Hanging out in Mellow-G

 I haven't written a dream post for a bit, and this morning I had a few that stuck with me for no currently apparent reason.  I am sitting here watching the Vikings getting crushed by the Packers, so I figure a short post to distract me from the torture is in order.

For the last couple years, I have had a recurring 'nightmare' which seems to be a fairly common type for many people.  I would find myself back in school, either college or grad school depending on the dream, and there would be a couple days or weeks left in my final semester before graduation, and I would realize that I wasn't going to be able to graduate due to a few different reasons, again depending on the dream version.  Sometimes I would have a test that I hadn't studied for and knew I was going to fail.  Or, I hadn't completed a final project for a class and was going to have a failing grade as a result.  Another version would involve either classes I had signed up for but never attended, and thus would fail, or classes I had needed to take but didn't, and thus would be short on credits.

These dreams would instill a sense of panic and anxiety in the dream itself, that would then persist as I woke up.  After waking, I would need to get my bearings and remind myself that I had indeed graduated, and so I didn't need to worry about this anymore, but it would sometimes take a few minutes to get that all sorted out.

Anyway, like I said, this dream, in whatever form, kept coming back, but then stopped earlier this year.  In that final dream that was like this, I was once again not going to graduate, and I was running around in my dream, panicking about my situation, when a woman's voice very clearly said "But you have already graduated!".  When I heard this, I wasn't worried anymore and woke up.

That was the last time I had the dream, and I thought that maybe they were gone for good.  However, it came back last night, or more accurately this morning, but with a slightly different twist.  The variety I had last night was in grad school at MIT, and the situation was I hadn't signed up for enough credits to graduate and only realized this in the days leading up to graduation.  The twist was my reaction in the dream.  I still grew extremely worried, and I felt that way when I woke up and still needed to take a few minutes getting my bearings and remembering I had, in fact, graduated many years ago.  But, even as I was worried in the dream, rather than grow panicked and run around trying to fix things, I found myself challenging the narrative a bit, and even thought that "Well, if true, there isn't much I can do about it now".  The "If true" thought meant I was still worried that it might be true, but I wasn't certain, and held out some hope that perhaps there had been a mistake, or that I would still be able to graduate.

Anyway, I woke up from that dream, and a little while later went back to sleep, and had another dream.

In this other dream, I found myself in something like a set of condo or apartment buildings.  They were really nice buildings, with a big courtyard area.  I couldn't figure out if I lived there or if we were staying there on vacation.  As I was walking through the courtyard with my wife to a set of glass elevators that we were going to take back up to our 'place' (room, home - not sure where we were going, other then it was where we lived), I turned around and saw my older sister and brother-in-law coming up behind us.  

I felt strangely very relieved to see my sister there, and I noticed she was dressed up really nicely, like they had been out on a date or something.  My brother-in-law came up to me and gave me a hug, looked at me and said "My man!", which was a bit strange and not a phrase I have heard him really use in greeting me or anybody else for that matter.

I asked my sister where they were coming from, and said, "Oh, we were just at Mellow-G".  I had no idea what Mellow-G was, but as she said it, it seemed to me to be a play on words for "Melody" (though I don't know why Mellow-D wouldn't have been a bitter fit for that?), and I pictured something like a club with a stage on it.  It turned out that this Mellow-G was in fact a place where people played a part or put on some skits or plays, because I now suddenly noticed that my brother-in-law was dressed all in white, and even had his face painted white.  Kind of like a mime, I guess, but paler looking.  He began to tell me about the role he had been playing in whatever it was they were doing, and though I can't remember what he said exactly, in reflecting on it since, I think he was dead - as in, his white appearance was either him as a ghost and/or how dead bodies might look like dressed in white clothing.

I woke up shortly afterward.

I have no idea what "Mellow-G" is supposed to mean, if anything, but that whole scene has just kind of stuck with me all day.  So, I am logging it here to see if perhaps it will turn out to be something down the road.  I think back on my post where I first mentioned the Empire State Building from one of my dreams.  In that post, I wasn't even going to include the reference to the ESB because it seemed so random, but decided to at the last moment.  And look how much mileage we have gotten from that.

So, we will see if this turns up anything.

Ammonites: Milkom-Men on the Promised Land

Honestly, following a thread in my mind of "Jews", as to what is meant by that term in the Book of Mormon is more on my mind at the moment (though I don't really have any answers at this point, just some hints to follow based on our story so far), but I wanted to get this Ammonites post out first since I mentioned it before and have too many loose ends I haven't gone back on already.

I posted my "Part 2" words from early 2022, which included one day where only one word was captured:  Milkommen.  My best guess was that this was German for "Welcome" with the twist of "Milk" being substituted in for the first syllable, and associating that with the Promised Land.  

I still think a pretty good guess, but as with maybe much of this, there could be multiple layers of meaning, or additional things a person might see or think of, depending on the person, their circumstances, and probably timing.  

In the comments section of that post, WJT creatively associated 'Milkommen' with Ammonites by splitting the word as Milkom Men.  I had to look this up as I had no idea who Milkom is/ was, and it turns out that he was the God of the Ammonites, a group mentioned in the Bible.

Anyway, I really liked the association he made, and my mind started going down a path with a different set of Ammonites - those found in the Book of Mormon.  

I am admittedly a hammer going around looking for nails in some of this, so there is the obvious risk that I am seeing things in much of my thinking and writing that isn't actually there.  This thought path, though, let me connect a few additional dots and seemed to support at least some of the developing story so I thought it was worth a post just to log some things.

The term 'Ammonite' is used exactly twice in the Book of Mormon as far as I can tell.  Once in Alma 56 and the other in Alma 57.  In both instances, it is Helaman who uses the term, both times in the context of the 'Stripling Warriors'.  Here is Arnold Friberg's take on some sample Ammonites with Helaman on horseback:

This fairly direct tie between Helaman and the term Ammonites caught my attention since both Helaman and the stripling warriors have come up before.  For example, on WJT's post on the "Little Skinny Planet", I brought up these Ammonites in the comment section, when I suggested that Stripling means, literally it seems, "long, narrow piece":

Interestingly, I just learned that 'stripling' was used to describe young people likely from the combination of strip + ling, meaning a "long, narrow piece". Per Etymonline:

late 14c., a word of uncertain origin, possibly from diminutive -ling + strip (n.) "long, narrow piece" on the notion of one who is "slender as a strip, one whose form or figure is not yet filled out."

This concept of long and narrow things keeps coming up, as I mentioned in my recent post with my son's drawing of a monkey holding a banana that he named Spaghetti.  A piece of spaghetti is the definition of a 'long, narrow piece', right?  Thus, in a very real sense, another form of the name for my son's monkey is "stripling" based on a couple step translation from spaghetti = long and narrow = stripling.

Am I saying that my son drew something 8 years ago that was meant to represent, even directly refer to, these Ammonite striplings - at least one of them?  Yes, I am.

And he wouldn't have been the first child that I have heard of to do something like that.  Laying more of my own cards on the table, I currently interpret many things from the stories and experiences that WJT has shared on his blog relating to "Little Skinnies" from which the world, Little Skinny Planet, derives the name he gave it, and even associations he made as a child with these Beings with Africa (i.e., people with darker skins), as story elements all pointing to these Ammonites, among a larger group of people that we know of from the Book of Mormon as Lamanites.  Here is one excerpt from WJT's post that I linked above:

Little Skinny Planet was not a name I coined for this story. I used to talk about the Little Skinny Planet when I was a toddler. I have no memory of this, but I know it from the journal entries I used to dictate to my mother before I was able to write. This was a name comparable to "Black Africa" -- not a description of the place itself, but a reference to its inhabitants. It was where I imagined the Little Skinnies must come from.

It is these Ammonites - WJT's "Little Skinnies" - that I currently have placed on Eressea #2 who have forgotten who they are but, based on Eru-Jesus' promise and the blessings of those like Lehi, need to be reminded and saved.  These are the Lamanite 'remnant'.  Among the potentially several different but related 'rescue missions' underway, the rescue of these Ammonites must be included, and it seems that this will be part of Eressea's, or the Promised Land's, restoration.

Early Mormons (and perhaps Joseph Smith, also - I don't know) figured Lamanites were Native Americans.  Associating Native Americans with "Israel" in one form or another was a fairly common practice or belief back in the day, even before Mormonism.  One of the commissions that Thomas Jefferson gave Lewis and Clark, for example, as they went out to explore the significantly expanded United States almost 30 years before the Book of Mormon came out, was to look for and collect evidence of Hebrew influences among the Native Americans they would come in contact with, in determining whether they were the Lost Tribes of Israel.

