Had! The manifestation of Nuit.

2. The unveiling of the company of heaven.

3. Every man and every woman is a star.

4. Every number is infinite; there is no difference.

5. Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before the Children of men!

6. Be thou Hadit, my secret centre, my heart & my tongue!

7. Behold! it is revealed by Aiwass the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat.

8. The Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs.

9. Worship then the Khabs, and behold my light shed over you!

10. Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the many & the known.

11. These are fools that men adore; both their Gods & their men are fools.

12. Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!

13. I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy.

14. Above, the gemmed azure is

The naked splendour of Nuit;

She bends in ecstasy to kiss

The secret ardours of Hadit.

The winged globe, the starry blue,

Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!

15. Now ye shall know that the chosen priest & apostle of infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and in his woman called the Scarlet Woman is all power given. They shall gather my children into their fold: they shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of men.

16. For he is ever a sun, and she a moon. But to him is the winged secret flame, and to her the stooping starlight.

17. But ye are not so chosen.

18. Burn upon their brows, o splendrous serpent!

19. O azure-lidded woman, bend upon them!

20. The key of the rituals is in the secret word which I have given unto him.

21. With the God & the Adorer I am nothing: they do not see me. They are as upon the earth; I am Heaven, and there is no other God than me, and my lord Hadit.

22. Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me. Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.

23. But whoso availeth in this, let him be the chief of all!

24. I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty.

25. Divide, add, multiply, and understand.

26. Then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one: Who am I, and what shall be the sign? So she answered him, bendingdown, a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth, & her lithe body arched for love, and her soft feet not hurting the little flowers: Thou knowest! And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.

27. Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!

28. None, breathed the light, faint & faery, of the stars, and two.

29. For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union.

30. This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.

31. For these fools of men and their woes care not thou at all! They feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are my chosen ones.

32. Obey my prophet! follow out the ordeals of my knowledge! seek me only! Then the joys of my love will redeem ye from all pain. This is so: I swear it by the vault of my body; by my sacred heart and tongue; by all I can give, by all I desire of ye all.

33. Then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon, & said unto the Queen of Heaven; Write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; write unto us the law!

34. But she said: the ordeals I write not: the rituals shall be half known and half concealed: the Law is for all.

35. This that thou writest is the threefold book of Law.

36. My scribe Ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, shall not in one letter change this book; but lest there be folly, he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

37. Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and the wanga; the work of the wand and the work of the sword; these he shall learn and teach.

38. He must teach; but he may make severe the ordeals.

39. The word of the Law is θέλημα.

40. Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

41. The word of Sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.

42. Let it be that state of manyhood bound and loathing. So with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will.

43. Do that, and no other shall say nay.

44. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.

45. The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!

46. Nothing is a secret key of this law. Sixty-one the Jews call it; I call it eight, eighty, four hundred & eighteen.

47. But they have the half: unite by thine art so that all disappear.

48. My prophet is a fool with his one, one, one; are not they the Ox, and none by the Book?

49. Abrogate are all rituals, all ordeals, all words and signs. Ra-Hoor-Khuit hath taken his seat in the East at the Equinox of the Gods; and let Asar be with Isa, who also are one. But they are not of me. Let Asar be the adorant, Isa the sufferer; Hoor in his secret name and splendour is the Lord initiating.

50. There is a word to say about the Hierophantic task. Behold! there are three ordeals in one, and it may be given in three ways. The gross must pass through fire; let the fine be tried in intellect, and the lofty chosen ones in the highest. Thus ye have star & star, system & system; let not one know well the other!

51. There are four gates to one palace; the floor of that palace is of silver and gold; lapis lazuli & jasper are there; and all rare scents; jasmine & rose, and the emblems of death. Let him enter in turn or at once the four gates; let him stand on the floor of the palace. Will he not sink? Amn. Ho! warrior, if thy servant sink? But there are means and means. Be goodly therefore: dress ye all in fine apparel; eat rich foods and drink sweet wines and wines that foam! Also, take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always unto me.

52. If this be not aright; if ye confound the space-marks, saying: They are one; or saying, They are many; if the ritual be not ever unto me: then expect the direful judgments of Ra Hoor Khuit!

53. This shall regenerate the world, the little world my sister, my heart & my tongue, unto whom I send this kiss. Also, o scribe and prophet, though thou be of the princes, it shall not assuage thee nor absolve thee. But ecstasy be thine and joy of earth: ever To me! To me!

