Liberty Bell Follow-Up: The Liberty Bowl

As I was wrapping up my post earlier today on the Walts and Pharazon, I looked up at what my son was watching on TV in the hotel room as we were taking a quick break here after his last game.

A football game was on the screen.  It was the new UFL, the NFL-wannabee league that plays during the NFL's offseason.  An image of the Liberty Bell, which I had just been writing about, flashed on the screen very briefly.  It was on a stadium scoreboard in the background of the TV image, and it was just a brief shot, but I realized that the game was being played in Memphis, Tennessee at the football stadium where the Liberty Bowl is played.

In college, I played in exactly one bowl game during my own football career, because the other years we were pretty much hot garbage.  That bowl game?  The Liberty Bowl.  Here is their current logo, with AutoZone now as the chief sponsor (it was AXA back in the day for me):

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting little sync that as I was literally wrapping up my post in writing about the Liberty Bell, here on the TV was a game being played in the stadium where the Liberty Bowl game is played (the stadium itself is called Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium), and that I recognized it and the brief symbol that I saw on the distant scoreboard because I had played in that stadium in my one and only bowl game.

My mind kept going, though, which brought me to Elvis and Graceland for a few reasons, but this is meant to be just a short note, so I am going to stop here.

Walter White, Walt Whitman, and Pharazon

 I've been in Philadelphia for most of this week for a hockey tournament my oldest son is playing in.

The hotel we are staying at is by the airport in Philadelphia (and thus in Pennsylvania), but all of the hockey rinks he has been playing at are on the New Jersey side.  Consequently, I have become well acquainted with the Walt Whitman bridge over the last several days, as this has served as our primary artery in commuting back and forth.

I have never been to Philadelphia before, and wasn't even aware there was a bridge named after Walt Whitman.

I first noticed the bridge's name because here we had yet another WW name, and this has come up before with Walter White and Willy Wonka.  I then remembered that Walt Whitman had actually come up before in my earlier posts about Walter White (from Breaking Bad).

In my second post discussing the analogy and character of Walter White (who I likened to Saruman in that instance - though I am going to expand our analogy for this character, as you will see in just a minute), I included a video clip from Breaking Bad, where Walter's brother in law is trying to figure out just who the WW is that is written in the notebook of they guy they caught who everyone thinks is the criminal by the pseudonym Heisenberg.  Here is the clip again:

So, Walter White here suggests that the WW stands for Walt Whitman, and interestingly the poem in question deals with stars.

I didn't realize until now (although this is apparently common knowledge to fans of Breaking Bad), that Walter White and Walt Whitman are essentially the same names.  Whitman means "White Man".  Walter White Man and Walter White.  Same name, but two different people, obviously.

Recall also that White, as I have used it many times on this blog, can mean "Shiny, Radiant, or Bright", which is how it was commonly used archaically.  This has been in the context of both Stones (White, or shiny, Stones), as well as people (Nephi describing people as "White" likely meaning more having to do with Light than color).

Here we have two Walters who are White.  Walter, as discussed in my earlier post on Bald Men and where Walter White was introduced here, "Breaking Bald and Omuruc", means "Power, Ruler, or Commander of the Army".  Using our more archaic meaning of White, we have "Bright or Radiant Commander".

In those past posts, I limited the analogy and comparison of Walter White as an imposter (a drug dealing criminal) with Saruman.  I believe this still holds very well, given Saruman's obsession and desire for power and to be the Chosen One, whatever that means.  He even admitted to Gandalf when he lured him into his trap, that he foresaw the coming age of Men, and that it was his intent to be the one that ruled and managed their affairs.  He would of course get his wish, in my story, being now our Devil on this world, but in a different form than he envisioned (as a result of his death and the ensuing blockage and expulsion of his Being from the West).

But this analogy also extends to Pharazon, who has entered into my story and sights in a big way as of late.  In my earlier post comparing Pharazon with Humpty Dumpty, I used a quote from Words of the Faithful to emphasize his belt.  I will use it again below to emphasize something else about him:

Martalion he was called in songs of praise, a Foretold One like unto the mighty men of old, of Turambar and Tuor his sire over the long years.  In gold finery he covered his nakedness, gilded in sunlight so none could withstand him at mid-day, and girded in true-silver of Mithril, an emblem it was said of the portended Noble that would restore the land and its people to the glory that was sung of the gods in yesteryears, when the magic sun and the silver Silpion gave light and truth to all the Fair Folk.  Indeed, among that people it was held out in a final hope that in the exceeding vanity of this "Chosen one" (for that title was carved into the belt of silver) - though the wise said in whispers that the belt alone had been chosen - in him some new relations of Man and Eldar might unfold, as indeed came up them in Eressea.