But, any searching on this world for these Lamanites is in vain, I think now, for reasons I have continued to explore on this blog.  I now place them on another world, and thus unreachable to those in the 1800's, just as they remain unreachable to us right now.

So that will need to change, and it is events that will be put in motion by Stones, Beings, and all sorts of things, I guess, that will open a door or path for this to happen.

I do want to be up front about one more thing relative to why my mind so readily goes down the path of these Ammonites, or another possible reason why I have so quickly used WJT's stories around this "little skinny planet" to build this new story (to me at least) of Lamanites living on a separated world, and this world being the Promised Land.

After I had just started this blog, one morning as I was waking up a woman's voice in very clear English mentioned a few things following a dream, with one of those things being a reference to the "Sons of Alma".  It was actually a strange enough phrase (you won't find any reference to the "Sons of Alma" in the Book of Mormon like that), that as the voice was saying this, I kind of auto-completed it with "Mosiah", since the "Sons of Mosiah" are a very well known group of brothers referred to as that.  But no, the voice was pretty clear this was the "Sons of Alma".

I looked it up later, and felt (again, rightly or wrongly - even when things come in English, it isn't as straightforward as I would like, at least - things are never more than the best guess I can pull together) that this must have to do with Alma the Younger's 3 sons:  Helaman, Shiblon, and Corianton.  Helaman, in particular, caught my attention based on Alma's parting blessing/ words to him found in Alma 37.  In these words, Alma entrusts sacred records and objects to Helaman, including the Anor Stone (Liahona), Ether's 24 plates, and the Brass Plates.  In addition, I believe he makes a reference to the Sawtooth Stone in talking about a stone "which shall shine forth in darkness unto light".

As these things were and began to be increasingly top of mind to me, I kept this "Sons of Alma" connection and words from the morning in the back of my mind for a few different reasons.  It is because of this, for example, that I was so interested in the Tom Petty 'syncs', such as the 'Wildflower' references and the sun shining from the piano for the "Wake Up Time" artwork that was like my dream.  "Alma" was top of mind because of that phrase, and so it was interesting to see the Tom Petty references build.

Additionally, however, I had completely overlooked or not paid attention to the other part of Helaman's story:  these 'stripling' Ammonites.  It would take WJT's stories, references, and syncs to draw my attention to this part of the story, which was completely surprising and unexpected for me.  But even though unexpected, I found myself almost naturally taking some of the details he was sharing, and folding them into my current story, and, more importantly, expanding the story into some of these equally unexpected, and somewhat strange, places the story has gone.

In any case, going back to where this post started with "Milkommen", I think both proposed meanings work and tie into each other, as well as the larger story of Eressea being reunited, and even Brigham-Omar's name becoming 'dark'.  Milkommen likely does refer to the Promised Land, which is also populated with "Milkom Men" - Ammonites.  These Ammonites are waiting for redemption, though they probably don't know they are waiting for it.  My guess is that they don't know because, just as with some here on this earth, they have died and been reborn, perhaps several times since the days of the Book of Mormon, and have no memory of those times.

In addition to being reminded and rescued, they will likely have a role to play in Brigham-Omar and his fellow conspirators' downfall on that land, according to Jesus' words at Bountiful:

Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant.

And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

Another Mushroom Planet, monkeys and bananas, and a deadly head in the Empire State Building

I am supremely unmotivated today to try and look into more stories, so here are some random things that come to mind.

The Mushroom Planet, Monkeys with Bananas, and "Take On Me"

I was sick as a dog last week, and it lasted for a good 5-6 days.  It was bad timing, because I was trying to wrap up work for the year and shut things down by the 22nd.  It turned out fine, but I was pretty exhausted most of the time.  On one afternoon, I just couldn't function anymore, so I shut my computer and went to go lay on the couch.  I was too uncomfortable to sleep or really focus on anything, so I figured I would just watch something mindless.

A few days earlier, my kids had mentioned the Mario movie was out on Netflix.  That seemed like something that would be fun and not require too much thinking, so I went with that.

I don't know why I had forgotten this since I played the games a bunch as a kid, but there are a lot of mushrooms in the various Mario Nintendo games, and this movie was no exception.  The movie starts out in New York (of course), and Mario and Luigi ultimately follow some magical water pipes, and end up on some other worlds.  Mario happens to land in the Mushroom Kingdom, which is the center of the action and home to Princess Peach.  The kingdom is populated by a bunch of small mushroom people (characters like Toad), in addition to being filled with mushrooms.  Mario will even need to eat mushrooms in order to 'power up' (i.e., become much larger and stronger).

The Mushroom Kingdom and the general theme caught my attention because of the various posts that William Tychonievich has written over on his blog about a book called The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet.  The posts also cover other books in the series, and even other random books that have to either directly with other mushroom worlds, or tie to some of the themes from that original series.  He even at one point makes some connections between the "Little Skinny Planet" of some of his own writings, and the concept of a Mushroom Planet.

Anyway, after starting off in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and his new friends head off to the Jungle Kingdom, the home of Donkey Kong, and a place populated by monkeys and plenty of bananas.  What am I not surprised?  Monkeys and bananas have come up quite a bit recently also, it seems, as I touched on in one of my recent posts involving my son's drawing of a monkey named Spaghetti holding a banana.

I won't spoil the movie if anyone plans to watch it, but there are quite a few other nods in addition to mushroom worlds and bananas in the story.  

Also, interestingly, the song played in the clip above is "Take On Me" by A-Ha.  After I found the clip on YouTube, but before I had a chance to link it here and continue with the rest of this post, I needed to go take my daughter to her dance practice.  As I started the car, the radio came on, and wouldn't you know the song that was playing was "Take On Me".  Funny.

I actually looked up the video when I turned back to finishing this post just now, and it is pretty fascinating.  I hadn't seen it before (though apparently it has been viewed 1.8 billion times!).  Notice the prominent sign in the window next to where the woman is sitting advertising "nice cold, ice cold MILK"?  And of course, we have a handshake between the 'drawing' man, and the 'real' woman, where she is then pulled into drawing-land (which strangely brought to my mind the LDS temple endowment, where people are literally pulled through the veil by the hand). 

Joseph Smith suggested, apparently, that knowledge will save us, and is required, particularly when it comes to matters of 'other' worlds:

A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world; evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God

I pulled this quote from History of the Church, so in the end who knows if Joseph really said this.  But, I mention this because in the LDS Endowment that I mention above, the handshake comes with a test of 'knowledge' at the veil.  This is part of the explicit instructions all patrons receive before going to the veil, that they will be tested on their knowledge of various tokens.

It turns out that "A-ha" is an Elvish word, when written as 'Aha'.  It can be rage, it looks like, but probably more appropriate for the thought above and my thoughts about the handshake in the music video and the temple , is that it can mean "Know" or "Mind".

Anyway, now I have "Take On Me" running through my head continually today.

Percy Jackson, Medusa's head, and the Empire State Building

Last night it was just my daughter, youngest son, and I at home, so we decided just to do dinner and a movie.  My daughter has gotten into the Percy Jackson books this past year, and Disney has just come out with a new series on their streaming Disney+ based on the books.  So, rather than a movie, they wanted to watch those, and they have 3 episodes out so far.  We watched each of them.

They are OK.  I am not sure Disney does a great job at storytelling or production anymore, but the kids liked the shows.  In the 3rd episode, "We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium", Percy and friends have a run in with Medusa.  They end up, just as Perseus did in Greek Mythology (Percy is short for Perseus), cutting off Medusa's head and sending it in a package to the Gods.

As I was watching that part, I thought of my "Deadly Head" post, and just had a thought that this head in the box was indeed a deadly one.  Even dead, anyone who looked at Medusa's head in the face would turn to stone, and die.  

Not really a big deal, but I was just thinking about that as the delivery man was walking with the head in the box on the way to deliver the package.  

It turns out, however, that the way to get to Olympus is through the Empire State Building.  I haven't read these books, so this is all a surprise to me as I am watching this and see our old friend the ESB pop up again (this has been something that has come up with both me and with WJT's writings, with the first mention in my own experience based on the dream related in this post).  So, the courier carrying the head heads on into the ESB, goes into the elevator and reveals a secret button to floor #600, which he proceeds to go up to, and then enters Olympus.