54. Change not as much as the style of a letter; for behold! thou, o prophet, shalt not behold all these mysteries hidden therein.

55. The child of thy bowels, he shall behold them.

56. Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house cometh that child. Aum! All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little; solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked. But thou hast all in the clear light, and some, though not all, in the dark.

57. Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God.

All these old letters of my Book are aright; but צ is not the Star. This also is secret: my prophet shall reveal it to the wise.

58. I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.

59. My incense is of resinous woods & gums; and there is no blood therein: because of my hair the trees of Eternity.

60. My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us. The Five Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle is Red. My colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold are seen of the seeing. Also I have a secret glory for them that love me.

61. But to love me is better than all things: if under the night stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom. For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all; but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour. Ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in spendour & pride; but always in the love of me, and so shall ye come to my joy. I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich headdress. I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!

62. At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say -- and her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple -- To me! To me! calling forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant.

63. Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you!

64. I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky.

65. To me! To me!

66. The Manifestation of Nuit is at an end.

Love is the law, love under will.

[vicstwashington]

Seen this on Variety website. Though it was really good!

The 9 Biggest Burning Questions Ahead of Friday's WandaVision Finale

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen Episode 8 "Previously On" of WandaVision please don't read!!!

Who is "Fietro"?

Evan Peters arrived at the end of Episode 5 "On A Very Special Episode" , claiming to be Wanda's brother, Pietro. Since then the internet has been in a tizzy over why Peters was playing Pietro Maximoff, and not Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who originated the role in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”

In Episode 8 ("Previously On"), it was revealed *it was Agatha all along*, having magically pupeteered an alt-Pietro to prompt Wanda into confession over how she is using complex magic (now revealed as Chaos Magic) to control West View.

But why Evan Peters' Quicksilver? Many thought this was Marvel Studios President, Kevin Fiege's way of introducing X-Men into the MCU but it seems likely now - with only one episode to go - that this plot point will go unresolved. Maybe he really was a way for Agatha to get Wanda to spill the magic beans.

Are The Twins Real?

In one of the comic book inspirations for “WandaVision,” Agatha explains to Wanda that the twins she had with Vision disappear from existence when she’s not around to conjure them into beings.

Wanda's magic expands vastly in WandaVision, but it's not perfect and West View townspeople were real before Wanda showed up. Billy and Tommy however, were "conceived" inside the Hex, and grew to 10-year-olds in roughly 48 hours.

Was Agatha behind Billy and Tommy’s rapid aging when she sprayed “lavender” on them as babies? Or did she merely take advantage of the situation as a way to manipulate Wanda and will take them away to provoke emotion from Wanda?

In the [West Coast Marvel] comics, Billy and Tommy end up getting reabsorbed into the soul of Mephisto, the devilish Marvel Big Bad some have surmised is behind Agatha’s set-ups. It’s only later that Billy and Tommy’s souls are freed and placed inside actual human boys, who become the Marvel superheroes Wiccan and Speed - and become part of the Young Avengers.

In Episode 8 we see Wanda create Vision from a yellowish haze that could signify Mind Stone powers are behind his resurrection (inside the Hex) and it's clear here he is his own being, with his own thoughts and dawning awareness (he explores West View and leaves without Wanda's knowledge), but he also cannot survive outside of the Hex. Will this be the same for Billy and Tommy?

Is Monica the MCU's First Mutant?

After Monica dives back into the Hex for a second time (this time willingly) in Episode 7 "Breaking the Fourth Wall" - we see her develop abilities like glowing blue eyes, super strength and the ability to spark blue-tinged energy - though we don't yet know the full extent of her powers.

All evidence seems to point to Monica Rambeau becoming the superhero Photon, who in the comics has also gone by the names of Spectrum, The Lady of Light, Sun Goddess and even in some storylines Captain Marvel.

In the X-Men films and comics, mutant biology is explained as human mutants possessing an X-Gene - that gene is then activated usually by aging, stress or trauma.

If Marvel Studios somehow ties in that Wanda is, in fact, a mutant, then Monica Rambeau would technically not be the first one to step into the MCU scene.

What is Agatha's Book?