So, the imagery here is that Pharazon dressed in such a way as to appear as bright as the Sun, and implies that others could not look at him due to the light the came from him (or more accurately, was reflected off of him - he was not actually a source of light, but relied on his clothes and armor to reflect the Sun).  The comparison to the Sun itself is obvious.

El-Anor, the Sun Stone, has been a prominent Stone featured in my writings here, as well as the Being who I associate with that Stone:  Faramir-Eonwe.   Thus, the comparison between Pharazon and Faramir-Eonwe here is completely unmistakable.

As I have articulated in earlier posts, Faramir-Eonwe would have been the Being, at a much earlier time, who was 'chosen' by Eru.  Here, however, we have yet another example of a character, in this case Pharazon, who desired to be that chosen Being.

And not just desired, but actually ended up acting as if he were him.  I suggested earlier that this was aided by a combination of true prophecy and the influence of Sauron.  Meaning, that there really is a Being that is spoken of in this way.  Jesus seems to be referring to this Being, for example, in referring to his servant who will be exalted when he spoke to those at Bountiful.   The "Sun of Righteousness" will in fact lead some Beings away from this world and home to Aman, like calves to the stall.

At some point, Sauron's whisperings were likely successful in convincing Pharazon that he, in fact, was this chosen one, and that his leading the Numenoreans to Aman was the fulfillment of prophecy.  If the Valar or Gods would not give Eternal Life and a place for Men on Aman willingly, then it was Pharazon's destiny to give it to Men, so the reasoning would have gone.   Pharazon's own journey to Aman was a complete perversion of this prophecy, however, resulting in death, destruction, suffering, and a breaking of the world.  And I suppose that in fact he did usher in a new relationship between the Eldar and Men, but not in a good way.

But Pharazon definitely dressed the part, girding himself in gold and silver, and becoming bright and shiny.  Perhaps it was even pointed out that his name could mean Great Hunter in Elvish, and he looked up at Orion and assumed that was him, complete with the belt.

But where there are imposters - whether Saruman, Pharazon, Brigham Young, or whoever - there may still be the real deal.  Eonwe, in a previous age, was also a Bright Commander of the Army of Heaven, which he led to Middle-earth and defeated Melkor and his forces, and is the one, I believe, that Orion likely symbolizes.

Getting back to the Walt Whitman bridge, there are two points of symbolism relative to it that I have been thinking on it the last few days that I want to quickly mention.   

First, bridges as a means to bridge a gap over which people can go from one place to another.   We used the example of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and its collapse, in past posts to perhaps reflect Saruman's intent and objective, which is to cut of or destroy and such attempt at bridging a gap that would allow some Beings to escape to a place of Freedom.

Second, the interstate that runs over the Walt Whitman bridge is Interstate 76.  '76 is short for 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed, which was actually done here in Philadelphia.  Independence or freedom is what is promised as Beings would journey across the Bridge that will be established, I believe, and the Declaration of Independence, as a symbol of this story element, has come up quite a bit on my blog, including the day it was signed, the 4th of July, being the first day that my strange Elvish words started.  Recall that on that day Gim Guru's name was invoked, and I have associated that name and Being with Faramir-Eonwe, who apparently will have some task in building that bridge and leading others across it.  Independence will be found in crossing that bridge.

In between hockey games yesterday, my son and I took a few minutes to go see the Liberty Bell.  It was pretty underwhelming, honestly.  I am not sure what I was expecting in seeing a bell, I guess.  Anyway, for those not familiar with it, the bell was hung in Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was written.  Tradition has it that it rang out at the first public reading of the Declaration, but the bell is also famous for its massive crack, and it isn't certain that it actually rang that day due to the condition it was in.

It was permanently retired in the 1800s due to the crack damage making it impossible to recover its tone.  So, now you can stand in a line and go shuffle past it and listen to its deafening silence.

On the bell is inscribed a scripture from Leviticus:

Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof

The bell is quiet, as is liberty on this Earth for all who live here, being subject to all sorts of Beings, those we see and believe in and those that we don't.

But my view is that the bell of liberty rings again at some point, and a proclamation that freedom can once again be available for all those who will make the journey.  This calls to my mind Joseph's own words regarding the dead, and which I have brought up before:

Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.

