[Music] In the early 80s Dave Talbott and
myself published a trilogy of articles in Kronos, analyzing various symbols
encoding Venus's recent comet-like history. Although our findings were revolutionary
in scope, they were little noticed at the time and have remained so in the
meantime. That said, it is my opinion that these early papers represent David at his
most original and brilliant and as such they are well worth revisiting, as the
bold insights remain valid today and point unequivocally to recent episodes
of planetary catastrophism and a radically different solar system. In
the articles in question Talbott and I identified the planet Venus with the Eye of
Horus, a novel view at the time but since endorsed by leading Egyptologists.
As is well known, the Eye is one of the most important symbols in all of ancient
Egypt and subject of one of the oldest mythological narratives to survive from that
civilization. According to a text known as the ”Destruction of Mankind,” inscribed on two
walls of various kings from the 19th dynasty, circa 1325 BCE, the Eye went on a destructive
rampage at the dawn of time that purportedly brought the world to the very brink of extinction.
There we read that the Eye, as the goddess Hathor, was dispatched by Re to punish
mankind. Quote, “Then mankind plotted something in the very presence of Re... Then
they said in the presence of his majesty: ’May thy Eye be sent, that it may
catch for thee them who scheme with evil things...It should go down as Hathor.’
So then this goddess came and slew mankind in the desert.” End of quote.
While it would take several volumes to recount the complete history of the
cosmic disaster associated with the Eye, the following brief summary will offer a
glimpse of the mythological treasures awaiting the diligent researcher.
In the earliest textual references to the Eye, there are a number of
allusions to an enigmatic lock of hair. Thus it is that the Coffin Texts speak of
”...the day of the cutting off the lock of hair.” Another Coffin Text speaks of
“...that day of cutting off the tress.” Yet another speaks of “Her tress of fire is
quenched.” Although each of these statements is mentioned in passing as if the story
were well known to the audience, the context makes it clear that the fiery lock somehow
sparked a cataclysm at the dawn of history. According to one Coffin Text for example
the god Shu succeeded in extinguishing the rage of the fiery lock restoring
order in the world. Quote “I have extinguished the fire, I have calmed the
soul of her who burns, I have quietened her who is in the midst of her rage..(even
she) the fiery one who severed the tresses of the gods.” The
reference to the goddess's rage and her “who burns,” is an unequivocal
reference to the raging Eye goddess Wepset renowned for her incendiary
destructive nature. But what does it mean that the Eye goddess severed the tresses of
the gods? The phrase translated “tresses of the gods” =s3m/wt ntrm, wherein s3m/wt means
lock of hair and is determined with the hair hieroglyph. Yet the former word
means ‘mourning’ as well as ‘lock of hair’ and thus Joris Borghouts translates
the passage in question as ”the mourning of the gods.”
According to testimony of this particular Coffin Text then, the raging
Eye of Horus played a pivotal role in the apocalyptic events remembered as the ”mourning
of the gods.” Properly understood, the fiery lock of hair has reference to Isis's mourning
in the wake of the death of her beloved consort Osiris. Hero Isis is said to have
cut off a lock of her hair as a sign of mourning after which she
wandered the world in dishevelment. A hymn to Osiris from the middle of the
second millennium BCE offers a general summary of this archaic mythological theme.
Quote, “Isis, the powerful, the protector of her brother, who searched for him without
wearying, who traversed this land in grief and did not rest until she had found him,
...who sent up a cry, the mourning woman of her brother.” End of quote. The
same basic tradition is alluded to in the Bremner-Rhind papyrus from several
millennia later, fourth century BCE. There in a passage referencing Osiris’s
murder remembered as the “Great mourning and an evil deed, the like of which has never
been”, One reads of Isis and Nephthys that, quote, ”They mourn for thee in dishevelment,
the hair of their heads is disordered.” Evident here are the basic outlines of
the Egyptian myth of beginnings, wherein Osiris’s tragic death throws the world
into darkness and chaos, an event alluded to simply as “the disaster”. The
underlying message is that, without the fiery tress, the raging Eye departs
and begins its campaign of destruction during which Venus assumed a comet-like
appearance. This while displaying disheveled hair and spewing fire from the sky.
Isis's disheveled hair is a point of emphasis in several archaic Egyptian texts.
Thus in one text Isis is described as quote “...swaying her hair like a mourning woman,
she being of disordered appearance.” End of quote. So too the “book of the dead’ reports
that Isis had disarranged her hair. Quote, I am Isis. You found me when I had
disarranged the hair of my face and my scalp was disordered.” End of quote.
As Talbott and I interpret the myth of Isis's mourning, it has reference to
Venus departing the polar axis as a wandering lock of hair, a perfectly
plausible pre-scientific description of a comet. Here it will be noted that
comets were widely conceptualized as hair stars or as women with
streaming or disheveled hair. Sgnificantly, ancient Chinese astronomers
described comets as celestial mourning. So too the famous astronomers held that
the planet Venus was in charge of mourning. Additional support for our
reconstruction comes from ancient Mesopotamia where sky watchers described
Inanna Venus as an agent of apocalyptic catastrophe which, like the Egyptian Eye,
rained fire and destruction from the sky. So too Mesopotamian astronomers described
the planet Venus as the star of lamentation. At this point the diligent researcher
must ask himself why a distant planet moving on a supposedly stable
and peaceful orbit about the Sun, would be described as an agent of
destruction or star of lamentation. Certainly it can be no coincidence that
Inanna Venus was renowned for her tortured lamentations for Dumuzi,
during which she wandered the world in dishevelment exactly like Isis and
numerous other ancient goddesses. As is always the case in scientific
matters, the devil is in the details. As Talbott emphasized in these early
articles, a decisive key is offered by the unique shape accorded the lock of hair.