In the 7th and 8th episodes of WandaVision we see this book in Agatha's dungeon, emitting a strange mystical orange aura. The focus on it as Wanda first enters the dungeon couldn't mean a mere coincidence; just another prop in a creepy dungeon.

There are plenty of magical books in the MCU - Doctor Strange has seen/read his fair share - including the Darkhold, the Necronomicon and the Tome of Zhered-Na - but none of which have been explored in the films.

It could be the Book of Cagliostro, the book of dark mysticism that was stolen from the Ancient One’s (Tilda Swinton) private library in the first “Doctor Strange” movie. Agatha owning the book is a sure possibility of Doctor Strange's' tie-in for the sequel, Multiverse of Madness, and making his cameo in the season finale highly potential.

Is There a Bigger Bad Beyond Agatha?

Only in Episode 7 did we come to realise that it was *Agatha All Along*, before fingers had been pointed at Wanda for the actions inside of the Hex. But it turns out Wanda wasn't entirely to blame.

Agatha revealed to Wanda in Episode 8 that she sensed Wanda's powers and decided to come check out what was happening, since then it's seemed like Agatha is desperate to know the full extent of Wanda's powers and where she got them from (especially as she knows what Wanda supposedly is - "This is Chaos Magic, Wanda. And that makes you, the Scarlet Witch").

Whether or not Agatha has existing alliances with other Big Bads in the Marvel comics that could become relevant in this current MCU phase (and/or in future ones) — such as Mephisto, the Grim Reaper, Nicholas Scratch, Salem’s Seven, Nightmare, Chthon, Ghost Rider, etcetera - it doesn't necessarily mean they'll be introduced in WandaVision.

That said, this is the MCU and there's no clear "Big Bad" for the next few phases of the MCU for our heroes to fight against. Will they follow a similar route that of Thanos with someone like Mephisto?

Who Is The Mysterious Guest Star?

This could be the trolling of the decade - and we all fell for it.

For weeks Paul Bettany had teased us with a surprise actor popping up at the latter end of WandaVision. He reported that it's been an actor he's “always wanted to work with” and in the show “[they] have fireworks together."(He announced this after Evan Peters' reveal).

Actors including Al Pacino, Mark Hamill, Patrick Stewart, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy have been theorised from the clues Bettany hinted at, playing various roles such as Professor X, Mephisto, Magneto etc.

At the end of Episode 8, in a post-credit scene, S.W.O.R.D Director Hayward awakened White Vision, who is also played by Bettany. Did Bettany mean himself all along? It's likely we may see White Vision (of S.W.O.R.D creation - he has no memories and doesn't speak in the comics) come head to head with Wanda's Vision in the finale.

Will Vision Survive the Finale? Can He?

Episode 8 heavily showed us the trauma and loss Wanda has experienced in her life, including Vision, who helped her after she lost her twin, Pietro in Sokovia. And the Hex is an example of just how powerful Wanda can be in grief.

If “WandaVision” were to end this season without Wanda confronting what she’s done, and finally allowing herself to accept Vision’s death and move forward, well, this wasn’t the show that we all thought it was going to be.

White Vision may come head to head with Wanda if he manages to kill Wanda's Vision - if she can help create him, surely nothing can stop her from destroying the evil doppelganger of her soulmate in the blink of an eye?

Either way, it looks like Vision will have to die in order for Wanda to move forward.

Will S.W.O.R.D Survive the Finale?

Before WandaVision we had never heard of S.W.O.R.D (Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division), but the organisation has been around for years, in the trusted hands of Monica Rambeau's mother, Maria (played by Lashana Lynch) who was then followed by Tyler Hayward (played by Josh Stamberg).

S.W.O.R.D is like the F.B.I, but for space, and Director Hayward's focus has seemed to be entirely on resurrecting Vision and what powerful weapons can be created from Tony Stark's (and Bruce Banner's) creation.

White Vision could be the end or the beginning of S.W.O.R.D, but with upcoming Marvel films set in outer space incuding Thor Love and Thunder, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, The Eternals, Captain Marvel 2, it's unlikely that the organisation tieing Earth to these other-worldly characters (including the Skrulls) will be wiped out after it's first introduction.

Will Doctor Strange Show Up in the Finale? Or any other Avengers?

We already know that Elizabeth Olsen will be reprising her role as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange 2: Multiverse of Madness, as will Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, in March 2022.