Redemption and freedom was the vision that Joseph has, and it remains unrealized.  We are the Dead, here, in my opinion.

To conclude these last thoughts, and to tie into my own story, there was a short phrase from back in very early 2022 which dealt with the sound of a 'ring' (as one would hear from a bell) and with redemption.  That short phrase was:

I was there for your birth

And heard in it the ring of the power of redemption

There was a second meaning I would later realize regarding these words, having likely to do with Amazon's show "Rings of Power".  I haven't seen the show.  It would air later that year in the fall, and I had not heard of the show's name until sometime well after this words.  I understand it was intended to have something to do with the 2nd age and the history of Numenor (though I hear it is not good if you are a Tolkien fan and may as well be a fictional story).  But I find the reference interesting given that some many things in my writing are touching on Numenor, and lately with Pharazon.

I also now assume the speaker of those words is addressing Faramir-Eowne, and the the redemption spoken of will in some manner involve restoring what was lost and broken in what occurred as a result of Pharazon's actions.

Urkel, Alice, Humpty, and Physiognomy

I mentioned in my post last night that Steve Urkel from the show Family Matters had come to my mind, of all things.

It was actually in the process of writing the post that this happened.  I had written that Pharazon, like Humpty, had fallen and couldn't get back up.  As I typed this, I remembered that this was an Urkel tagline.  It actually originated, I believe, with a commercial from a US company called LifeCall, which featured old people needing emergency care.  In one scene, a woman named Mrs. Fletcher is lying down in the bathroom, and says the (in)famous phrase.  Here is the original spot (Mrs. Fletcher is midway through):

The phrase went on to be used in all sorts of things (it was ultimately trademarked by LifeCall), including the show Family Matters as one of Steve Urkel's lines.  Here is a compilation with a few examples of him saying it:

It was this that came to my mind as I wrote about both Humpty and Pharazon's fall.  It also brought to mind something else that was interesting, and tied directly back to Alice and Humpty Dumpty.

On January 3rd of this year, one of William Tychonievich's blogger friends, Francis Berger, published a post commenting on the appearance of then-president of Harvard, Claudine Gay.  It was a very short post showing Gay's face, followed by Stever Urkel's.  Berger mentioned that when he first saw Gay, he thought he was looking at Steve Urkel.  Here is the post:

https://www.francisberger.com/blog/the-upside-of-not-being-fully-up-to-date-on-the-news-cycle

A commenter by the pseudonym "physiognomycheck" followed up with another Urkel tagline "did I dooo that?", and then proceeds to, from what I can gather from quote they brought in, call Gay ugly.

The interesting thing about this was up until 2 weeks ago, I had never even read or heard the word "physiognomy".  So, I was interested to see it here as the name for this commenter - literally only the 2nd time I had seen it in my life within a span of 2 weeks from the first time.

How did I read it the first time?  I received an email from someone asking for a photo of another person wanting to know about their physiognomy.  

Since I had never heard of the word, I looked it up.  The meaning is something like assessing the character, personality, and identify from their appearance, specifically their face.  So that made sense, and that was definitely the context the request for the picture was made in.

So when I saw it as the pseudonym for this commenter, I understood the context it was made in.  They had adopted the name for the specific comment only in order to go along with their comment:  that this person who apparently looked like Urkel had been assessed by this commenter, with their opinion of the ugliness of Gay being part of their 'physiognomy check', or assessment of her.

I am not interested in the private motivations or the actually takeaways of this person's physiognomy check in this post.  I am more interested in the fact that this came up in the context of Urkel.

Again, I had written about Humpty and Pharazon both having fallen and not being able to get up, which brought up the imagery of Steve Urkel.  In Humpty's interaction with Alice, Alice actually specifically cited her use of physiognomy to identify Humpty, as well as to give her own opinion about how a person might be able to tell if they have ever met someone before:

However, the egg only got larger and larger, and more and more human: when she had come within a few yards of it, she saw that it had eyes and a nose and mouth; and when she had come close to it, she saw clearly that it was HUMPTY DUMPTY himself. ‘It can’t be anybody else!’ she said to herself. ‘I’m as certain of it, as if his name were written all over his face.’

And:

‘I shouldn’t know you again if we did meet,’ Humpty Dumpty replied in a discontented tone, giving her one of his fingers to shake; ‘you’re so exactly like other people.’

‘The face is what one goes by, generally,’ Alice remarked in a thoughtful tone.

 

Humpty Dumpty and the Fall of Pharazon

This will be an interlude before we get to Menelmacar-Orion, I guess.  I am going to make this post as short and sweet as possible.