As is evident from its hieroglyph, the lock is depicted as a spiraling volute form.
In ancient Egypt the spiraling lock is most familiar as the distinctive
sidelock of the youthful Horus. That we are not dealing here with a
hairstyle unique to Egypt, is shown by the fact that analogous sidelocks
adorn early Mesoamerican gods. Especially telling are prehistoric
artworks depicting Venus in Mesopotamia. In the earliest written texts in the world,
planet Venus as Inanna is denoted by a pictograph showing a spiraling comet-like
form. As Talbott and I have argued for some 40 years now, the Sumerian pictograph
preserves the unique appearance of Venus during a distinct period of instability
that saw the planet depart from its axial alignment within the polar
configuration and wander about the axis. The tumultuous period in question, one of
the earliest remembered astronomical events in human history, was
conceptualized as the departure of the Eye goddess at the beginning
of her campaign of destruction. At the same time, the departure
or severing of the fiery lock of hair, signaled the death of Osiris and the end
of the world age marked by Venus's prietive mourning with disheveled hair.
And so it is that comets are associated with the end of the world age around the globe.
Early texts from Egypt and Mesopotamia report that the period of Venus's mourning
was marked by an apocalyptic darkness. Thus it is that the Egyptian Eye goddess
was associated with darkness overtaking the world. Quote, ”The departure of the Eye,
or Hathor, results in a series of natural disasters in Egypt, where perpetual night prevails.” End
of quote. A similar scenario is described in the Magical Texts of Papyrus Leiden, a text
which dates from the early Middle Kingdom. Quote, “Beware of the mourning of the gods!
For then primeval darkness will set in.” End of quote. So too Sumerian mythological
traditions report that a cosmic disturbance associated with Inanna Venus
resulted in apocalyptic darkness. Thus a passage in a hymn to the goddess
Inanna credits the planet goddess with the power to make the midday light turn
into darkness. Quote, “When you are angrily staring that which is bright gets dark, you
turn midday light to darkness.” End of quote. Such imagery is extremely difficult to
explain by reference to the familiar Venus, needless to say. That
said, it is consistent with the planet's role in ancient Babylonian
astronomical omens which point to an intimate association between Venus and
the sudden onset of darkness. Quote, “As clearly stated in the omen texts, the
responsibility for the darkening of the daylight is Ishtar’s.” End of quote
It is doubtless because of the cosmic disaster wrought by Inanna Venus, that
ancient words for “mourning” often convey the sense of darkness or a darkening of
the heavens or Sun. The Sumerian term ”su-mu-ug” is representative in
this regard, denoting “darkness; misfortune, calamity, mourning.” End of quote.
And so does the Babylonian astronomer describe the eclipse of the Sun by
the term “er” denoting “mourning”. The recurring motif in the Sumerian
traditions describing the lamentations for Dumuzi is that the cosmos was
thrown into confusion by the tragic events in question. In the
following hymns Inanna 's tortured mourning caused the heavens to quake
or rumble. Quote, “She of lament, she of lament struck up a lament...
The hierodule of heaven, Inanna, the devastatrix of the mountain... she who
causes the heavens to rumble... she who shakes the earth.” End of quote.
Inanna 's preternatural ability to shake Heaven and Earth is a recurring theme in
Sumerian tradition and naturally recalls the cataclysmic effects precipitated by the
Egyptian Eye. The following passage is one of dozens that could be cited in this regard. Quote,
”You make the heavens tremble and the earth quake. Great priestess, who
can soothe your troubled heart? You flash like lightning over the
highlands; you throw your firebrands across the earth. Your deafening command...
splits apart great mountains.” End of quote. The terror inspired by the rampage of
the mourning goddess was never wholly forgotten and is alluded to in the
legendary accounts surrounding the great kings. In a Sumerian hymn dating to the
third millennium, the death of the king Ur-Nammu is compared to an eclipse of the
Sun and is greeted by bitter mourning throughout the land. It is in
this context that the following passage occurs, quote, “Then Inanna, the fierce
storm... made the heavens tremble, made the earth shake.” End of quote The
comparison of Inanna Venus to a furious storm and star of lamentation,
while wildly incongruous as a description of the familiar Venus, is a
perfectly apt description of a celestial body whose comet-like hair became
disheveled and appeared to whirl about it like a great tornado-like rope. A
Sumerian hymn celebrating the mourning goddess Geshtinanna, captures
this image perfectly, quote “My hair will whirl around in heaven like a
hurricane for you.” End of quote. If such archaic mythological traditions
have an origin in historical astronomical events and it is impossible
to explain the imagery surrounding Inanna Venus apart from a spectacularly
turbulent celestial prototype, it is deducible that it was Venus's
swirling hair that darkened the prehistoric skies, thereby ushering in a
period of cosmic disorder marked by terrifying storms and the shaking of heaven and
earth. And so it is that comets are associated with apocalyptic disaster and the death of
great kings around the globe. To summarize, the evidence pertaining to Venus's
cometary history encoded in ancient mythology and early artworks will never
be explained by reference to the present solar system. The evidence in
question is there for everyone to see. And in the final analysis it is the evidence that
will dictate the course of 21st century science. [Music]