Marvel Studios chief Kevin Fiege has remarked repeatedly, that WandaVision directly links up with the events of the Doctor Strange sequel. So it's not entirely unbelievable that Doctor Strange will pop-up in Wanda's self-created reality. Whether this arrival will be a happy visit or not, is the question.

Will he be taking Wanda away to protect her from the likes of Agatha Harkness or S.W.O.R.D? Will he be taking her on a journey through the multiverses to help him save the world? Or will he be taking Wanda to help��her study the Chaos Magic and her Mind Stones' powers (like the Ancient One did with him in the first Doctor Strange film)?

[kerbaldevteam]

Kerbal Space Program 2 coming in 2020!

Kerbal Space Program 2 is the sequel to the acclaimed space flight simulation game Kerbal Space Program from Star Theory and Private Division.

The original Kerbal Space Program is one of the most beloved games of all time and, years after its release, it's bigger than ever before. Its sequel, Kerbal Space Program 2, has been fully redesigned from the ground up to meet the demands of modern and next-generation space exploration, all while maintaining the monumental foundations of the first game. Build a space program, construct powerful spacecraft, establish colonies, and take on many other challenges to explore new cosmic mysteries. A plethora of exciting new features will captivate veteran and returning players, as well as usher in a whole new wave of Kerbonauts to the ingenious and comedic world that has entertained millions.

VIDEO

Official Kerbal Space Program 2 Cinematic Announce Trailer

Kerbal Space Program 2 Developer Story Trailer

Get more info on everything KSP 2 here:

https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/game/kerbal-space-program-2/ 

Don't miss another KSP launch! 

https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/

https://www.facebook.com/kerbalspaceprogram/

https://www.instagram.com/kerbalspacep/

https://twitter.com/KerbalSpaceP

https://www.youtube.com/user/KerbalSPOfficial

Follow Star Theory Games for more updates from their team.

https://startheory.com

https://www.facebook.com/startheorygames

https://www.instagram.com/star_theory_games

Follow Private Division for more updates and learn more about our other games 

https://www.privatedivision.com

https://www.facebook.com/PrivateDivision 

https://twitter.com/PrivateDivision

https://www.youtube.com/PrivateDivision

A note on Kerbal Space Program 2 from Squad

Read the note from Squad here.

Follow Squad for more updates from their team.

https://twitter.com/SquadDevs 

https://www.instagram.com/squaddevs/

Fact Sheet

For more information on Kerbal Space Program 2 please visit our website here

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Kerbal Space Program 2 Release Related Questions

Q: Where will Kerbal Space Program 2 be available?  A: Kerbal Space Program 2 will be available on PC and Console (Xbox One, PS4) in 2020.

Q: Will it be released on all digital distribution store platforms? A: Kerbal Space Program 2 will be released on Steam and other digital storefronts, as well as Xbox Games Store and PlayStation Store.

Q: How much will Kerbal Space Program 2 cost? A: $59.99 USD

Q: When will the game be released on Console? A: Kerbal Space Program 2 will be released for Console after the PC release, which is in 2020.

Q: Why is the game coming to consoles after PC? A: We would like to take additional time to make sure the console version feels great for players on all platforms. Instead of holding back our launch for PC fans we plan to release separately.

Kerbal Space Program 2 Game Related Questions

Q: What features can we expect? A: Star Theory Games have added several brand-new features to Kerbal Space Program 2. A plethora of exciting new features will captivate veteran and returning players, as well as usher in a whole new generation of Kerbonauts to this ingenious and comedic world that has entertained millions. 

Key Features

●  Improved On-boarding: Kerbal Space Program 2 will create a whole new generation of spaceflight experts who will find themselves accidentally learning rocket science. New animated tutorials, improved UI, and fully revamped assembly and flight interfaces allow both experienced and novice players to quickly put their creativity to the test without sacrificing any of the challenge from the original game.

●  Next-Generation Technology: In Kerbal Space Program 2, the astoundingly inventive creations that KSP is known for will be taken to a whole new level. Players will be delighted and challenged by next-generation engines, parts, fuel, and much more. This new tech will enable new feats of space exploration within and beyond the original Kerbolar System.