I woke up early this morning with the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme going on in my head.  The one that goes:

 

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again

Well, now we really are going to go Kabbalistic and find meaning in a nursery rhyme, I suppose.

In waking up as this rhyme was being recited in my head (I say it that way because that it felt - like a reading from someone else in my mind), I also had the distinct impression that the nursery rhyme - at least in its usage at the particular moment - was speaking of Pharazon specifically, and the Numenoreans generally.

I am not saying that is the right interpretation, necessarily, or even what was intended, but just that is how I understood it.

And it kind of made sense at first, but then made even more sense as I looked into it just a bit more.

We visualize Humpty as an Egg thanks to Lewis Carroll, I believe.  I've referenced his books on this blog before, and used other characters of his to illustrate points or make analogies (e.g., The White Rabbit) and here Carroll's stories pop up again.

Anyway, Humpty being an Egg gives us another analogy for the Bald Man who wants to reach the Sky.  Eggs are pretty bald.   I've covered that in other posts, though, so I don't think there is anything more to say on that specific feature right now.  You can look those up if you want - I am too tired tonight to link them.

However, as Alice notes in her encounter with Humpty, it is the face that one goes by in identifying people, and she could tell who Humpty was from a long ways away as if 'his name was written all over his face'.  It is also important to note that Alice did not say that Humpty Dumpty was an Egg, only that his physical appearance greatly resembled one (a point she emphasizes with Humpty).

In this encounter, Alice quotes a version of the nursery rhyme that is a bit different than what I just wrote above.  Here is how her version goes:

 

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall:
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty in his place again.

I've bolded the last line, which is the important change.   Whereas the other version calls to the mind a Being who has broken into many pieces from his fall, this other version simply states that whatever happened to Humpty, it was now not possible to place him back to the location where he was before his fall, which would have been sitting atop a wall.  He had fallen, and could not get back up, no matter how many horses or men were used.

Anyway, the analogy should be pretty clear to the case of Pharazon and the Numenoreans.  They fell, and for a few reasons, cannot be put back in their place.  One of those reasons being their former home is not there to be placed back up to.

Also of interest, is that Alice notices or makes note of a belt that Humpty Dumpty is wearing.  Humpty wants to clarify that it is not a belt, but a cravat, of course.  Whatever.  It serves as both, since Humpty's waist and neck are pretty much the same thing in the state that he is in.

Why interesting?  Well, one of the defining features of Orion-Menelmacar is his shiny belt.  Pharazon too, in Words of the Faithful, was known by his own shiny belt on which he had inscribed his perceived status of being the Chosen One:

Martalion he was called in songs of praise, a Foretold One like unto the mighty men of old, of Turambar and Tuor his sire over the long years.  In gold finery he covered his nakedness, gilded in sunlight so none could withstand him at mid-day, and girded in true-silver of Mithril, an emblem it was said of the portended Noble that would restore the land and its people to the glory that was sung of the gods in yesteryears, when the magic sun and the silver Silpion gave light and truth to all the Fair Folk.  Indeed, among that people it was held out in a final hope that in the exceeding vanity of this "Chosen one" (for that title was carved into the belt of silver) - though the wise said in whispers that the belt alone had been chosen - in him some new relations of Man and Eldar might unfold, as indeed came up them in Eressea.

And here Humpty is also sporting a belt that was nice enough for Alice to notice and make mention.

Pharazon would usurp Miriel's throne in leading the Numenoreans (and this world) to ruin.  I am also suggesting he attempted to usurp, or believed he was, the one who would lead people back to Valinor.  Meaning, the prophecy was real, but he was not that Being.  In other words, his belt symbolically connects him to Faramir-Eonwe, or Menelmacar-Orion, but as a fake or imposter of that Being.  

 I am not saying they were wrong about the belt - Orion has a pretty shiny one - just that they believed in the wrong Man.

The name Pharazon is also an interesting name game for the Being he was acting as.  Phara-, the first part of this name, is the same thing as Fara-, from Faramir.  Faramir's name can mean Jewel Hunter, as guessed at elsewhere on this blog.  Pharazon's name is said to be Adunaic, and means something like Golden One (again, perhaps in copy of the Sun/El-Anor).  But, if looking at it as a word game in Elvish, would mean The Great Hunter, this name representing who he wished to be (and who Sauron likely ended up convincing him that he was).

