Saturday, July 13, 2024

"Meet me in the valley where the kids collide": Adam-ondi-Ahman, Olaha Shinehah, and the Sawtooth Stone as the Book of Enoch

Lots of things on my mind relative to this topic - we'll see how random this gets. 


The Sheppard song I concluded with in yesterday's post contained this phrase in the chorus:


I'm coming home tonight
Meet me in the valley where the kids collide into the morning
Oh my god, my town is coming alive (Coming alive)
I'm coming home tonight, I know you're ready for the sparks to fly
Into the morning
Oh my god, my town is coming alive


I associated the title of this song "Coming Home" with the belief that it appears 82 Beings (or some number of folks represented by that number) got on some kind of 'plane' and headed toward home.  In the post, I wondered where this home was at this point, and if they arrived there or at some stop-over.


Recall, that various dialogues I have made guesses at, including Asenath's own words, as well as the Disciples observations as to the status of Asenath and Tirion, it appears, has Tirion or some place thereabouts as the gathering place for a House that will be made "White".


This Whiteness means something like to Shine, but it also, in my opinion, relates directly back to the imagery of Israel's sins being scarlet or red, but then ultimately being made white like snow.


It is at this Home, I believe, that these Beings will be made White.


It may be these "Fathers" are specifically considered in this imagery (not just them, but their redemption seems to be a main story element here) and it as this Home that Asenath has been preserving and protecting that their 'red sins', perhaps specifically associated with Numenor, will be made White.  I don't know, obviously, but that is the sense that is building in my head.


So, ultimately it is there - to the land of Aman - that I believe these Beings were carted off to.


This was further supported in my mind (or at least my mind continued to go down this path) in thinking on the phrase from this song, where there is a valley where people are meeting.  It occurred to me that one of the more famous (and mysterious/ not well-understood) valleys in LDS mythology is Adam-ondi-Ahman.


Adam-ondi-Ahman I covered briefly in the post "The Plains of Olaha Shinehah...".  I was actually more interested at that time in Olea/Olaha Shinehah and how various translation of that phrase both mapped to this concept of a Sun and Moon (Olea is Moon and Shinehah is Sun), as well as the phrase "Make it Shine" that has come up in my words.  But I wanted to explore the name of Adam-ondi-Ahman really quickly here and tie it back to both these Numenorean "Fathers" as well as some LDS theology.


While no translation exists today from Joseph Smith for that name (that I am aware of - I could be wrong).  Others have taken a stab.  Orson Pratt, for example, guessed the translation was something like "Valley of God, where Adam dwelt".  This notion of it being a valley is consistent with at least one revelation to Joseph Smith captured in D&C 107.  The section is primarily some thoughts on Priesthood, but buried in there is a mention of Adam-ondi-Ahman:


Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all high priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing.

And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel.

And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him: I have set thee to be at the head; a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever.

And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation; and, notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation.

These things were all written in the book of Enoch, and are to be testified of in due time.


I am heretically going to suggest that not everything in this brief synopsis is completely accurate (though it may be) - we may not have names, details, who is who, exactly right here, for example.  Joseph may be overly relying on Old Testament chronology, genealogy, and names in his own mind to convey the story he is seeing.


Thus, I am primarily interested in the high-level theme of this scene, which has people in this valley who receive a blessing, including Adam, and that as part of this is we have an entire history of Adam's posterity being given or stated before it will happen.  Prophecy.  Apparently there is a "Book of Enoch" in which "these things" are written.  By "these things", this may (and seems to me does) refer directly to the prophecies of Adam.  What Adam saw in the future, Enoch wrote down in his book.


I am going to go on a little tangent here, before trying to reign this back to my original point (and maybe even tie the tangent more fully back to these Fathers that need redemption).


Recall that I have Enoch as this Faramir-Eonwe Being.  Again, just another name for that Being, and likely not even necessarily an additional character to what we have already attributed to him, but a different name for a character already mentioned.  My vote right now is Eonwe (who may be Finarfin ... so even this isn't a simple characterization), since the description of Enoch leading the people of God against their enemies maps so well to Eonwe leading Valinor's hosts against Morgoth.


But this works well in our narrative because of this mention of Enoch's book capturing Adam's prophecy.  In my story, Faramir is this Secretary.  A Being who both keeps secrets, but also acts as a clerk or a scribe for another.  Here it is assumed Enoch is the scribe, because the book is called after him (that seems to be how it works... like the Book of Mormon, for example, in its original state as written on the plates.  Written by Mormon, thus his book).


Faramir-Eowne acts as a scribe to record what another Being is prophesying.  That is a major role I have suggested for that character.  That Being who is prophesying is Joseph of Egypt, or Irmo-Lorien.  I went over part of this aspect of the story, and some interesting winks around it, in my post Caitlin Clark and 22.


I therefore propose that "Adam" in this summary of Joseph Smith's actually represents Joseph of Egypt, and this is the moment where he receives his visions and words that are placed upon the Sawtooth Stone.


The implication - which I have just thought through for the first time in these last 5 minutes - is that the Sawtooth Stone is actually the same thing as this Book of Enoch, and they contain Joseph's words, which are what will be testified to in due time, per Joseph Smith's summary.


This fits very well!  The Sawtooth Stone is actually this Book of Enoch.


But wait - haven't I also suggested Faramir-Eonwe, in addition to all of these other names we are lumping on him and some other characters, is also Adam?  This doesn't seem to work, right?


That is what I was just thinking, but recall that in Lehi's relating of part of Joseph of Egypt's vision from when he would have been around the time of Numenor (so don't confuse this with what was done back on Aman many years before) is that a Seer would come forth who would be named after him, and would be like him, and that this Seer is Faramir.


In my story, both Joseph and Faramir-Eonwe are fathers of what I have been calling the Family of Light.  It has been a strange concept to get my head around, but I think it is true.  Two sets of Twins, married to each other, from whom come this Light that entered our Creation in all sorts of myriad ways, it seems.  So who is Adam?  Well, both of them.  Seems to be a title, in a way.  Probably can apply to others, but I don't see any probably with referring to both Faramir and Joseph as "Adam".  This may apply to the moniker of "Michael" as well, but I am not sure.  Perhaps Joseph was Michael, and Faramir becomes that Being going forward.  There does seem to be this theme of Beings adopting or transitioning into names and roles that had previously been held by another  (Willy Wonka and Charlie, for example, was one story we explored with this dynamic).


In this specific instance - the story that Joseph Smith is relating - I believe that Adam (and thus this Michael) would seem to be Joseph.  Faramir is Enoch and recording (being the Secretary) for likely the most important vision in the story of this creation, and critical key in Jesus' plan of redemption for his people.


OK, so just to pause here and call this out so it doesn't get lost:  what I now suggesting (after having thought about it now for a few minutes more) is the Sawtooth Stone is the Book of Enoch, and what is on it matches up with this description of the scene from D&C 107:  The history of the world before it even happened, or at least the history of Joseph's people, Israel.


So, this is pretty remarkable for me to think through, and we will see how it ages.


Bringing this back to where the "Fathers" went to, I think it was back to the 'beginning'.  They went to the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, where everything that would befall them and the rest of "Israel" was foretold by Joseph and captured on the Sawtooth Stone.


This means they hightailed it to Aman (Valinor), and are probably waiting there for the rest of this initial party to arrive, which will include these 15 additional Beings.  That number of yet-to-be-gathered individuals is comprise of 14 Vanyar (Pharazon-Ingwe among them), and Faramir-Eonwe, who will have the Sawtooth Stone in his possession as a Steward (because I assume it is given back to Joseph once they are all back).


Therefore, the Sawtooth Stone will be brought back to where it was first 'enchanted' by Joseph, and it is there that part of a Family (but not all yet!) will be made White, and to Shine.


There is an interesting name game that gives some credence to this story.


In another revelation, Joseph Smith likened Adam-ondi-Ahman not as a valley, but as a hill.  Spring Hill, to be exact.  In the extremely short section of D&C 116 we get:


Spring Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said he, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet.


That is the entire section.


I have written that it seems that Joseph saw his vision, and it was placed on the Sawtooth Stone (Book of Enoch - I wonder if I should start calling it that now?) on a hill called Dolmed.  As a refresher, here are my words from November 14, 2019:

 

Nov. 19
akuma dolmed-u luke palo-dir lorien


Here, again, we have Joseph (Lorien) and mention of Dolmed-u, which I have interpreted as a specific hill.  This was brought up in the post "The Good Spell of Luke", and there I had also referenced in Doug's writings that fact that the Numenoreans had created a hill of that same name in a likeness of a much older hill of "foretelling".  You can look into the details on that post, if you want, but my own interpretation there is that in Valinor was the original Dolmed and this is where Joseph did his thing.  This was the hill that the Numenoreans patterned their own hill after.


Dolmed is a name that means, as far as anyone can tell, "Wet hill" (sometimes people use Wet Head as well).  I say 'as far as anyone can tell' because the there is some open question as to the true meaning of Med in this sense, but I think it works well enough for me to draw a comparison.


Spring Hill, the other name of this hill of or in Adam-ondi-Ahman, can have multiple meanings.  Spring can be a season, of course.  It can also refer to a spring, like a coil.  Or action words like to jump, or rise quickly, for example.  But it can also refer to water, as in a spring of water.  From Etymonline:  "a natural fountain as the place of rising of a stream or river, a flow of water rising to the surface of the earth from below."


You may already see the connection I am making.  In this sense of the word, the Hill would be a very wet one, indeed, if it was comprised or contained a fountain of water on it.  Thus, Spring Hill may be a derivation or wordplay for this hill that was called Dolmed.  Spring Hill equals Wet Hill, in other words.


Alright, I am going to summarize here and cut this off, though my mind is going in a few more places as a result of looking into this.


It seems that the Sawtooth Stone is the Book of Enoch mentioned in Joseph Smith's writings, and contains the prophecies of Joseph of Egypt.  These were given at Adam-ondi-Ahman, which is a place in Aman or Valinor.  This was also done in the presence of other Beings, which may have included these Numenorean Fathers - the 96 who would have been already gathered back to Aman from Middle-earth sometime before.  It is these same Beings who are now gathered back to that same place on Valinor (well, 82 of them, plus or minus I think).  They now wait for the final gathering of the 14 Vanyar, and the Secretary Faramir-Enoch who will have the Stone with him, and likely the story that would have been already extracted from that Stone and perhaps also added to and with what has been collected on the Ithil Stone. 


At that time, with all 96 'Fathers' gathered back, they are redeemed by the Story that is shared.  Red turns to White.  And then more good things start to happen.


So, I wasn't sure where that was going to go, and I will have to revisit this a bit to see how it ties up and whether anything needs to be adjusted, but in broad strokes it ended up alright, I think.  My biggest discovery was this notion of the Sawtooth Stone being the Book of Enoch.  I hadn't thought about that before (that I remember).  The other interesting discovery was the thought that this original gathering is happening back at Adam-ondi-Ahman.  I didn't get a chance to go too much into other LDS mythology around what happens at that place in this post like I thought I might, but this is long enough, so I will cover that in another post.  I think it matches up well, though, as a preview to my thinking.

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