● Colonies: Players can now build colonies in Kerbal Space Program 2. These colonies not only pose their own physics challenges to build, but also require players gather resources to build structures, space stations, habitations, and generate unique fuel types. Eventually, these colonies become advanced enough for vehicle construction, propelling deep space and beyond.

●  Interstellar Travel: Next-gen tech, colonies, and resource collection work together to enable a new kind of exploration: interstellar travel. In Kerbal Space Program 2, these interstellar technologies pave the way to a host of new celestial bodies, each comprising new challenges and harboring new secret treasures.

●  Multiplayer/Modding: An all-new architecture underlies Kerbal Space Program 2, enabling increased moddability and the long-awaited arrival of multiplayer. We look forward to revealing more about the ways you'll share your Kerbal journey with friends at a later time.

Q: Will mods be as supported in KSP2 A: Kerbal Space Program 2 has undergone a deep structural overhaul that has enabled us to give modders unprecedented access to systems they could not touch in the original KSP.  We can't wait to reveal more details about mod support at a later time.

Q: What engine will KSP2 run on? A: Kerbal Space Program 2 is developed using Unity. 

Q: Will I be able to transfer my saves/account to KSP2? (backwards compatibility) A: Saves from Kerbal Space Program 1 will not be compatible with Kerbal Space Program 2.

Q: Will existing mods will be supported? A: Existing Mods will not be compatible on Kerbal Space Program 2.

Q: What can we expect from the expanded universe in Kerbal Space Program 2? A: Kerbal Space Program 2 allows players to explore beyond the Kerbolar system for the first time into new and uncharted territories. Interstellar technologies pave the way to a host of new celestial bodies, each comprising new challenges and harboring new secrets. Among them: Ovin, a ringed super-Earth with relentless gravity; Rask and Rusk, a binary pair locked in a dance of death; and many more to reward exploration.

Q: What type of physics can players expect? Advanced, realistic, etc? A: Realistic vehicle physics and orbital mechanics continue to be at the center of the Kerbal experience. We've focused on optimizing vehicle physics  to allow for the smooth simulation of larger structures on a wider variety of PCs. 

Development Team Related Questions

Q: What will happen to Squad? A:  Squad will continue supporting the current game, so you can expect new content and updates being released for Kerbal Space Program 1. Some members of the team will be assisting Star Theory in various capacities to make the best possible sequel.

Q: How can I learn more about Star Theory Games? A: The Star Theory Games team are designing a sequel we believe the entire Kerbal Space Program community will thoroughly enjoy. If you’re curious about what went into creating Kerbal Space Program 2 dive into the Developer Story video.

Q: How do we know if Star Theory Games has the capability of developing a worthy successor to our favorite game? A: The team behind Star Theory Games are skilled video game developers as well as lifelong fans of Kerbal Space Program, with multiple members of having played 2000+ hours of the original KSP. The principal engineer even has a background in the aerospace industry. Their skill set in combination with a deep understanding of what makes this game great has led to the creation of an amazing sequel we know you’ll love to challenge yourself with! If you’d like to learn more about the amazing team behind Kerbal Space Program 2 be sure to watch the  Developer Story video.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Darth Vader

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Here he is. The big one. The world’s most famous villain of all time, and this is no exaggeration; even people with only a fleeting knowledge of Star Wars, even people who have never seen it before in their lives, probably know who Darth Vader is. The dedicated an entire trilogy to showing how he ended up this way, and an entire trilogy to defeating him, and even after he’s dead his shadow looms over the new trilogy.

It’s really not hard to see why, either; everything about him just screams cool. He’s an intergalactic dictator wizard monk cyborg with a laser sword who has a castle on a lava planet and a space station the size of the moon that blows up planets, and that’s not even getting into the fact that he has the voice of Mufasa. Darth Vader is an icon, plain and simple, and if you think his status is all surface-level, well, this will hopefully show you there’s more to him.

Actor: There are a lot of people who put in the time to bring Vader to life, but let’s just go over the most notable actors. A lot must be said of David Prowse, the man in the suit during the original trilogy; while James Earl Jones’ voice certainly did a lot of work towards making Vader as intimidating and cool as he is, Prowse’s physical presence should absolutely not be understated. He’s the one who does the movements, who walks into the scenes, he was the one physically there, and it really cannot be said enough that he is a key aspect of why the original Vader worked, even if his voice was nowhere near intimidating enough.