I don't know.  Just some thoughts, and I had some more, including a reference to Steve Urkel, of all things, but I'll save it for later.  Might be a fun/ interesting short call out.  Basically, I am tired and just want to wrap this post up.  Humpty Dumpty was an unexpected little bit of thinking this morning, so logging some quick thoughts was all I wanted to do.   I suppose it was also timely given that I had been planning to turn to Orion-Menelmacar next.

Remmirath and the Netted Stars: The Seven Daughters of Asenath

Yesterday I introduced Rimmirath and Menelmacar (also known as Menelvagor) as two important constellations.   I also bought up Sirius, as this will be important, I think.  Sirius is known by the Elvish name of Helluin, and for all intents and purposes appears to have been considered part of Menelmacar to the Eldar (i.e., the Man and his Dog were part of the same story), thus all 3 of these constellations were represented in that scene from the Lord of the Rings I quoted in my last post.

I am going to completely disregard most of the modern mythological stories about them (what we have from the Greeks and Romans), however, and focus or reintroduce a few things about them that I think are important for our story.

I will start with Rimmirath because I think they are mentioned next in my words from 2019.

On October 29, I had a dream involving a woman lying on a couch.  As she was lying there, she said something that sounded like Apo to ji, with to sounding like one would say toe.  Again, this was verbally said so I how I have the phrase there is how I originally wrote it down as I sounded it out.

In rewriting it today, I would write it as:

Ap odo dye

The dye in that phrase I believe is sounded out just like the ji I wrote down, and it will show up in other parts of my words so I think it is a good guess.  There isn't an Elvish word that really starts with J, so something with an alternative spelling is what I would be looking for anyway.

The translation to this could be something like "after seven ancient", but there are a few different versions for Ap and Dye.  For instance, Dye could be "to gaze or look", and that still works here, I think.  In fact, as I will explain shortly, I think "look at" would be a very accurate translation, and in that case I would translate the phrase as "concerning seven to look at", with seven here representing not the total of seven, but the seventh member or the number 7.  So, I think both translations work and are applicable.  The important thing to note is Odo, which means Seven.

In thinking how I want to tackle this, maybe I just want to cover two very specific aspects of their story, and then in later posts we will see if other things come up.  Those two things are their number, and the their relationship with Orion, because these both relate to that phrase above - very directly, I feel.

First, their number, or even more specifically, confusion around their number.

Seven is definitely the number of Daughters/ Sisters associated with Remmirath and the stories around it (I am just going to mainly use the Elvish name going forward... it is easier for me to spell!), but to the naked eye there are only six stars.  In fact, Subaru is the name for this constellation in Japan, and those familiar with the car brand of that name would have seen this symbol:

You will note that there are only 6 stars in the logo.  The seventh is missing.

And, if you want to get technical, there are something like 1,000 stars comprising Remmirath that you can pick out depending on what kind of telescope you have trained on it.  But, in terms of mythology and stories, the constellation was meant to represent the 7 sisters, with only 6 of them being visible to watchers looking at them with the unaided eye.

The case of the missing 7th Daughter is integral to the story, I propose, and I've brought this up in previous posts, such as in"Sammy and the Dinosaurs (and it all comes back to Xanadu)".

In my story, the symbolism of the Seven Daughters being represented by six stars is based on one of them going 'missing', or becoming invisible, in that she leaves her place among the stars and once again condescends to join us in this world.

Why does she do this, though?  Well, part of their own task is to assist Faramir-Eonwe in the mission he was given.  As we will get to in a later post, I associate Orion-Menelmacar with this Faramir character we have been discussing.  I will get into the detail then, but for now just be aware that even in names we have an interesting connection that shouldn't be easily ignored:  Another version of Eonwe's name is Urion (very similar to Orion), and he was said to be the greatest Being in Valinor relating to 'arms' or weapons, including the sword, which is what Menelmacar bares in his flight through the skies as the Swordsman of Heaven.  Indeed, it is said that Manwe himself gave his own sword to Eonwe to use against Melkor and his Hosts in the War of Wrath.  But again, I will get into some of that in the post on Orion-Menelmacar.

These Seven Daughters have offered their help to Faramir-Eonwe and the nature of his need would be one reason that one of the Daughters came to this earth.  In my story, to provide the assistance that Faramir would require involved one of the Daughters voluntarily coming down and providing it in person.  The other Daughters would do what what they do - whatever that is - while this 7th would provide help in a different way.