In looking this up later, apparently in the Percy Jackson books, Mt. Olympus has been moved to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building:

When the center of Western Civilization in the world became America, Olympus moved itself to American in turn. It anchored itself at the top of the Empire State Building and became hidden as the 600th floor. The Olympian gods and goddesses will meet twice a year here for the winter and summer solstices. The gods moved Olympus to the Empire State Building from its previous position following a bright "flame" which Chiron told Percy Jackson was Western Civilization (excerpt from the Riordan Wiki)

I don't know.  Just random stuff.  Of course it all came on the same day where I found two things my daughter must have written a couple years ago as I was cleaning out one of the bins holding some piano music.  The first writing was about hamsters, and must have been for a school assignment.  She wrote about how she really wanted a hamster ("Hamsters are amazing" was the title).  Later that evening, as we were looking for movies and scrolling on Disney+, the Herbie movies (where there is a talking VW Beetle named Herbie) came up and she really wanted to watch that (my youngest son vetoed that pretty quickly, and then they settled on Percy Jackson).   I wrote a short story about a hamster named Herbie.

The second thing was a song she wrote (she used to be really big into songwriting, and still does it a little bit, but was fairly obsessed with writing out songs a couple years ago).  In the song, she mentions things like "the King and Queen in the ocean", a "[w]hole world above me" , and someone being "tired and strest [sic], got a big DNA test, you don't know what's going to happen".  Just a bunch of things that seemed to relate to various recent topics like Family, worlds above us in space, the 'ocean' as space where Kings and Queens need to be restored to, etc.

Completing the "Godhead": Finwe as the Father that Jesus refers to in Bountiful

Placing Miriel as Mary, the mother of Jesus, also has implications for Finwe, her husband.  Specifically, in my story, he now becomes the Being that Jesus refers to as 'the Father', and who Mormons typically think of as God.  

The concept is going to be a little strange if thinking under the paradigm of Mormonism's 'Godhead', with three Beings constituting some heavenly High Council.  So, I think I will need to tackle that a bit.

Also, in hindsight and looking at this some more, I think I could have easily placed Finwe as the 'Father' even without backing into it from the Miriel thought.  Meaning, it makes enough sense to me on its own without having to rely solely on Miriel's identity as Mary to get there.  However, it was the Miriel thought that allowed me to reach that conclusion first, before then considering it on its own.  I wouldn't have gotten there without first thinking through Mary-Miriel, but now after arriving at the conclusion, I have a hard time seeing it another way (at least right now as I think through the broader story).

Godhead

Mormons view the Godhead as something different than the Trinity of other Christian beliefs, as Mormons will sometimes get flack for.  In their view, you have God, the Father, who is a distinct Being from Jesus, who was both a spirit child of God the Father in a premortal life, but also his actual physical son born on this world.  In addition, you have the Holy Ghost as another separate Being, but little is known or discussed about the nature of this Being, other than its effects are felt, particularly after one is baptized and receives 'the Gift of the Holy Ghost' (which is also not well defined).

In any case, we have covered the Holy Ghost in past posts, where I have made some guesses as to this "Being" actually being a sister-brother pair, both of whom were children of Eru in a life long before this world was created.  Este-Asenath-Nimloth would be the first person in that pair, and Eonwe-Faramir-Abinadi is the other person.  

In addition, Eru is Jesus in these stories, although I am not sure I have actually written a post on this.  Whereas the Holy Ghost topic was new thinking I was going through in relation to this blog, Eru as Jesus is something that is both strongly implied in some of Tolkien's own writing, and also made even more explicit in Doug's stories.  It makes enough sense to me that I haven't really had any need or interest to dive in and explore any alternatives, or even need to put any evidence or background together on it.

The important thing to call out, however, is that identifying Eru as Jesus does counter, quite significantly, Mormons' view of who Jesus is.  In modern Mormonism, Jesus was a spirit child of God, much like you and me in that view, but our older brother.  As part of his development going back to a 'pre-mortal' life, Jesus needed to be born, receive a body, learn, progress, etc., , just like we had to, apparently, with the added burden that he would also need to be 'perfect' in this life so he could bring the rest of us along with him back to Heaven.

The view of Eru as Jesus, however, is much closer to other Christian faiths (I think), and in fact much closer to how Jesus is described in the Book of Mormon.  He is the creator, and didn't 'need' to come to Earth as part of any personal development plan, but rather condescended into Earth (on whatever world or land) in order to save it and us.  This also gets at what exactly Jesus 'did', and what the plan was, which isn't the focus of this post, necessarily.

In any case, we have 2 of the 3 identities and related stories for this Godhead, and it is a family affair so far.  We have Eru, as the "Son", and two of his children in the roles of the Holy Ghost.

The Father I haven't really covered, I don't think, so I guess here we go in light of this thought thread.

Up until earlier this week, if asked who the Father was, I would have probably said that it was Manwe.  I just hadn't thought about it too much as I was going through other characters and story elements.  In cases like that, when I haven't yet turned my full attention to it, I have gone with the default, whether from Tolkien or Joseph Smith's writings, or from Doug's stories.  In this case, Doug has identified Manwe (the King of the Valar, or 'head' God) as God the Father, and also had a fairly involved story around Varda, Manwe's wife, as Mary.  This made sense to me, at least enough were I didn't see any need to challenge it as I was going through other material.

However, as with other themes and characters, such as Gandalf-Nephi, now that I have had some time to think on it (and by time, I mean the last couple days... so this is fairly new thinking and liable to errors, or being wholly wrong), I don't like it.  So, I have replaced Finwe in my mind as to who the Father is, and we will see how it goes.

The Father

I skimmed (fairly quickly, actually) back through Jesus' words at Bountiful, and noted that at no time (from what I noticed) does Jesus call the Being he refers to as 'the Father' God.  He does talk about God, but when using his own words, he is always referring to himself.   For example, when he first appears at Bountiful, he introduces himself and then invites everyone to feel his wounds, so that they can know that he, Jesus, is their God:

Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. (3 Nephi 11)

He will go on to say God in the 3rd person several times, but in each of these instances he is only quoting scripture, such as Isaiah.  He never uses his own words to describe another as "God" (that I could find in my quick skim...  I may have missed something).

Thus, when speaking in his own words, he will always refer to the Father as simply that - the Father.  God, as we would think of that term, is Jesus, and he seems to make it fairly clear that this is so.

I just call this out because this comes across very much as a family relationship or House that is being brought back together, and this ties very much to the situation of Finwe's House, the Noldor, and to at least a partial definition of "Israel".

No House, of all those that resided in Valinor among the Eldar, was more shattered and broken than what the Noldor became in the events following the death of the Two Trees, and the loss of Finwe.  Finwe and Miriel's family were bereft of both of them, a missing King and Queen.  I covered this a bit in my post on Miriel, or at least it would have been covered in the link I attached, so I won't revisit the details of this broken House here.  The important part I am trying to convey is that the events on Valinor ended with a broken and scattered House, with many of them completely exiled from ever returning to Valinor, and a curse laid upon them to round out the whole affair.  Feanor would die at the hands of multiple Balrogs shortly after his exile, and his sons would, reportedly, go on to try and fulfill the oaths they took in reclaiming the Silmarils from Melkor (to disastrous results).

So, that House was and is a mess.  But, it is not 'allowed' to remain that way, I don't believe  Jesus' promise is that he will reclaim them, or as many as we would attach to Finwe (in other words, I can't simply say that all physical descendants of Finwe are all his House - I don't know if that is true).  This is where the definition of "Israel" is still frustratingly less clear than I would like it to be in my head, but again, I view Finwe's family and House going back well before this Earth, and to plans made by both Finwe and Eru to go back just as far.  "Israel" is not necessarily the same thing as the "Family of Light", though there maybe be significant overlap if we were to draw the two out as in a Venn diagram.  Again, it is something I would like to get a better handle on in the future, but it isn't the emphasis of this post other than to articulate the there is Finwe and Miriel, and they have a House or family that needs to be reconciled to them, based on promises made quite a long time ago.  That is the key point here.

Some of these promises are captured in Doug's second book.  As a reminder, I treat Doug's writings the same way I currently do the bible in many ways - good stuff in there if you know what you are looking for or trying to find, but corrupted, changed, and likely dangerous if used in the wrong way.  In those writings are some references to Finwe's relationship with Eru, and plans that they made.  These make sense to me, or seem to fit this narrative, so I will use them.  

This is another case where it isn't necessary to go into Doug's writing, but it might be helpful to understand just a couple story elements to then have a better basis on how to assess or approach what I am writing here.  So, I will pull in just a few things.

