Symbols of the Sun

     Many different symbols have been used throughout history to represent the sun. Probably one of the earliest and most simple was the circle with a central dot. In Hinduism, this central dot was called 'bindu' and was meant to represent the spark of life within the womb. This same symbol was also once used as the alchemical symbol for gold, the most perfect of metals. 'Aureum' (Latin for gold), was a name derived from that of Aurora, the Greek goddess of the dawn (see post: Fire in the Sky).

Solar Cross

     In ancient Egypt, it was 'The eye of Ra (or Horus)' that stood for the all-seeing vision of God.

     The swastika is an ancient Indian symbol that is over 4000 years old. This same symbol, altered and stolen by the Nazis in the Second World War, originally was meant to represent the sun and the 4 directions of the compass.
     Other cultures have devised many more sun symbols: The 'Zia' of the region now known as New Mexico fashioned their sun symbol as a red circle with rays reaching out in the four cardinal directions.

Eye of Horus

     Many, perhaps most cultures saw the sun as a godly eye, looking down on its creation. It was the right eye of Horus that was the sun in Egypt. In Hindu culture, 'Sorya' the sun god, was called the 'Eye of Varuna'. In Persia, Mithras was the eye of Ahura Mazda (see blog: A Story of Brothers).

Swastika

     In Japan, the sun goddess 'Amaratsu' (see post: Worship of the Sun) was born from the left eye of 'Izangi', the sky-father creator. In Norse legend, 'Odin' gave his eye in exchange for knowledge, his remaining eye becoming the 'all-seeing, all-knowing' sun. At the apex of the pyramid on the American one dollar bill is the 'Eye of Providence'.

     In real life, if you are able to look at the sun during a solar eclipse, it really does look like the 'Eye of God' staring directly back at you.

   

Zia Sun Symbol

     *Sky worship: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Worship of the Sun

     The sun has always been a mysterious and prominent force, a bright ball of light in the sky, one that disappears every evening but returns with godly certitude at the start of every day.

   

 Gilgamesh

     In Mesopotamia, the hero Gilgamesh was a link between heaven and earth, the son of a human woman and father(s) the sun god, Shamash and the storm god Adad.
     In Egypt, the cult of Re (Ra), the God of the Sun was dominant around 2600 BC with its center at Heliopolis (Sun City). Greek myth has a somewhat confusing mix of 'sun deities': Apollo was the son of Zeus and, as one of the 12 gods of Mount Olympus, was known as the god of the sun. Before Apollo however, there was the Titan sun god, Hyperion; Helius, another god of the sun was perhaps contemporary with Apollo.

     But the sun was not always seen as the dominant force in the heavens. In African mythology (Yoruba), the sun and moon were created by Oleron, the supreme deity who directed the sun and moon when to come out and how to behave.
     In one aboriginal story from Australia, Wuriupranala, the 'Sun Woman' was given a torch of fire and her brother Thaparra, 'Moon Man', another torch but one of lesser intensity, explaining why the moon was never as bright as the sun.

Florentine Codex-Aztec Gods

     Aztec mythology focused on 5 suns or ages in the world. The First Sun (Sun of the Earth), inhabited by giants, was annihilated by jaguars; the Second Sun (Sun of the Air), populated by sinful people, was destroyed by the wind god, Ehecatl; the Third Sun (Sun of Rain) where people did not fulfill their sacred duties, was destroyed by a rain of ash and fire; the Fourth Sun (Sun of Water) was created and destroyed by flood (another flood myth?); the Fifth Sun (the final sun) is our present era , ruled by the sun god, Tonatiuh.

     If human beings do not work in harmony with the gods, this final age will also be destroyed, never to be created again.

Amaterasu

     Although many of the sun deities were male, many were also female: the Arunta of Australia worshipped Sun Woman; in Japan, the sun goddess Amaterasu was revered; the Cherokee of native North America told the story of Grandmother Sun.

     A 'solar trinity' is seen in many theologies including Persian, Egyptian, Hindu, Babylonian and Christian (ie Father, Son and Holy Ghost) representing the light of the sun in its three phases: rising sun/dawn: God, the father, creator of the world, shrouded in blue (see blog: The Colors of Faith); the mid-day sun, the Illuminating One (yellow);and the setting sun: God, the Holy Ghost wrapped in flaming red.
     The sun, since very ancient times, has been recognized as creator, sustainer and, sometimes as destroyer.

     "Sun, sacred and blessed, rejoin your mother." - an ancient Basque bedtime prayer, still repeated in modern times.

   
     *Sky worship: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Temples to Watch the Sun

     Although many religions built temples for worship of the 'sun god(s)', many structures were built with specific alignments and points that allowed astute observations of our star.

Nabta Site

     The Nabta Site in southern Egypt is probably one of the oldest, constructed over 6000 years ago with vertical 'sighting' stones that corresponded with the zenith of the sun at the summer solstice. Also in Egypt, the Temple at Karnak, first built in about 2100 BC, was aligned in an east-west direction. The length of the temple allowed accurate determination of the length of the year.