In Greek mythology, Orion chases the Seven Sisters through the sky because he is amorously interested in them.  It is actually the reason the Sisters were placed in the sky in the first place, according to the Greeks.  Orion was too persistent in his advances to them (and to their mother!), and so Zeus stepped in, turned them into doves (a sign of the Holy Ghost), and they ascended to heaven and become stars free of the pursuit of Orion.  Orion would later day, and Zeus would set him in the sky as well, as a man formed by stars, who would pursue and chase the Sisters through the sky as they travelled from East to West.  But, of course, Orion can never catch them.

My story, and I believe Varda's intention and doom with these constellations, is different.  Rather than chasing them, Menelmacar is following them.  The Sisters are literally leading him on a path as he attempts to rise.  The future ascension of Faramir has been central to what I have written here, as well as the fact that I have settled in my mind that this will be as one travelling to the "West" (not East!), just like Orion's path through the sky.  And here in Menelmacar's relation to Remmirath it is revealed that Sisters will be guiding him as this happens.  And not just guiding, but clearing a path for him.

This notion, then, as I just realized in the last couple days, likely gives us our answer as to why Asenath is telling her brother Faramir-Eonwe that he will be "enmeshed/ ensnared" as part of her "plucking" him up (see my "Im Fahrten" post for those words dealing with the October 27 words) .  It will be her Daughters who will be involved in this plucking, and that he is to follow them.  Remmirath literally means "mesh-net jewels", where we get the Netted Jewels or Stars name from.  Rema is the words from Oct. 27 that is the same root for Remmirath - to mesh or net (as to catch).

This is also an interesting play on Faramir's name.  Recall that I have it as meaning Jewel Hunter in one translation and that this is involved in some way with the gathering of the Family of Light.  But, we see it also is potentially a reference to his hunting after or following the Jewels of the Remmirath into the sky. Or perhaps their hunting of him as well, and thus the enmash/ ensnare wording?

I will get even more specific from my words to illustrate the relationship of these Seven Daughters with Faramir-Eonwe.

Fast forward several months to May 2, 2020.  As overall context, this is just a few days before I go to the hospital and things turn a bit upside down for me for an extended period of time.  These were the words from that morning.

Eru to speak my son
I am he faithfully executing your commands to raise up Finwe house
when you were born 7 to help
evacuation to begin
a storm breaking
May 16 a sign in the heavens
a new star

These were strange words at the time, and I remember when I got them feeling like something was really imminent, and quite frankly I acted like something was going to happen immediately.  The mention of May 16, two weeks away, certainly didn't help when it came to thinking through 'an evacuation', a 'storm breaking'.  Of course, May 16 came and went and nothing happened and no sign in the heavens, and what that phrase ultimately meant or pointed to, I don't know for sure.  Four years later, no evacuation or storm breaking, or a new star, at least in a way that is recognizable to me.

But I cite this not necessarily trying to answer that part, though, but to point out the mention of the Seven.

To orient ourselves, in this dialogue I believe this is Eru introducing himself to his son, as in "Eru (who is I) to speak, my son" - in other words, he is referring to himself in the 3rd person in addressing his son (which is not unusual given other quotes attributed to him in other words and books, so this makes sense to me).  I have said in earlier posts that my guess is both Asenath and Faramir are twin children of Eru from a time long before, so the son here that is being addressed is Faramir.

The next line would be spoken by Faramir in response, the "I am he..." line.   Faramir has been given a command to raise up Finwe's House, it is inferred by the response (Israel, but again I would chart this house to a time before this world, and not just to Finwe's physical offspring as outlined in Tolkien's stories) and he is asserting that he is faithfully trying to do this.

Eru responds by saying that he is not alone in this task.   When Faramir was born to try and raise up Israel, now scattered on this world, and likely others, the Seven Daughters offered to help.  That is the important part to call out here as it relates to our story of these constellations.

Faramir is to 'rise' up, and not only just him, but as he said in his response to Eru-Jesus, he will raise up all of Israel (literally) as well.  The Daughters will help him in that work.

That is the story, and that is why we see Orion following the 7 daughters in our sky, as a reminder or prophecy of this.  Thus, the ap odo dye means those two things:  to follow after the Seven, but also to gaze or look at the seventh.  This seventh is the missing Daughter - the one that we can't see in the sky, but who will be revealed as this story unfolds as she joins Faramir-Eowyn in his work down on this earth.  My belief is both are here now.

To conclude, there is an interesting little sync or connection that seems to reinforce this story of the Remmirath and the Seven Daughters.   It has been a busy couple weeks on the farm as spring now is here.  We got our new batch of chicks.   These will replace our existing flock this fall when those birds go to meet the big chicken in the sky.   Our pigs for the year are now out on the pasture, and I got our bees to replace the one hive that didn't make it through the winter into their hive just yesterday.