Anyway, in those stories, in this period stretching way back, it seems that Eru made a plan with Finwe, that would, at a time very far distant in the future, result in the overthrow of Melkor, specifically, and of evil influences and forces related to him, more generally.  Here is a brief excerpt showing Eru (again, who we would know later here on Earth as God and Jesus) first visiting Finwe when it seems that in a time far past there was another world that had been overtaken by Melkor:

Thus, when Eru landed in a world he [Melko] had by lies corrupted, and there even as a wayfaring beggar of no knowledge, nor threat to its Ruler, unsettled that Dark king became, where price encircled his throne, and buoyed those abiding near his house; to Finwe came Eru in those Ancient Before Days, and finding his heart unscathed amid those fumes and coals (as it were) of spirit-evil, a plan these two devised...

So, to paraphrase, Melkor had set up an evil kingdom, of which Finwe found himself within but not a part of - meaning he was a righteous person surrounding by evil.  Eru visits him in order to put a plan in motion that will take down Melkor once and for all (we are in the 'latter' stages, perhaps, of this plan).

At a later time, it seems that Melkor has in fact been capture and jailed, but this situation will not last (obviously, since we are here, now, in this state).  This is all part of the plan, however, (as I see it), and Eru gives Finwe a parting blessing before taking off again for destinations unknown.  This blessing is important, because it establishes the Eru and Finwe are essentially 'partners' in what Eru is trying to accomplish.  Here is part of the blessing he gives (this and the next excerpt are taken from "Words of Them That Slumbered"):

Blessing now I leave also imprinted on thy brow,

Forever, by ye thus bodied or otherwise:

That though now crown upholding, this brow is 

A seat of wise counsel, and shall in time come

To seat in judgment, even as Melko once sat,

To misery's content; other shall thee decide,

In mercy, and to thy house's dominion, though 

Its denizens be parted, and throw forth arrows

At one another, all shall be to they glory, and 

To mine, too; and this is the glory of we two:

To liberate all anywhere bound, unjustly,

By oath on-taken, willfully, yet later rued, and

Would be foresworn, if the consequences abiding,

Slept instead; so shall I in my wise purpose,

Break even heart from mind, as eye from face,

Leaving one without sight to guide, and the other,

Nowhere to turn, in ward in reflection;

These words shall not break, though all they House

Entire, without exception, dispossessed even

To their loss of own lore, of self, house,

And in mercy also, or Eru

Ok, so a bit to chew through, there.  Eru alludes to Finwe's House breaking, and that they would all lose their knowledge, of who they themselves were, of their family and House, and even knowing Eru.  However, this is all part of the larger plan - the long-game - and this will be rectified.

I bolded the section above where Eru essentially establishes this partnership between both he and Finwe, and that the Story that will develop, and which will ultimately free many people from Evil, will be to both of their glories.  This gives additional meaning, in my view, to Jesus' statements of he and the Father being 'one', and he in the Father, and the Father in him.  There is a plan in place, a Good one, and both Finwe and Eru seem to have been in on it from the get-go - something uniquely 'theirs'.

Eru, in these writings, will also go on to say some things about Finwe and a new name or Being he will be as part of this whole affair, but that will be for another post.  It will potentially become important in understanding another facet or purpose to the Jaredites sailing for Eressea, since we will find Finwe among them in that journey.

So, as I see it, it makes complete sense for Eru to be born as Jesus, with Finwe (by whatever name he goes by at the time of Jesus' birth) and Miriel as his parents, because he is specifically condescending to become part of that family (Israel) that will be broken, as part of his larger plan, in order to save it.  He will keep his promise, redeem Finwe's House, uniting them back to their Father (who he has also taken on as his own Father in this story), and who is the Being that Jesus is referring to at Bountiful.  He is talking to members of the Finwe's Family going back to that earlier time, identifies them as such, and so is rightly teaching them and trying to restore them to their Father, perhaps.

In essence, this remains a family affair, and our definition of what constitutes that Family continues to expand, potentially.  As I said, there isn't a limit that I know of (with the exception of a few individuals), and all who wish to join with Eru and his family (Eru as Jesus now literally folding his own family in with that of Finwe, the Father) receive and take part in all of the promises and blessings.

In any case, as I said at the beginning of this post, there is enough here where I am encouraged to go ahead with the thinking that Finwe is the Being known as "the Father", who would be the same individual Mormons think of when referring to "God".  In fact, even in just the couple days I have been thinking on it, I have a hard time in seeing it now otherwise, whether Manwe or anyone else.  We will see, though, as with the other topics that are being explored here, whether this particular hypothesis will hold together as we explore implications, but for now it works for me.

Mary Stone, a quick addendum to earlier post

 I had meant to add at the end of my last post this reference to 'Mary Stone' , but forgot in all of the rush to get it wrapped and posted in the short time window I had.

As I mentioned, this thought regarding Mary-Miriel started on Christmas Eve, and started occupying a significant amount of my thinking.  Later that same day, I was walking down the hallway and there sitting on the pony wall at the top of our stairs was my wife's Kindle with the following screen saver image:

Mary, like pretty much every other character in the Book of Mormon, and the Bible for that manner, is just known by her first name.  It is simply Mary.  Here, though, Mary is given a last name, and as luck would have it, it is "Stone".  Of course it would be.

The Stone here is relevant for a few reasons.  First, recall that Miriel's name means something like Jewel or Precious Thing.  Another word for jewel is gemstone, or a precious stone.  I would have actually seen this screen saver before I had started looking up names and definitions that I went through in my last post, so I would have made this connection later (not while looking at the Kindle sitting there).

Second, the Sawtooth Stone is relevant, as I see it, for Finwe and Miriel's family.  There are a number of things, charges, etc. that have been levelled at her family.  My belief is part of what the Stone will do is right past wrongs - that incorrect stories and false witnesses will be corrected.  When Isaiah says that Israel's sins "be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool", this may mean more than just forgiveness.  It may also mean that some things - sins - that are attributed to that House didn't happen the way we might all assume that they did.  Records and stories have been changed, and this hasn't usually been done to protect the innocent.  Just the opposite, in fact.

In the spirit of records, it should also be noted that Miriel herself, besides being known as a seamstress beyond comparison, also became involved in record keeping herself.  In one version of the story, after being allowed to come back to life, she went to the House of Vaire and there kept a record of the all of the Noldor's deeds.  The salvation of the Noldor (and of Israel) may lie in such stories and records.

With this in mind, it would not be out of the realm of possibility for Miriel to have a record that still exists in that House that she could also bring out again, in conjunction with the story from the Stone.  Multiple records are said to come forth at a future day, and I don't see any reason why Miriel's wouldn't be one of them.

In any case, I had to laugh at the Amazon customer review that they chose to highlight or the screen saver advertisement:  "A book you won't want to put down!  An ending you won't see coming!".  That is my hope, at least, for whatever stories come, whenever that is.

Miriel of Valinor as Mary, the mother of Jesus

On the morning of Christmas Eve, a strange thought popped into my head that I hadn't considered before, having to do with Miriel, the first Queen of the Noldor and wife of Finwe.  The thought came to me immediately after responding to a comment by WJT in my post on those "Part 2" words from early 2022.  In my response, I brought up Miriel in the context of Finwe, and WJT's reference to Finnigans Wake, and mentioned how she had "grown tired and willfully died".

After posting the comment, I had an initial reaction to this very short summary of Miriel as something like "I don't know the whole story, so to say that may not be a fair characterization".  This was immediately followed by the pressing thought that was simply: "Miriel is Mary".  Mary meaning, in this case, the mother of Jesus.  It was just a thought that 'appeared', as if fact, in my mind.

That thought was extremely surprising to me, as it was something I had not considered before, nor did it seem that this could actually be true based on some assumptions and I guess narratives I already had in my head.

But, the thought continued to grow throughout the day.  By Christmas morning, not only was the thought still there, but it had expanded as my mind branched out and went through implications for Finwe if this was true.   The thoughts that come in this way don't always turn out to be something, but they have often enough where I take them seriously and look into them.  

So, given that this has to do with Christmas (I mean, this is turning out to be a very non-traditional Nativity scene based on previous posts!), and it is pressing on my mind the hardest at the moment, I thought I would get these thoughts down before following up on the Ammonites.  I had mentioned earlier I had some ideas relating to them and where they - specifically the young men known commonly among Mormons as the Stripling Warriors - might fit into things going forward.  I will get to that later, but for now I want to spend time thinking about Miriel and Mary as a possible connection.

There are a few things to consider when looking at whether Miriel could be Mary.  As regular readers would maybe figure by now, I started looking at the names first when looking into this.  So, I will start with that angle first.  I then thought through the 'story'.  Could this make sense, first of all, on its own?  Secondly, is something clearer or easier to possibly understand as a result of knowing this?  If I could answer yes to these, then it seemed the thought was at least worthwhile to consider.