     The passage of the Newgrange (tomb?) in Ireland (built 3200 BC) is illuminated by the winter solstice sunrise for 17 minutes. The famous Stonehenge in Salisbury, England, built in stages from 2950 BC to 1600 BC, has a number of its standing stones aligned with specific stars and the 'heel stone' aligned with sunrise of the summer solstice, creating the illusion of the rising sun balanced on the top of the stone.

Newgrange

     At Chichen Itza (Maya, built 1000-1200AD), the northwest and southwest corners of the main pyramid are aligned with the rising sun on the summer solstice and the setting sun of the winter solstice, respectively. On the days of the equinoxes, the shadows of the setting sun slither down the north face steps like a live snake.

     At Machu Pichu (present day Peru), the 'Temple of Three Windows' faces  the summer solstice.

     Medicine Wheels on the plains of the western US and Canada are arrangements of stone cairns that point to sunrise on the summer solstice.

Chichen Itza

     In 1279 AD, one of many Chinese observatories was built in Gaocheng, China, allowing a remarkably accurate calculation of the length of the year (365.2524 days).
     Between 1724 and 1730, the Indian astronomer-king of Jaipur built 5 observatories that allowed calculation of the longest and shortest days of the year, precise position of celestial bodies in the night sky and accurate time calculation (New Dehli) using an enormous sundial.
   

Easter Island

   
     Even in the isolation of Easter Island (off the coast of Chile), natives erected tall stone statues (moai) with 7 particular ones facing directly at the setting sun during the equinox.

   
     *Sky worship: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Fire in the Sky

     The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis) are caused by the solar wind colliding with atoms and ions in the earth's atmosphere.
     The color of the aurora depends on the proportion of oxygen to nitrogen which, in turn, depends on the altitude of aurora activity. Between 120-180 kilometers, the color produced is green; red, at altitudes greater than 180 km; blue and violet, below 120 km. With 'solar storms', red can occur at altitudes as low as 90 km.

The Goddess Aurora by Guercino

      In Roman mythology, Aurora was the goddess of the dawn. She had 2 siblings: a brother, Sol (the sun) and a sister, Luna (the moon). In the early morning, Aurora would cross the sky, announcing the arrival of the sun.  The Romans also saw the lights as coming from celestial caves (chasmata). Aristotle (Greek) thought the aurora came from fire sources on earth.
     The appearance of an aurora could inspire positive and negative reaction or be seen as a precursor of favorable (royal births) or unfavorable (war, famine) events. Scandinavian belief linked the aurora to dead virgins; the Finns felt the lights were reflections from the shields of the 'Valkyries', the war-like women who guided dead warriors to Valhalla.

Ride of theValkyries

     Australian aborigines saw the Southern Lights as the 'dancing of the gods'.
     The Algonquin of native North America, saw the lights as  the fires of the creator, Nanahbozho.
     From the Book of Ezekiel 1:4, "a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire in folding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire".
     Up until the18th century, people saw Northern Lights as being related to the concept of heaven and hell. Even during the Klondike Gold Rush (1898), the Northern Lights were said to reflect a great Mother Lode of gold.

The Northern Lights

     The Inuit of the Arctic have stories and traditions concerning the lights in the sky. The Northern lights are a phenomenon that these people have lived with for thousands of years and, like many people, they respected and revered the aurora. One tradition cautions people not to whistle at the lights as this would bring them closer, would cut off their heads and carry them off up into the sky. Another story explains that the spirits of the dead go to the Northern Lights where they spend eternity playing games, kicking a walrus head as we would a football.

Coronal Mass Ejection

     A regular aurora can be beautiful. An aurora from a solar storm can be destructive. But 'Fire in the Sky' associated with a 'coronal mass ejection' (CME) can be deadly.

   
     *Solar radiation: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Calamity (from Space) in the Holy Records

     Science has documented that life on earth has been destroyed many times before human history even began. Extinctions from super nova gamma radiation, coronal mass ejections (extreme solar flares), global warmings and global coolings (ice ages) have all probably taken place (see post: Real Apocalypse).

Impact Event

     The Pleistocene (Permian?) extinction is thought to have been associated with increased volcanic activity, perhaps a natural cycle in the planet's history, perhaps triggered by an asteroid or comet strike (impact event).
     Sixty-five million years ago, the  extinction of the dinosaurs is also believed to have been due to a comet or asteroid strike near the present-day Yucatan peninsula.

     The destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is thought, by some, to have been caused by an asteroid strike as well (see post: Calamity (from Earth) in the Holy Records).

Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

    In 1519 the ruler of the Aztec empire, Moctezuma,  witnessed a portentious event, a comet in the sky which foretold the return of the god Quetzalcoatl. The comet itself did not cause destruction but, instead of Quetzalcoatl, it was Cortez who arrived later that same year, leading to the demise of the Aztec civilisation.

     Our own sun has also been implicated in death and destruction inflicted upon our globe.
     Ancient Egyptian texts talk of the time when the sun disappeared from the sky, night lasted for weeks and then the sun rose for the first time in the east. Previously, the sun was said to have risen in the west (sudden reversal of the rotation of the earth?).