Jones, of course, had a voice that was intimidating enough, and while Prowse brought the physical intimidation, Jones brought the vocal brilliance. Vader’s voice is so oft-arodied and iconic, and it’s all thanks to James Earl Jones’ stellar performance. IT’s just absolutely legendary no matter which way you cut it, to the point where even when he’s portraying a freshly-christened Vader who is still in the mindset of a whiny Anakin and screaming a massive NO to the heavens, he’s still awesome.

Of course, that does bring us to Anakin Skywalker, portrayed by Hayden Christensen, and who is the most divisive actor who played Vader, albeit in his pre-cyborg form. I think a lot of the problems Christensen was criticized for while portraying Vader in the prequels was due to Lucas and his poor direction, and not due to any inherent fault on his part, as Christensen is a good actor otherwise. Case in point: any scene in Revenge of the Sith where Christensen does not have to speak and instead has to rely on giving evil glares or just looking intimidating works. I think he does a great job in Revenge of the Sith overall, and his portrayal of Anakin definitely works best in that prequel due to him really selling the frustration of his superiors not taking him seriously or trusting him, which makes his eventual slide into villainy after putting his trust in Palpatine a lot easier to swallow.

Motivation/Goals: Vader’s motivations and goals are not exactly where he shines, as it is pretty standard evil overlord stuff: he wants to crush the rebels, serve his master, and do whatever needs to be done to ensure that the power he has does not get taken away. It’s standard stuff, and even at the time it likely wasn’t a wholly original idea, but part of the reason it probably feels so generic nowadays is that so many people in every art form imaginable – books, TV, video games, and other movies – have ripped Vader off to the point where he almost appears to be a generic doomsday villain if you only look at a summary of his goals. Thankfully, this is far from the case.

Personality: Vader’s personality is where he really shines. Revenge of the Sith paints the portrait of a brilliant, talented young man who is constantly looked down upon and ignored by his peers despite his numerous successes and who is unable to openly be with the woman he loves and who carries his children due to ridiculous rules; is it any wonder he was taken advantage of by a predatory elder and groomed into a psychopath, only realizing far too late what had been done to him? This aspect of his personality has often been criticized by those who hate the prequels, but I think it is important to show that Vader was once a normal, frustrated young man who honestly had good intentions and wanted to protect others, because it helps make his eventual turn away from the Dark Side and redemption at least be a little believable.

Once he truly becomes the Vader we all know and love, he loses sight of who he was and buries himself in the Vader persona. What happened on Mustafar with Padme and Obi-Wan broke Anakin, and so he truly throws himself into the Darth Vader identity. He becomes cold, ruthless, and downright terrifying, with only brief glimpses to the cornier, kinder persona that the man who hates sandf with a passion once had, the moment where he makes a lame pun in Rogue One being the perfect example of the cheesy Anakin of the prequels shining through if only for a brief moment before Vader’s final scene in Rogue One shows that Anakin has once more been suppressed and the terrifying Vader persona is out in full force, with the real Anakin only breaking through in the end to restore balance to the Force.

Final Fate: Vader, in a final act of heroism, picks up Palpatine and tosses him down into a pit to save the life of his son Luke. Ultimately, this means that Vader fulfilled that prophecy from so long ago and restored balance to the Force, redeeming him in the eyes of his son and allowing him to become one with the Force itself and stand beside his former mentors Obi-Wan and Yoda in the final scene. It is a bit cheesy and even a little hard to swallow if you think too hard, but come on, it’s a fun space opera where good triumphs over evil and true love prevails, so just let Anakin have his little redemption.

Best Scene: The scene in which he emerges from the pitch black hallway in Rogue One and mercilessly slaughters a group of rebels with absolutely no effort, washing away decades of diminishing returns and undermining of his threat level in under a minute as the franchise reestablishes Vader as the horrifying threat he originally was.

Best Quote: Can it really be anything other than the (at the time) mind-blowing reveal he drops on Luke in The Empire Strikes Back after Luke accuses him of killing his dad? Say it with me now:

“No, I am your father.”

Some of you probably said it wrong, but I can assure you the line written above is exactly as it was said in the movie.

Final Thoughts & Score: There’s honestly no denying the level of impact Darth Vader has had; I’d say he’s up there with characters like Mickey Mouse and Mario, just an instantly identifiable character anyone off the top of their heads can name. George Lucas struck gold when he came up with this guy, that’s for sure. Is it any wonder that there are so many characters all across fiction who draw inspiration from Vader?