Before proceeding, if you haven't heard of Miriel before, you should maybe get up to speed on her general story arc.   If someone is only familiar with the Lord of the Rings, then I don't think Miriel is a name that would even come up.  This is both interesting and unfortunate, however, because Miriel's story (and Finwe's along with her) is a major catalyst for everything that happened after, including events that Tolkien covers in LOTR.  It is not an understatement to say that the history of Middle-earth would have been very, very different if either Miriel or Finwe had made different choices.

Here is a summary of Miriel from Tolkien Gateway:

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/M%C3%ADriel

Names

In Elvish, the most common rendering of Miriel's name means something like "Jewel Daughter"  ("Mir" = Jewel, and "iel" = "Daughter).  Pretty straightforward.  I would, however, like to propose two complementary and additional meanings to that name from Elvish (I will also go into English meanings), which will tie into the character of Mary shortly.

The first additional name meaning has to do with "beautiful, lovely", from the word "Mira".  I would also say in this case that rather than "iel" meaning daughter, it is rather the feminized suffix for the word itself, and in this case, the name is basically Beauty and Loveliness personified in Miriel.

The second additional name has to do with "Miri", which means something like "precious, precious thing".  Even the root "Mir", rather than specifically a jewel, can simply refer to anything precious, like a treasure.  In this case, I would have Miriel means something like "Precious Woman".

Miriel also happens to be one of those crossover names, that has meaning in our 'real' world, however, and I think this is also worth exploring.   In my own search, it has a few different variances.  "Miriel" is said to be Celtic and mean something like "Star of the Sea", from something like 'muir' = sea, and 'gheal' = bright.  It is also written as Muriel, and some have tied it to the name Mary itself through additional variances such as Mariel, Mariam, Miriam, etc.  For our purposes, "Star of the Sea" as a definition works just fine in comparing with Mary.

Turning to the name Mary itself, I will first call out that her name was used in the Book of Mormon once [Correction:  twice - see other instance from Alma further down], and it is for this reason, among others, that I think the name matters.  The name was given to King Benjamin by an angel, several hundred years before the birth of Jesus.  Here is Benjamin's statement as he related it to his people:

And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary

The name mattered enough, in this situation, for the angel who visited Benjamin to not only give the 'name' of Jesus to Benjamin, but also the name of his mother, Mary, or at least whatever that name was that translated into Mary or something like that.

Mary has a few meanings based on my quick online search:  "rebellious, bitter, drop of the sea".  That last meaning, I have come to learn, was apparently rendered as "Star of the Sea" due to a scribal error.  This is then how Our Lady, in Catholicism referring to Mary, is known as "Our Lady, Star of the Sea".

Obviously, that last Catholic meaning matches up very well with Miriel, the Celtic definition - both as "Star of the Sea".  I will, however, go through some story elements that seem to match up to these names

Story

First, I want to briefly tie the names of Mary and Miriel to various story elements, and in so doing, tie them somewhat together in exploring the possibility that they are the same person.  There are stories in names.  I will then close with some quick implications.

I thought the 'rebellious' nature of Mary's name was interesting to learn of.  We don't really have an in-depth study of 'biblical' Mary's personality or character, and we only have a brief glimpse into Miriel's own character and story.  What we do know of Miriel, however, matches up very well with rebelliousness.   I mean, this word would be the first thing you think of when you think of Miriel's son, Feanor, obviously, as he led the rebellion of the Noldor against the Valar themselves, but he definitely shared this trait with his mother.

I was thinking more on this, and I would actually put Miriel's own actions in Valinor as more rebellious, even, than that of Feanor.  What would be the most rebellious thing one could do, living in 'heaven', surrounded by bliss, happiness, and life everlasting - a place where there is literally no concept of the ability to die permanently?  To die, and to stay dead.  That was Miriel's act, and it was, of all things, the most rebellious action she could have taken.  As I will close this post with, I don't think we have the whole story for why she chose this path, but will just leave it here as indisputable (in my mind) that Miriel was a rebellious character (with rebellious also meaning things like defiant, non-conformist, etc.)

Miriel's Elvish name meanings, as highlighted above, match up very well with descriptions or glimpses we get of Mary in the Book of Mormon.  Twice, I believe, Mary is mentioned or described, in addition to Benjamin's reference.  The first instance is in the vision of Nephi, the son of Lehi.  The second is Alma the Younger's statement about Mary to the people of Gideon.

We will take Nephi first.

In his vision, Nephi is shown a woman by the angel (after the Spirit of the Lord has just taken off, to perhaps participate real-time in the events that Nephi is observing).  Here is his commentary (1 Nephi 11):

And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.

And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?

And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.

And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?

And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.

And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.

I wanted to highlight Nephi's commentary that the woman Nephi sees is very beautiful.  This is the first element that gets to that other meaning I highlighted for Miriel:  Beauty and Loveliness.

In and of itself maybe not that interesting, but it is just one additional element among a number of them, in my view, that seems to have Miriel, in both name and Being, be associated with Mary.

Alma the Younger's commentary on Mary goes like this (Alma 7):

And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.

 Alma calls out that Mary will be 'precious'.  Recall my second additional meaning of Miriel as being just that "A precious, precious woman".

In addition to names, placing Miriel in the role of Jesus' mother make sense in other ways, particularly if we associate "Israel" at least partially with Finwe's House, the House that was broken in Valinor, who Miriel is the Queen or Mother of. 

My own belief is that Jesus had a very specific mission, among other 'general' ones, to rescue and reclaim Finwe's house.  That going back to a time long before our Earth, Eru (who became Jesus) worked closely with Finwe in creating a plan that would result in Good overcoming Evil, though in a time far, far in the future, and in a 'galaxy far, far away'.  Salvation would come in another place, and in another time, and Finwe, and his House, would play an important role.  As part of this story, Jesus would have made a promise to Finwe that he would look after his house and save them as they willingly joined with him in the battle against evil.

In saving Finwe's House, this story would then have Eru being literally born to Miriel, becoming part of the House of Israel and throwing his own lot in with them.

In order for this to happen, Miriel would have obviously had to have decided to 'live' again at a later date.  Her doing so would be consistent with Tolkien's own drafts and writings on this, which has Miriel returning to life at a future time.

We have already in past posts explored the idea of Jesus being born in Jerusalem as Valinor, and this would be possible among Men of his Holy Order, but who seem to have fallen.  As part of this then, if this new development holds, Miriel would also have been born among these Men in Valinor, the rightful Queen of both the Noldor/ Israel, and of Tirion-Jerusalem itself, but perhaps unknown as such.

This sets up an interesting intro to a much different story of Jesus than what we read in the bible.  It also means or suggests that there might have been more to Miriel's actions in Valinor than just being a stubborn, willful individual who brought ruin to her House.  Rather, her actions were based on knowledge, perhaps even unknown to her, forgotten from a time long before, that even though would cause near-term disaster to her House, would also pave the way for ultimate goodness and redemption, including Jesus himself being born, and she being the one who would be in a position to do so.  Evil cannot comprehend the plans of Good and Light, including Good's willingness to follow Jesus' plans even if it means descending into darkness for a time ... the promise is Good will come out on top in the end, even if for a long time it seems that this won't be the case.

I don't know - the initial thoughts make sense.  I confess that it is Christmas Break and it is crazy in our home right now so getting my thoughts down as well as I want to is just not possible, so this will have to do as some introductory thinking and even more of a rambling draft than usual.  I wanted to go into a bit more story-related things, I think, but this will have to do for now.

As with the other story elements (e.g., Jerusalem as Tirion), I am not sure if this will hold, but it seems there is enough story left to explore, that it is a worthwhile to pick at a bit more.  This also includes implications for Finwe, and who Jesus refers to as "the Father" repeatedly in his visit to those at Bountiful in the Book of Mormon.

Christmas Eve: A monkey named Spaghetti holding a banana

We don't live too far away from my wife's parents.  They belong to the First United Methodist Church, and every year we go with them to their Christmas Eve service.  Afterwards, we go over to their house and have dinner before heading home to get ready for Santa.

This year, after the service when we got back my in-laws' house, my mother-in-law pulled out a small scrap of paper that had been given to her that night at the Christmas Eve service by another woman.  On the scrap of paper was a drawing our oldest son (who is now a teenager) had drawn several years ago when he was small  - maybe 6 years old, I think she said.

My son had been sitting next to the woman during the service, and to keep him busy, they gave him the paper and a pen.  Afterwards, she held on to it, and for the last 8+ years it has been in her purse, for whatever reason.  This Christmas Eve, she decided that she wanted to give the drawing back to our son.  I am not sure why.  So, she gave it to my mother-in-law, who pulled it out at dinner.