Moctezuma Witnessing a Comet

     What could have been a halt in the planet's rotation was described in the Bible, Joshua 10:13 ('the sun stopped in the middle of the day and delayed going down for about a full day'). In Joshua 10:11, a fall of stones (hail?, meteorites?) was described, killing many of the Israelites' enemies.

     The Maya in Mesoamerica predicted a change of age or end of the world scenario (take your pick) for December 2012 in association with planetary alignments.

   
     *Symbols of religion and apocalypse: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Calamity (from Earth) in the Holy Records

     Fire and brimstone,drought, famine, hurricanes, hail, plague - all these destructive forces have been inflicted upon humanity at least since the time we have been able to keep records. But in the various religious texts, are these stories just imaginative make-believe meant to strike the 'fear of God' (or gods) into each of us? Or, are these true accounts of real events?

Noah's Ark (Edward Hicks)

     Most of us are familiar with the story of the great flood and Noah's ark in the Judeo-Christian scriptures and in the Koran. A flood story is also seen in the Greek myths when Zeus commanded his brother Poseiden to shake the earth (earthquake), cause the rivers to flood and send in the sea (tsunamis?).
     The Mesopotamian 'Epic of Gilgamesh', as well, recounts a great flood. The Caddo people of early North America tell the story of torrential rains that covered the lands and decimated the population.
   

     In the Book of Genesis, the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, some say, could have been due to an asteroid strike, an earthquake or even a nuclear explosion. The supposed destruction of these two cities also corresponds to a period (about 4000 years ago) of increased seismic activity in the Middle-East. The destruction of the Egyptian army as they pursued Moses and his followers across the Red (Reed?) Sea has been thought to be due to an unusual 'tidal' event...just at the right time.

The Destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah (John Martin)

     One of the most researched calamities described in Holy Scripture have been the 10 plagues of Egypt:

• 'blood' in the Nile (volcanic pollution from upstream?, red toxins from algal blooms?); 
• infestations by frogs, insects, flies and wild animals, pestilence, 'boils' (that's 5 plagues right there); 
• destruction by hail storms, 
• plagues of locusts (insects, again); 
• darkness (solar eclipse?, sandstorm?), 
• death of the first born (secondary to pollution?).

Plagues of Egypt (John Martin)

     Volcano deities, with their attendant stories of destruction, are revered in some areas of Indonesia and still recognized by many as a potent force in Japan (Mt. Fuji).

     In the Zoroastrian faith, 'the end of the world' is described as occurring with 'molten metal that flows across the earth like a river'. (see post: The End of the World).

Mount Fuji

      

     *Symbols of religion and apocalypse: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Doomsday in Modern Culture

     "The End is Nigh"  Aside from the multiple prophesies of the end of the world that date back to 'biblical' times, the date for doomsday has been predicted by:

William Miller

• various religious groups: Jehovah Witness :2014; Adventists (William Miller): 1843 then 1844); Bishop James Usher (mid-1600s): Oct 23, 1997; Hindu calendar:1999-2003; Jewish calendar: 2240; Muslim calendar: 2076
• various 'new age' groups: Nostradamus: July 1999; Unarius Society: 1985 then 2000; Edgar Cayce: 2001-2001; Jack van Impe: after year 2000; Richard W. Noone: May 5, 2000; remember the year 2000 new millenium predicted 'crash'?
• "pop culture": Homer on 'The Simpsons' (2011); Harold Camping, founder of 'Family Radio' who, in 2011, predicted the end on May 21, 2011 then revised to Oct 21, 2011.        

Homer Simpson

     Four decades ago, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer model called World 3 warned of an apocalyptic course for human civilization in the 21st century.

   

Nostradamus

     In May, 2012, Scientific American Magazine reported that in the book '2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years', Jorgen Randers of the BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, and one of the original World3 modelers, argues that the second half of the 21st century will bring us near apocalypse in the form of severe global warming.

     Randers claims that 'Food per capita is going down, energy is becoming more scarce, groundwater is being depleted. Most worrisome, greenhouse gases are being emitted twice as fast as oceans and forests can absorb them'.

Edgar Cayce

     Graham Turner of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization fears that collapse could come even earlier, but due to peak oil rather than climate change. After comparing the various scenarios generated by World3 against recent data on population, industrial output and other variables, Turner and, independently, the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, conclude that the global system is closely following a business-as-usual output curve.

   

Apocalypse Due to Climate Change

     In this model run the economy continues to grow as expected until about 2015, but then falters because nonrenewable resources such as oil become ever more expensive to extract.

     All of these 'predictions' have been shown to be fantasy (so far). Perhaps what we should be more concerned with are the 'scientific' predictions of the 'End of Days' (see the post: Real Apocalypse). Then, if you make a prediction and wait long enough, you're bound to be right.

   
     

PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency

     After all, Sir Isaac Newton himself predicted that the end of the world would occur in 2060.

 
     *Apocalypse: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.