Anyway, our two younger kids always like the new chicks when they first come home, and pretty much spend all afternoon and evening holding them and naming them.   The chicks must think they are rockstars.

Here is my daughter acting as a hand model holding her favorite chicken (who was the only one to receive a name that first day, that I can remember).  

What is the name, you might ask, that she gave this chicken?

Remy.

She told me that it was after the character from the movie Ratatouille.  I didn't think anything of it until I was thinking over this post and realized that she had named the chick as a shortened name for Remmirath, or Remmi.

We took all of the chicks out to the barn later that evening to put in the brooder.  As we walked back outside, there was a rainbow that had appeared in front of our house that had an extraordinarily deep color that even came through for the most part on my crappy iPhone camera:

She Ran

Just a very short post to log something from the morning that will come into play in a little bit once I get to some words later in November 2019.  Right now I am on October 29th, which I will get to in my next post as a launching point to some thoughts on some constellations and their stories, as mentioned in my last post.

At this stage of my words, my guess is that it is Asenath speaking.  Following November 2nd (and actually concluding that evening/ morning), it is my guess that the voice switches to Eowyn for a period of time.  So that switch will happen fairly soon in terms of the timeline I am walking through in my words - in just a couple days.  It seems that Asenath kicks things off, and Eowyn jumps in fairly soon in the process.

In my dream this morning, I was reading a paragraph of words, and highlighted in big bold letters was simply the phrase "She ran".  Fairly straightforward in English.

But this is another double-meaning/ play on words.  I can't help looking into Elvish meaning for English words (and vice versa), and this was no different.

We have already associated Eowyn-Ilmare with the Moon and Ithil Stone, and even mythological figures associated with the Moon, such as Artemis/ Diana.  

What does Ran mean in Elvish?  Moon.

So, "She [is the] Moon".  Or something like that.  She, who is the Moon, ran, putting those two meanings together.  Ran also means "to go on an uncertain course", and thus also a potential reference to both her ascension and her journey and search out in the Void.

This will come into play at least by my Nov. 11 words - maybe sooner.  We'll see how it works out.  I just wanted to log this now both as a personal reminder for when that comes up, and also referencing the dream as a potential confirmation that my thinking is on the right path in terms of the transition of speaker to Eowyn by that time and in relating certain things.

Connecting Dots: Born looking up at the stars and the stories they tell

The constellation Orion has been on my mind for about the last week or so.  Yesterday, the constellation representing the 7 Daughters of Asenath was front and center for me, known to us as The Pleiades but among the Elves as Remmirath (the Netted Stars).  This is due to the fact that next up in line from the re-exploration of my words from the fall of 2019 is the first mention or allusion to these Daughters. 

 William Tychonievich even wrote about stars and constellation over on his blog, in response to a question I had for him relating to 'connecting the dots'.  He used constellations in discussing that metaphor or phrase, which I thought was timely based on things on my mind.  I left a brief message over there to that effect, and mentioned that Orion had been one of these Beings and stories I have been thinking through.

Orion and The Pleiades are connected in modern mythology, of course, just as they are connected in truer stories that have been mostly lost to us I think.  Depending on how this goes, I might take a couple posts to talk about my thoughts relative to Remmirath, Orion, and maybe we'll even throw in Orion's dog Sirius, who has come up a few times here and for other folks.  We will see how it goes.

I even started writing a draft on Remmirath and the Daughters, but decided that before I do down that path, I wanted to focus on the stars in general and how they fit into Tolkien's mythology, specifically in relation to the Elves.  Just really briefly, as I am sure there are whole discourses and academic papers on just this area.  I just want to introduce the overall concept.

For those who have read the Lord of the Rings, we get a first sense of how the Elves view and behave regarding the stars and the constellations from Gildor and his fellow High Elves' reaction to various constellations appearing in the sky.  Found in the chapter "Three is Company", at this point the Hobbits had encountered Gildor's group in the woods at the edge of the Shire after their narrow escape from being found by one of the Ringwraiths.

