The Labyrinth

Among theories used to explain the non-Indo-European influence on northern European languages is that the people known in archaeological circles as the Battle Axe Culture were the primary source.

The battle axe is an important symbol in early Europe. The double axe or double hammer is the stone weapon of Thor known as Mjolnir. As in Southeast Asia, the crash of the stone axe causes lightning and thunder.

In earlier times, the double stone axe appears as the weapon of Pelasgian and Etruscan deities. In Crete and Lydia, the double axe is known as the labrys and again is associated with lightning and possibly with the maze known as the labyrinth. The latter link is surmised mainly through the similar looking words, labrys and labyrinth.

The double axe in Aegean art is often connected with animal sacrifice and it may be that the labyrinth link is related to the divinatory sacrifice.

The labyrinth is often compared to entrails, which were used for divination in Mesopotamia. The mask of the Minotaur in the Ritual of the Labyrinth appears covered with intestines. A similar feature is found in representations of the Sumerian god Humbaba, who we linked earlier with volcanic eruptions.


Humbaba with furrowed face thought to represent intestines


Face of Humbaba

The face of Humbaba was itself used for divination purposes in Mesopotamia. The pattern on both the Minotaur mask and the face of Humbaba has been described as "unicursal" (having one path) in a manner similar to that of the Cretan Labyrinth.

The appearance also resembles that of the divinatory livers portrayed in Mesopotamian art.

In Sumerian texts, the seventh Sumerian king Enmeduranki learned the art of liver divination from the seventh sage or abgal/apkallu (fish-man) named Utu'abzu. As you may remember, the abgal were said to have come from Dilmun across the Indian Ocean in Greek texts.

The Book of Enoch states that the art of signs and other mystic arts were taught to humanity by the "fallen angels" led by Azâzêl"

Enoch 8

"1 And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all

2 colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they

3 were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, 'Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl (taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Êzêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun, and Sariêl the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven..."

Azazel was eventually chained in the wilderness for causing the "fall" of humanity. In the book of Leviticus, there are instructions to send a scapegoat carrying the sins of Israel into the wilderness for "Azazel." This has been interpreted by some as the same Azazel of Enoch although others think that it refers to a description of the place where the goat is sent.

The goat is none other than the scapegoat carrying the sins of the world and transferring them to Azazel.

In Greek mythology, Prometheus steals the fire of the forge of Hephaestus, which was believed to have been located under one or all of the volcanoes known to the Greeks. He gives the gift of fire to humanity which again causes the latter's downfall. As punishment, Prometheus is chained to a mountain where every day an eagle comes to devour his regenerating liver.

The appearance of the liver here in the punishment of Prometheus is interesting. The liver is considered in many cultures as the center of the body and the source of desire and "fire."

For stealing the fire of the forge of Hephaestus, whose own name might be derived from hepar "liver," Prometheus receives the reciprocal punishment of having his own liver, the internal source of fire, devoured daily.

The divinatory sacrifice can thus be seen as the opening of the body, which is the earth in microcosm, with the double axe. The liver, intestines and other entrails are the source of the fire. They represent the ultimate source in microcosm, or the answer revealed by that ultimate source.

And this source is, of course, the volcano deity who provides the fire for Hephaestus's underworld forge.

The battle axe also has another association of interest. The Roman fasces used by the lictors of the Etruscan kings of Rome and later by the imperial lictors consisted of a model battle axe bound to a bundle of reeds or sticks. This reminds us of the nation concept as related to the bamboo as found in the word "bansa" and its cognates.

The Roman fasces, used as a symbol of power by the Etruscans and thousands of years later by the Italian nationalists known as the Fascists

Reed bundles with ring and bandlet at top symbolizing Ishtar (Venus) and the Uruk city-state

In Sumer, a bundle of reeds was the symbol of Innana/Ishtar and also the heraldic emblem of the city-state of Uruk, the home of Gilgamesh.