Here is the drawing:

It is a happy monkey, holding a banana, with large trees in the background.  I did not take a picture of the flip side, but you can make out some lettering on the other side of the paper that bled through in the picture if you look closely enough.  He wrote "Spaghetti" (though spelled 'spagetti').

My son remembers drawing the picture, and "Spaghetti" is the name he says he gave to the monkey in the drawing.  

Anyway, it was odd  that this woman kept this fairly unremarkable drawing in her possession for over 8 years, drawn by a child she would see on average twice a year (we go to the Easter service also), and even more odd that on this Christmas Eve she decided to give it back, and that it meant something for her to do so.

Of course, I say 'fairly unremarkable', which it is  on its own, but given recent writings and discussions that include bananas, monkeys,  and thin/ narrow things, people, and roads, I actually found it quite remarkable.

Sar gu Omar: This story element part of 2022 words?

I had a completely different post draft written for yesterday before I went the route I did in posting and going through initial thoughts on the words from early 2022.  In fact, the night before yesterday, with a little extra time on my hands, I started writing the post focused primarily on the Feb. 3 words (about the 'equilibrium' and "Abraham reciprocal saw') and attempting to demonstrate that it might be possible to see this Omar-Brigham story where he goes to Eressea #2 in those 2022 words.

I finished the draft that night, and then was going to post it the next morning, so I could focus on wrapping up work for the year ahead of Christmas break, and getting other stuff done.

However, when I went to publish it, I had this thought that perhaps I should just post all of the words.  It seemed that in just tying in the Feb. 3 words, it still left everyone else reading this in the dark as to what the other words were.  In addition, it kept going down this track of the Brigham-to-Eressea #2 story, and this all seemed kind of new and experimental, so I thought maybe I should back up and just post all of the words from that time and take them as they were, rather than trying to keep going down this one story thread.

The result was yesterday's post, where I just wrote out each day's phrase and put my initial thoughts down.  I found I had a bit of time in the afternoon, so I just decided to go for it and get all of those words on there, in an admittedly meandering mess, but at least they are up. 

As it turned out, however, WJT left a comment on that post regarding "Ammonites" that still has my mind going down this story element, and actually expanding it or tying a few things together for me relative to Helaman's 'stripling warriors', the Lamanites, and how some of that might fit into this visit from the Gentiles upon Eressea #2.

I won't go into that thinking specifically in this post, but will in a follow-up.  If I have time, I will try to do it before Christmas.  If not, it might be some time next week.  We will see.  There are some interesting things to think about in walking down that thought train generated by having "Milkom-men" be a very creative way of referencing Ammonites (as in the people of Ammon from the Book of Mormon).

In the meantime, here is the original post that I wrote tying the Feb. 3 words to the Omar-Brigham story, before I saved it as a draft, shelved it, and wrote the other post I published with the complete word set from those weeks.  It was meant to continue the story thread, or at least 'see' some support for it in those words.  It will also lead into some of this thinking around Ammonites coming out of WJT's comment. 

Some of the thinking around Feb. 3, in particular, will be repetitive to what you would have read yesterday (I think in some cases I literally just carried over some of those paragraphs into the new post, so some things might be exactly the same), but again, it is in the more specific focus on Eressea itself vs. the reuniting of all worlds or lands of the Earth.

Original Post:

So, I have this very tentative, exploratory storyline that has Omar-Brigham heading off into the wild blue yonder and landing among Lamanites in Eressea #2, followed closely behind by Gentiles bearing a Book with a story that Omar-Brigham himself may have corrupted in league with the Great and Abominable Church that spans outer space and multiple worlds.  Once on that world, things happen (conflicts with Lamanites, conflicts with the other Gentiles) before these Gentiles uncover additional records that fill in the gaps to the story they thought was complete and wholly true, but wasn't.  Omar-Brigham is exposed, Gentiles (hopefully) repent, join with the Lamanites and become part of Israel, and Eressea #1 and #2 are rejoined with respect to people and lands.

Cool.

After writing that out and summarizing it a few different ways now over the last several days it doesn't sound quite as nutty, at least the first part.  I have a hard time visualizing the Gentiles’ initial beat-down of the Lamanites, and the conflict with the mother Gentiles, however.  Not even sure what to do with that at this point.

Interestingly, however, I went back on some of my words from January and February 2022 and I actually can see a general frame of that above story, at least with Brigham's involvement, in those words.  It is one of those things where the meaning of those words are so fuzzy that one can make them mean all sorts of things, but still, without really any twisting and with some educated guesses, part of the story is there.

I posted the first half of those words in a post titled (creatively) "Jan-Feb 2022 Words Part 1: A hidden plan revealed".  It's curious in hindsight that I chose to break those words up into 2 parts, when I am now engaged in a story involving a land (Eressea) that is in 2 parts or halves.  I never ended up posting on the second part of those words, primarily because I didn't think I knew enough about what they meant to walk through like I did on the first part (not that I know the first part, but I could at least show my 'work' and have some guesses based on some translations).

However, the first entry in the second part, when considered immediately after the last few entries of the first part I did share seem to *potentially* relate to this story, at least to warring factions, Omar without a Stone, and Eressea's fate being reversed or repaired.

So, from that earlier post, here are the Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2022 entries and my 'translations':

Jan. 31

ahuna gotu yosu yasura

Ancient accursed war against ? ancient clan

Feb. 1

Sar gu Omar du esta Thank You

(V1:  Stone without Omar dark name, V2:  Thank You)

In that earlier post, I guessed that perhaps the ancient accursed were Numenoreans, and they would fight against another clan (maybe Gentiles... 'gens' is Latin for 'clan', among other things).  It's a reasonable guess, but perhaps there is another way of viewing this, in light of this other storyline.

I thought through who else was 'cursed' anciently.  Wasn't that the Lamanites (and Lemuelites)?   Isn't there a 'curse' on them that still needs to be removed?  Lehi's blessing to them before he died was that this would happen fully (2 Nephi 4):

But behold, my sons and my daughters [Laman's family], I cannot go down to my grave save I should leave a blessing upon you; for behold, I know that if ye are brought up in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it.

Wherefore, if ye are cursed, behold, I leave my blessing upon you, that the cursing may be taken from you and be answered upon the heads of your parents.

Wherefore, because of my blessing the Lord God will not suffer that ye shall perish; wherefore, he will be merciful unto you and unto your seed forever.

Moroni's writings, in a few places, at the end of the Book of Mormon seem to confirm that, at least at the time he was wrapping up that set of records, that there was still a group known as Lamanites, they were still under a curse, needed to know that they were Israel, and that they could repent, part of which meant laying down their weapons of war.

So, it is possible to identify the 'ancient accursed' with the Lamanites on Eressea #2, rather than with Numenoreans (also cursed, but potentially not mentioned here).  These cursed would be at war with an another group - "yasura" - potentially "ancient clan" as written above.  Also as mentioned, this 'clan' might refer to the Gentiles (and give us a hint that to be a "Gentile" is to exist as part of a clan or defined group, just the same as being part of "Israel" is a defined set of people... which gets to Leo's earlier comment about the Gentiles not being a catch-all category, perhaps).

Thus, the Jan. 31 words potentially refer to the conflict between the Lamanites and Gentiles on Eressea #2, a conflict that the Lamanites will initially lose, it seems, from Nephi's vision.

However, the Feb. 1 words mention that Omar-Brigham will not have a Stone with him, and events may take place that will be beyond his ability to control.  His name will be dark, and this perhaps includes the finding and release of records while on Eressea #2 that shed light on what had been corrupted by him and the GAC.

I don't know - sounds not impossible (at least relative to everything else, which is an admittedly low bar).  It is, however, when we get to the next entry on Feb. 3 that Eressea is again brought to mind, and this story just seems to want to sit in my mind a bit longer.  These words would be the first entry of that next section I didn't share, so you won't have seen these even if had read that other post.  I am going to put them below, and then not even bother trying to translate because I don't have any idea.  However, the two English phrases stand out to me, and I will go through my reasoning:

Feb. 3

Vaha isi vaha ein [? - handwriting not clear on ein] urendi sufficient to conclude a state of equilibrium mas helcar uriel domo Abraham reciprocal saw

The two English phrases, obviously, are "sufficient to conclude a state of equilibrium" and "Abraham reciprocal saw".