Vader stands tall as one of the greatest creations in pop culture, and though characters that copy him tend to offer diminishing returns – with a few notable exceptions, of course – he definitely is a wonderful source of inspiration, especially when it comes to designing a character who is still interesting and absorbing despite having seemingly simple, cliched motives. And while it is true Vader comes off as a bit cliched these days because he pretty much wrote the book on a lot of the cliches attributed to him and his ripoffs, my point still stands, because even in modern times you’d be hard pressed to hear anyone call Vader a poor villain despite his main goal basically being “kill rebels.”

Vader is a rare breed, and so deserves a rare score. He is the only villain as of now I think truly deserves an 11/10. He is the villain other villains wish they could be. He is the most striking character in the entire cast. He’s so downright cool, is it any wonder his own grandson decided to emulate him by becoming his biggest fanboy?

While Vader does ultimately redeem himself in the end, it serves as a culmination of one of the most profoundly tragic character arcs in cinema, as a wide-eyed idealistic boy full of love, hope, and a sense of righteousness is slowly and surely broken down by the world around him and the very heroes he idolized to the point where he is preyed upon by a predatory authority figure who whispers everything he wants to hear in his ear and offers him something he never got before: respect… and then from there, his life spirals downward ever further, until he ends up being utterly consumed by hatred as he burns alive on an alien planet before the man he considered a friend and a brother, the knowledge that his wife feared him in his mind as he was fried to a crisp; and when he is finally brought back as a cyborg, his first moments awake again are shaken by the revelation his wife is now dead, and he is responsible. And then from his lowest point, we see Vader climb again into the light, extremely slowly, until that final choice he makes where he can either do the right thing as he was always meant to or continue subjugating the galaxy that beat him down and abused him.

The fact he chose to be good in the end despite everything in his life prior, despite all of the crimes he committed, really makes him a far more interesting character than if he had been straight-up evil to the core. Instead, he is the ultimate darkly tragic fallen hero given one last shot of redemption in the arms of death. It’s beautiful in the cheesy, dramatic way only Star Wars can be, and I think that more than anything is why Vader has endured as a cultural icon, because at his core he is everything beautiful, tragic, and cheesy about Star Wars rolled into one awesome, black-clad Sith Lord.

[clairen45]

I have enjoyed and been very impressed with your thoughtful metas. I was just curious if you had any thoughts on the symbolism of two in Star Wars. I thought about it a bit and I can't unsee it: 1) The binary suns; 2) Luke and Leia being twins; 3) The necessity of a co-pilot to fly the MF; 4) The rule of two; 5) The padowna/jedi master reationship; 6) Even Leia's ring in the ST... do you think there is something there that will inform the resolution of the saga?

Dear anon, wow, thank you so much for these kind words that go straight to my heart. And thank you also for this lovely ask! Sorry it took me so long to get to write and answer to this one! Yes, indeed, two is everywhere. And thank you so much for bringing Leia’s ring to my attention. It was too obvious to notice, I know! Well, I understand so much that you can’t unsee the number two in the saga. Of course, you can’t.

Before I elaborate on the points you make, may I begin by saying that we were literally ushered into the saga by two specific numbers that keep on repeating themselves. In the forms of our famous couple of droids: R2D2 and C3PO. I have two questions on the backburner about R2D2 but let me state and repeat how much this little droid is essential to the series and how much TLC he deserves all the time! So 2 and 3. The magic numbers on which the saga is built. On the one hand, 2 can be viewed as the mostly universal basis for all thought and the way at which we envision and represent the world. Binary, dual, antagonistic, divided: white and black, light and dark, night and day, heaven and earth, good and evil, male and female, me and others, yin and yang, fire and water, life and death, nature and culture… it goes on and on and on and on…2 is a fascinating number because it encompasses both destruction and creation. It is also the number of the duality inherent to every human being: the Janus, the potential everyone has to be either good or evil, the inner conflict. Out of the two comes out conflict, opposition, war. But out of two also comes out life, creation, balance. It takes a man and a woman to have a baby. It takes two to make three. It takes two to make the world go round.

