Monday, April 29, 2024

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:



1 comment:

  1. I highlighted Orion, Sirius, and the Pleiades about a year ago in this post:

    https://narrowdesert.blogspot.com/2023/05/a-door-unattached-to-building.html

    ReplyDelete