So, something is being done that will end some state, equilibrium having to do with balance, usually.  And by balance, this is often applied to two parts, or two equal forces, with equal being one of the root words.  With Eressea, we are dealing with two halfs, split down the middle, existing as such in a state of equilibrium relative to each other, but yet separate?  I don't know.  It could also refer to a stalemate situation on Eressea #2 itself as things progress.  

Regardless, it is possible Eressea has something to do with this phrase, and this possibility is made more likely by the Abraham phrase.

In the tale told of Eressea's splitting into two parts as found in Doug's writing of Words of Them Which Have Slumbered, it is Abraham (known a Ki-Abroam in the story) whose 'axe' is the instrument that does the deed:

against a black bottomless pit in what was long ago (seeming) as sky, streaked now a blazing scimitar, beam of fused star-and-sun, silver-turning-golden, until unfolding as an axe's head, red flame stretched out over the whole pit-sky; and that magic axe was down upon Eressea, and half was sent down into the depths rushing, while yet one half cleared of wicked things, being clean was lifted upon this axe's head, as a lever raises some stone of a pit's grasp...

This axe-meteor-whatever divides Eressea into 2 halves, and one goes up, and the other goes down.  Again, with this imagery of equilibrium, you have two opposing actions for each half - one up, one down, in kind of a perverse balance of sorts.

However, that will be rectified, and these two opposing halves, in terms of up and down, will be brought back together.  The Abraham's reciprocal saw, in this case, I take as perhaps a play on words in relation to that first axe.  A reciprocating saw is named that because of the back and forth motion, but I think the reciprocal is mentioned here based the word is based on its Latin root recipropcus (per Etymonline.com... my source for all of these types of things), which apparently means to "returning the same way", as in, reversing the motion or action.

So, in other words, the existing state of a divided Eressea #1 and 2 is over, and those lands are returned to their original state before their cataclysmic separation.

In light of this other recent storyline I am exploring, this restoration and literal reuniting of Eressea's lands will all be possible because of the Gentiles journey to to Eressea #2, following a corrupt man and a corrupt Book, no less.

So, good comes from evil, and God really can work even through evil people like Brigham, in the end.

Anyway, that is how this story continues to shape in my mind, and I just thought it was interesting that I could 'kind of' see that in these words.  Who knows, if others have ideas on those Feb.3 words, it might end up being something completely different, but for now it works.

Actually, having just written all of that above, I did a quick online search on the word "Urendi".  I had been treating it like an Elvish word, so like "Ur" equals sun or heat, or something.  Which also seems to match up with a Latin meaning of that word of burnt or enflamed, or something similar.

It turns out Urendi is also the name for the head Eldil in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy.  Urendi Maleldil is the name.  Even though I read all 3 books I don't remember much about this character, I think primarily because he wasn't really 'in' it.  It looks like he is basically representative of God, Supreme Creator, etc. in those books.  Anyway, maybe that fits in somewhere.  At the very least, it is another Space Trilogy nod, and there have been a few, so if not correct in many or any of the details, perhaps there still is something to this whole Space theme or backdrop.

Jan-Feb 2022 Words Part 2: A (future) family reunion [Post Restored]

Note:  This post had been accidentally overwritten by me after posting.  Actually 3 people - WG, WJT, and Leo - were able recover the post on their end, so we are back up and running.  Thanks everyone!

I had earlier posted the first half of my Jan-Feb 2022 strange words as a 'Part 1' with the intent to also post Part 2.  I opted not to, for the primary reason that I didn't think I knew enough of what they meant to really try and make a story out of any of it.

I am going to actually post them here, because, why not.  It gives me a bit of a break from the Star Wars story I have going on, also, and needing to pick through all of that.  In addition, I have been surprised a few times at how some things that don't make sense to me, do for others.  As I am not even 100% certain why I have these words or who they were intended for, it seems like my not necessarily knowing what they mean is a not good reason for not posting them.

In looking back at those words the other day, I actually do see one common thread that I can pick out in all of the mess of words I don't understand:  Family.  There are a number of references to things in terms of family:  nephews, children, mother, aunts, and ultimately this Family of Light that I have made really a major part of this story.  

So, even though I may not be sure of the details to much of this, I think underlying the story is, again, this notion of Family.  This story is about a Family, and their ultimate reunion and redemption from Enemies who have tried to destroy them (going back quite some time, I think).  And, quite frankly, there will be Good that comes out of this perhaps when some of these Enemies may ultimately determine that they want to be part of that Family, also.  And there seems to be plenty of room for all who choose to be part of that.  I know of no limitations to how big that Family can be (with the exception of a certain, discrete set of individuals).

Anyways, below are those words with some commentary.  Again, take this all as guess-work, as I don't pretend to know.  At least for some of the days, my thought process or takeaways will give background or some context to thoughts that would later become part of this story.   Maybe some other things stand out to you.

This would be my last primary period of "Elvish" words.  There would be a few more days in August 2022, but just one or two instances.

Also, as a reminder, Part 1 left off with a statement about Omar-Brigham, and gave us insight into who might be being addressed to here based on someone saying "Thank You" in learning of Brigham's not-so-great fate.  These are potentially the Dead, or some of them, and some of them must have been around with Brigham.  In these next words, we will learn my guess as to who is actually speaking to these Dead (with my understanding this is just a continuation of the dialogue - the Dead are still being addressed, maybe).

Feb. 3

Vaha isi vaha ein urendi sufficient to conclude a state of equilibrium mas helcar uriel domo Abraham reciprocal saw

Commentary:

In the Words stories that Doug published, there is a reference to Abraham (known as Ki-Abroam) in those stories who uses an 'axe' to split Eressea in two (giving us our Eressea #1 and #2).  Further, Eru borrowed that axe and further split the worlds apart themselves, with Aman and Eressea #1 being raised, and Eressea #2 and Numenor being 'sunk'.  Here is the impact on Eressea itself:

. . . against a black bottomless pit in what was long ago (seeming) as sky, streaked now a blazing scimitar, beam of fused star-and-sun, silver-turning-golden, until unfolding as an axe's head, red flame stretched out over the whole pit-sky; and that magic axe was swung down upon Eressea, and half was sent down into the depths rushing, while yet one half cleared of wicked things, being clean was lifted upon this axe's head, as a lever raises some stone of a pit's grasp...

That closing phrase "Abraham reciprocal saw" I think is a play on words to that event.  At least that is where my mind goes.  A reciprocating saw as a tool is named that because of the back and forth motion, so I think the reciprocal is mentioned here based the word is based on its Latin root recipropcus (per Etymonline.com... my source for all of these types of things), which apparently means "returning the same way", as in, reversing the motion or action.  In other words, what was originally performed by Abraham's axe in splitting these lands from each other, will now be reversed, and these lands will be brought back together.

As to the 'state of equilibrium' (the other English phrase that I can at least recognize) perhaps this has to do with the current state of these worlds, or the opposing nature of some worlds being 'above' and others 'below', and this being concluded... I don't know.

As far as other things, "Vaha" means either to depart/ travel and/ or very far away.   Or both.  So, again, this notion of people or places being 'far away' and perhaps some travel involved with that. 

"Mas Helcar" is interesting.  Mas means 'to bake', and Helcar is actually a proper name of an ancient sea that came to be after the two lamps (pre-cursors to Valinor's Two Trees) collapsed, specifically the North lamp.  What might come out of this is this notion of "Ice" of "Icy Cold" and the North.  In Joseph Smith's teachings, the reuniting of worlds and peoples will involve ice flowing down from the North:

 

And they who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord; and their prophets shall hear his voice, and shall no longer stay themselves; and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence.

And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep.  (D&C 133:26-27)

I have had several dreams involving both ice and this concept of 'North', and this is why my mind likely goes to this.  This includes this 'highway' involving the return of even Numenor in a link or chain of worlds that re-establish a way or connection from this world all the way through to Valinor, perhaps.

Interestingly, "Urendi" could be another callout or connection to C.S. Lewis' "Out of the Silent Planet".  Urendi was the leader of the Good Eldil in that tale, and associated with God, the Creator, and was in opposition to the leader of the Bad or Bent Eldil.  The "ein" before the name would seem to support this as it means "excellent or admirable" in referencing that Being.

Feb. 5

Milkommen

Commentary:

It was just this one word, kind of just hanging there, and I took it to be perhaps a play on words of the German "Wilkommen" (Welcome), but now with Milk, since the German language had been part of my 2019 words.  The Promised Land is associated with Milk and Honey, and so that is where my mind went, whether that accurate or not.

 

Feb. 7

Eilendel truly layland nephew

Commentary:

So, nephew comes up here.  Based on later words, I associate this nephew as Faramir-Eonwe, and this will then (at that later day) give me a guess as to who is speaking.  For right now, it seems that the Dead are hearing about the speaker's nephew.  As I have said in the past, I believe Eonwe is also the son of Yavanna and Aule going back to Valinor, and Yavanna's name will come up next, so things at least remain consistent with how I have interepreted things.

The 'layland' is interesting.  My guess is 'story-land', since 'lay' has been used before in some of these stories, and Doug's writings, to mean a story or song.  So, some story-land or song-land?  I am up for other guesses.  

"Eilendel" is anyone's guess.  My best stab is that "eilen" is very similar to "eilian", and give that these things are sounded out when I am writing them (I didn't see them visually), for all I know that is what it is.  If so "eilian" means, very literally, "sky-bridge".  "del" has a few meanings (one is "horror") but if I am right that it is sky-bridge, then I think "to walk/travel/proceed" is my best guess.

So, the above phrase could be something like:

"Sky-bridge to travel truly story-land nephew" or something.  This would be consistent with my story element of Eonwe-Faramir departing this world as part of the Anor and Ithil Stone link, and making the trip to rejoin with Eowyn.  That story element will also come back into play at the end of these words potentially.

Feb. 9

Yavanna madre tuli encarte sin huli

Commentary:

So, we likely have some Spanish now, for whatever reason.  "Madre" likely means "Mother", and thus we have "Yavanna-Mother" being referred to.  This would make sense given the nephew I have identified earlier is Eonwe.  

"Tuli" means something like "to bring or carry".

"Encarte" must be Spanish again, and would, if Google Translate is right, mean something like "insert"?

"Sin" might also be Spanish (for "without") but given the next word, I think might be Elvish, meaning "this" or "now".

Finally, "Hul" is Elvish for "Cry of Encouragement in battle".

Putting that altogether, we might have something like:

"Yavanna-mother to bring insert this cry of encouragement".  

Not sure exactly what that could mean, other than perhaps this news that Eonwe will travel this sky-bridge is news that has been told to the Speaker (who I believe is Yavanna's sister, Vana, which I will get to in just a few phrases).

Feb. 15

Il gorash artu all that the children need to know

Commentary:

Il:  All/ every

Gorash:  Warn first

Artu:  I have translated before for Part 1 as "High Fortress" so I am going to keep that consistent here

So, actually surprisingly to me (as I am typing real time and rechecking Eldamo words), we have 3 phrases in a row now that kind of have straightforward translations.  Here is would be:

"All warn first high fortress all that the children need to know"

So, either all within a high fortress are warned, or my current guess thinking on this right now, is that all of the children of the Family of Light will be warned or told of this high fortress 'first' - perhaps first meaning before Eonwe leaves (assuming this event has yet to take place).  The point will be to gather everyone to this place (or places - between Tiron and Eressea #1/ Asenath's Home), so this would make sense.  Everything that the children of that family need to know about those places and the plan will be told, maybe.

Feb. 17

Finduilas anor arno taru mbar

Commentary:

Again, I think we are still talking about Eonwe here, and you can see another example of why I have kept the identity tie between Eonwe and Faramir.  In the LOTR stories, Finduilas was Faramir's mother in Gondor, but she died when he was very young (and this contributed to Denethor's issues).

"Anor" we have seen enough by now to know this is "Sun"

"Arno" = son/child

"Taru" & "mbar":  This is an interesting one because you can do these separately, or combine into one word as Tarumbar.  Separately, it would be something like "high to dwell".  Together, you have the same name that Melkor (the original Satan) called himself, Tarumbar meaning "King of the World".  Could be both, I suppose.

Yavanna is known as the Queen of the Earth, so if Eonwe is her heir, then the title fits in that way.  Similarly, taken as separate with the "high to dwell" this gets to Jesus' words in 3 Nephi about his servant being 'very high', and this high being an actual location off of this world.

So, together that could be something like:

Finduilas sun-child high to dwell

Feb. 18

Kle family beth talu milu com-rad cam den Ilmare besse Asenath ren

Commentary:

So, this is actually the first place (I think) I see in all my words this term "Light Family" used, and it would be from here on out (early 2022) that I begin to consistently think of this Family we are talking about as the "Family of Light".

Kle family = Light Family

Beth = word

Talu = to end, or to finish

Milu = unclear, but can mean love, frienship, kind, and given that we are talking about family here, that is what I think it might be

Com = gather

Rad = return, back, or path

Cam = to receive

Den = passage

Ilmare = Eowyn-Ilmare

besse = spouse (thus Eonwe-Faramir's spouse - will be in Valinor-Tirion)

Asenath = Nimloth-Asenath (holding down the fort in Eressea #1)

Ren = Kin (I assume sister, since I think that is the relationship between her and Eonwe, as I have written about in other posts)

So, throwing that all together, we have:

Light family word to finish (complete?) love gather to receive passage Eowyn and Asenath

In this reading, the Family of Light will gather and receive passage from Eowyn and Asenath back to their homes or gathering places, I think.

Not really understanding all of that when first stated back in 2022, following this I would start to develop in my mind the storyline of Ilmare-Eonwe and Asenath-Joseph as these two couples (and two sets of twins) that the Family of Light lead back to, and then to Eru-Jesus through them.

This is also when I get my guess in as to the identity of the speaker.

Since the words had now been going on since mid-January (so about a month at this point), I had this feeling that I really wanted to know who was talking.  As I wrote earlier, this was a touch-and-go time for me, as everything had been trending better for me, and now I had these words again showing up.  So, I figured if I was going to be hearing this, I wanted to know who was speaking.

Later that day as I thought about that latest phrase, I wrote the question "Who are you?", underlined just like that in my notebook.  Right after writing it, the word "Neshem" came into my mind, so I wrote that down, and then looked it up.

I couldn't find anything exact for "Neshem" that had the "H" in it like that, but thinking it might be a pronunciation thing, I looked it up as "Nes-em" without the H, and I think I found it.

Nes = sister

em = mother

So, sister-mother, or more accurately I think, Mother-Sister... Aunt.  I checked to see if there was an actual Elvish word for "Aunt" and couldn't find one, so I figured maybe this is the closest word to that, which makes sense.  Given that this dialogue is the speaker talking in relation to Eonwe-Faramir, who was called "nephew" by the speaker, and that Yavanna was mentioned as the Mother, the speaker would be Vana, one of the Valar and Yavanna's sister (if we assume Tolkien was right on this relationship).

This would potentially make sense given that I have assumed the speaker is addressing the Dead.  As noted, my belief is that Tolkien is also Elijah and thus would have been (and now is) working among these Dead.  I also believe (I can't remember if I wrote this, though) that Tolkien is the Vala Orome.  If so, having Vana speak would fit.  Vana is the spouse of Orome, and so if Tolkien-Orome is working among the Dead, perhaps she has joined him and them at this point, perhaps relaying this information to encourage them in whatever situation they are in.  Hard to say without knowing more about what they are up to. 

Feb. 19

Home here ser tuli amarost inis because for to know anaise arwen-seru tobias ista

Commentary:

"Home here" sounds straightforward.  

Ser = to rest

Tuli = to bring/ carry

Amarost:   I think "Amar" and "ost", so "Earth city/town/fortress"

Inis:  inmost thought/ mind

Because for to know (I guess something like "for the reason of knowing"?)

Anaise:  I think French (honestly don't have any other leads), meaning "Holy, Gracious" and denotes a name

Arwen-seru:  Noble-Maiden-lover

Tobias:  A name, probably refers to a person, though not sure who.  Tobias helped Raphael cure his father of blindness in the Book of Tobit, so perhaps this is referenced because of the blindness and the fact that many will now not be 'blind'?  Not sure

ista:  to know

Adding that up, maybe something like:

Home here to rest bring Earth-fortress inmost thought because for to know Holy Noble Maiden-lover Tobias to know

And that would be it.  I believe I may have had a few other words and phrases during this period that I don't have here because they are in another notebook and I haven't tracked them down.  If I find them, I will add them.

There were a few more words that showed up in August 2022 on a few days, and around the time of that dream that I wrote about that I associated with the Stone being repaired (where I had something like rock fragments removed from my skin, showing honeycomb beneath it).  But other than that, this would be the last major time period of "Elvish" words.  Other things like dreams haven't stopped, but these types of languages haven't come up again since.

Anyway, there you go.  Like I said at the beginning, with all of the confusing words, potential strange stories, and just generally weird stuff, I do think this comes down to family.  That is what I have felt since before this strange stuff even started happening, and I usually try to keep it coming back to that if I find myself over-thinking it too much.