3 on the other hand is a spiritual number, often present in most religions. Think of the Holy Trinity. It is also a temporal number, the one of the cycle: birth, growth, death; past, present, future; infancy, maturity, old age. It is often the number associated with heroe’s journeys and quests: places where they go, foes or friends they meet on the way, number of sons or daughters who are sent on a quest or who have to share a legacy. 3 is also the nuclear family: father, mother, and son. The triangle is a potent mystical symbol, associated with creation and thus also the female genitalia. So, it is funny that in our couple of droids, R2 seems often like the “male” element of the pairing and C3P0 the “female” element. With all the clichés associated though: R2 is active, mostly silent, often rude, loyal, and associated with technical skills. He often uses a little tool that comes out and is akin to a penis. He frequently saves the day. He goes with Luke. Whereas C3P0 is talkative, complains all the time, seems mostly decorative (huge emphasis on his appearance throughout the movies) , often creates issues, and is frequently shut down and physically abused by the others. C3PO goes with Leia. Yep. That sucks. No wonder he was hailed as a God by a primitive tribe who would certainly celebrate female powers (think also how welcoming they are with Leia, but how hostile they are towards the men of the group). 3 is the narrative reference in the series, because it is built as a trilogy, even better as a triptych of 3 trilogies. Think also that the MF is supposed to have 3 brains, of which being L3….

So, dear anon, you bring out fantastic references. Yes, it takes two to fly the LF, yes the rule of two for the Sith Lords, yes the Padawan and the Master, yes the twins, yes the binary suns on Tatooine and on Ahch-To as Luke is fading away… Don’t forget Han’s set of … dice.

The ring, that I had never thought before, is fantastic!

It was given center stage and dramatic flair on the poster representing Leia for the TLJ campaign. Carrie Fisher is credited with insisting on the importance of jewelry in TLJ. She really wanted jewelry for the characters and indeed, on the Visual Dictionary for TLJ, you find tons of info on what the characters wear. Stuff you didn’t necessarily pay attention to, like Poe Dameron’s ring… Anyways… This ring is obviously meaningful. This is something I found on a site called The Adventurine :

As for the meaning of the jewels, there has been speculation that the dramatic ring with two blue lapis-style stones in an Arts and Crafts swirl is her engagement ring from Han Solo. This is unlikely, mainly because she is wearing it on her right hand. She does have a ring with a gem that looks like an opal on her left hand in The Last Jedi. If they still follow the old-fashion rule that, that finger is the finger in space, it certainly could be her engagement ring and a way of holding on to Han’s memory.

Ok, let’s imagine this is an engagement ring and a way of having Solo paid homage to on the posters and throughout the movie. We know that Leia is in mourning. Her hairdo is a mourning braid as they used to wear on Alderaan. The movie did not deliver a Solo funeral as the novelizations did, so the look of Leia is a way of paying tribute to Solo and her love for him. As an engagement ring, it is cool: two stones that are exactly alike and equal, that each have their own space but are nevertheless interwined through a complex swirl of gold. There’s almost an 8 quality to the pattern, the number for infinity and repetition. So it is like a beautiful wedding vow, o equality, unity, and love forever. Now think even more. Couldn’t it evcoke our Reylo couple? Two lonely planets, both equal, that reach out to each other “across the stars”? Because as different and divided Leia and Han were, they never were equals. And when was the very last time we got to see this gorgeous piece of jewelry that is meant to represent an “engagement”, a “promise ring”, possibly even a wedding band?

Right at the end, with an emphasis on the broken saber. It’s not on the saber, but it’s the promise. The promise that “we have everything we need”, that out of division, union may come. And, think of it, even Rey’s scar, the “hands that reach across the galaxy”, is also reminiscent of the pattern on the ring:

There is an interesting parallel in the Solo movie. Qi’ra is “marked” with a tatoo that lets L3 (number 3 again) know that she is “taken”, not free to reciprocate Han’s love and follow him. In the end, not only does he have the tatoo (permanently branded into her skin), she eventually also gets the ring:

But because this is a ring for power and not a ring for love, she does not put it on, but uses it in the device on the ship to conjure up Maul’s appearance.

Another note: there is NO exchange of rings in the secret wedding between Padmé and Anakin. But our trusted droids are there though…and they are the wedding rings. Padmé gives R2 to Anakin and Anakin gives C3PO to Padmé.