After travelling with the Elves for a time to the woods above Woodhall, they stop and the Elves then withdraw into themselves and take no more notice of the Hobbits.  Pippin falls asleep.  They are not ignoring the Hobbits, however, they are just waiting.  For what?  The appearance of Menelvagor (Orion) in the sky, apparently:

Away high in the East swung Remmirath, the Netted Stars, and slowly above the mists red Borgil rose, glowing like a jewel of fire.  Then by some shift of airs all the mist was drawn away like a veil, and there leaned up, as he climbed over the rim of the world, the Swordsman of the Sky, Menelvagor with his shining belt.  The Elves all burst into song.  Suddenly under the trees a fire sprang up with a red light.

'Come!' the Elves called to the hobbits. 'Come! Now is the time for speech and merriment!'

Menelvagor, or the Swordsman of the Sky Orion, held a special place for the Elves due to the story he represented.  I will save some of my thoughts for that in a later post, but just use the above to illustrate that the stars were important to the Elves.  And not just individual stars, but the stars connected or grouped with other stars that made shapes, Beings, and stories.  I want to give a very brief background, or at least part of it as I understand things, for why that is.

Awakening under the Stars

The Elves came before Men, in Tolkien's stories.  The First, with Men being the Last. They were born before the Sun was the primary source of light for this world, apparently, which I mentioned before in my post on Gim Githil and which is why they reverence the Moon more than the Sun in their stories.

Their 'awakening' happened at Cuivienen, or "The Waters of Awakening". Before this happened, and knowing the time for their arrival was near, the Vala Varda, Queen of Heaven, was said to have performed the greatest of all of the words of the Valar up to that time:

Then Varda went forth from the council, and she looked out from the height of Taniquetil, and beheld the darkness of Middle-earth beneath the innumerable stars, faint and far.  Then she began a great labour, greatest of all the works of the Valar since their coming into Arda.  She the silver dews of Telperion, and therewith she made new stars and brighter against the coming of the Firstborn; wherefore she whose name out of the deeps of time and labours of Ea was Tintalle, the Kindler, was called after by the Elves Elentari, Queen of the Stars.  Carnil and Luinil, Nenar and Lumbar, Alcarinque and Elemmire she wrought in that time, and many other of the ancient stars she gathered together and set as signs in the heavens of Arda:  Wilwarin, Telumendil, Soronume, and Anarime; and Menelmacar [the same as Menelvagor] with his shining belt, that forebodes the Last Battle that shall be at the end of days.  And high in the north as a challenge to Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing, Valacirca, the Sickle of the Valar and sign of doom.

What is important to note here, is that Varda not only created new stars, but she specifically gathered them together (it is said) into shapes that told stories.  Not just any stories, though, stories of the future.  These were dooms and prophecies as the related to the story of the Elves and of this world.

It is important to remember that this was done for the benefit of the Elves, and that new 'light' here doesn't just mean the physical light of stars that shone down on these first Elves, but actual knowledge.  Stories!  In the sky, she painted knowledge and stories of the future.

The Elves would have awakened looking up at those stars, and more importantly, at the stories they were meant to tell.  Of all Beings, it seems the Elves love stories, and perhaps this is one reason why.  They were surrounded by them, in the form of stars and constellations, when they first opened their eyes.

And they understood many of those stories in the beginning, with knowledge likely being lost over time.  William in his blog likened the effect of having lost an understanding of the stars to having lost a key.  This notion of a keys definitely seems to be an ongoing theme.

Keys are found on maps, and are used as a form of interpretation and understanding.  If you have the Key, you can understand the Map.   You can 'connect the dots' in the way I think is necessary:  not just seeing the stars, not even just seeing the the shapes they form as you join them together, but understanding what those shapes mean in the form of stories.  Why are they there and what do they tell us?

In our day, we have completely lost the Key to what our own stars were meant to say, and quite frankly lost the knowledge that they were mean to say anything.  We have retained some knowledge of the shapes in which they came (e.g. Orion), but the stories have become lost and utterly corrupted.  Varda's work still stands, but our ability to understand her language is gone.  The Map remains, but we have no Key.  

Just as with the awakening of the Elves at the beginning of this world, it may be that our own awakening will be to see and understand the stars here now at its potential ending.  It may be that we first understand them and their stories from our vantage point here on Earth, preceding our future understanding of them in a completely different way as we find ourselves out among them.   I don't know, but that is what I imagine. 

In the next couple posts, I will try and restore at least some of these lost starry stories as they relate to those Beings and characters I highlighted above.  I don't mean that in terms of anything definitive, you should know by now, but just in terms of my own thought processes and guesses.  We will start with the Asenath's Daughters and see how it goes from there.  I have some ideas on where this ends up based on everything I've thought through so far, but I've been surprised many times in the course of thinking and writing, so I am interested to see how it goes.