Returning to the imagery of the labyrinth, if we look at the liver as representing the fiery center of the earth, then the intestines would stand for part of the path to the surface. The opening at the surface is represented by the mouth -- the symbol of the volcano and the entrance to the Underworld. Escaping the labyrinth may be looked at as escaping the clutches of fate symbolized by the Minotaur's mask and the face of Humbaba.

In the New Hebrides (Malekula), the mystic initiate must draw half of a labyrinth belonging to the female ghost Lehevhev before admission into the order. We also find survivals of the labyrinth design in Austronesia for which the meaning is apparently lost, at least to the vast majority of the people.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

For more information on the labyrinth, see The Ritual of the Labyrinth,
Ta Hiera Laburinthou by John Opsopaus. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/HL/

Prediction and Prophecy

Early European visitors to Tahiti found that the people were skilled at the art of weather forecasting:

"What took me most in two Indians whom I carried from Otahiti to Oriayatea was that every evening or night, they told me, or prognosticated, the weather we should experience on the following day, as to wind, calms, rainfall, sunshine, sea, and other points, about which they never turned out to be wrong: a foreknowledge worthy to be envied, for, in spite of all that our navigators and cosmographers have observed and written about the subject, they have not mastered this accomplishment (B.G. Corney, (ed. )(1913-19) The Quest and Occupation of Tahiti by Emissaries of Spain during the Years 1772-6 (3 vols.), London, 286-287).

J.C. Beaglehole wrote regarding Tahitian weather prediction:

"The people excell much in predicting the weather, a circumstance of great use to them in their short voyages from Island to Island. They have many various ways of doing this but one only that I know of which I never heard of being practised by Europeans, that is foretelling the quarter of the heavens from whence the wind shall blow by observing the Milky Way, which is generally bent in an arch either one way or the other: this arch they conceive as already acted upon by the wind, which is the cause of its curving, and say that if the same curve continues a whole night the wind predicted by it seldom fails to come some time in the next day; and in this as well as their other predictions we found them indeed not infallible but far more clever than Europeans." (J.C. Beaglehole, (1962) Endeavour Journal Vol. I, 1768-1771, Sydney, p. 368)

Similar accounts of accurate weather forecasting are found in other parts of Polynesia and Micronesia.

The ability to forecast weather no doubt relied on a deep understanding of lunar, solar and other cycles and the way they interacted. This understanding of interaction between polar forces in weather extended by analogy from weather prediction to all cosmic phenomenon.

In binary divination, like the knot system of Micronesia, one gets answers in a form that represents some interaction of two dual forces. To the trained mind, the logical result from this representation can be interpreted.

Another way of predicting the future involved contact with spirits -- gods and ancestors. In the great clan war, the ancestors and friendly spirits were important allies in battle. They had a way of seeing that earthly beings ordinarily do not. The medium could be a woman as with the baylan of the Philippines, or a man. Possession by spirits often resulted in frenzied activity on the part of the medium or oracle.

The spiritual batttle can not go on without consulting the ancestors since they, after all, were the ones who would have started the whole thing. They would know things long since lost through the ravages of time.

Some people in all cultures were also said to be blessed with the gift of foresight. The Nusantao were no different. Probably this can be seen best in the messianic culture of present-day Java.

One hears about prophecies of the Ratu Adil "the King of Righteousness" and the Satria Piningit "Hidden Warrior" in everyday discourse, in news editorials and even in popular comic books and television cartoons. The words of popular or even street soothsayers often make front-page headlines.


Ratu Adil comic book

Messianic cults are first recorded back in the time of King Joyoboyo in the 11th century. His predictions on the future Ratu Adil have been used as a measuring stick in judging Indonesian history and current events.

Sociologists and pyschologists have speculated on humanity's need for future messiahs. Some say that millennial prophecies are borne of desperate times, but there are instances of doomsday prophets in even the most prosperous of societies.

I would propose that among the Nusantao, at least, prophecies were a way of showing that there was really something to their claims of a war between the angels of Heaven. It was a way of showing that they were not mad. In some cases, prophecies were made that would be fulfilled only long after the prophet was gone. One has to believe that they believed in their own abilities to foretell the future.

Painting of Rigden Drakpo from Nicholas Roerich Museum

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento