The "One Story"

The mythology, traditions and religions of ancient cultures the world over and across all time are based in singular astral objects and events observed by the earliest inhabitants of this planet. That’s the basis of what one comparative mythologist called “the One Story told around the world.”

This is a novel concept, but one that is central to deciphering almost all the mysteries from the past. It declares that the seemingly bizarre beliefs and traditions of widely divergent and isolated cultures in hoary antiquity all derived from a single source: our ancient heavens.

This notion stands in diametric opposition to the traditional, scientific view that the heavens have appeared constant for as long as Man trod this planet. Yet, when we turn to the records bequeathed us by our ancestors, we find they tell us a very different story—one that makes no sense in light of our present concepts.

What those primeval people saw defies all description. We see nothing remotely like it in our present skies. It was so overwhelming, so dramatic that its elements indelibly impressed themselves upon the human psyche. The mythologies, legends, traditions and religions it spawned still retain a vivid memory of things seen in ancient skies, though we fail to perceive them as such.

These myths, legends, traditions and religions are the repositories for the memories of cosmological pageants that played out over Earth’s skies for an extended period of time in the very earliest epoch of Mankind. They are an invaluable record, bequeathed us by our ancestors, each containing some elements of the One Story.

Each culture remembered the story of those events from a unique, proprietary perspective. Yet they all retain a remarkable coherence when seen as memories stemming from a common, astral origin. Moreover, they were modified and elaborated down through time in very different ways by widely divergent cultures, such that today, they are nearly unrecognizable as the same story. But they are.

For Latter-day Saints who wish to fully benefit from their scripture study, their temple experience and the teachings of Joseph Smith, this knowledge is vital. Because the Prophet sought to restore “all things as at first,” he included the data about Earth’s ancient cosmology in his teachings. If we lack this perspective, his teachings in this regard are meaningless to us. Without this knowledge, our efforts to grasp the teachings of Christ and the Prophets are greatly hampered.

In order to provide the interested reader with an overview of the events once seen to evolve in ancient skies, the following narrative and commentary have been created in an easy to understand, side-by-side format. The italicized text is a narrative describing the beliefs and traditions in the One Story. The normal text is an analytical commentary describing the events and conditions that obtained in order to create those beliefs and traditions.

Once upon a time in a Golden Age, this world was an idyllic place, very different than it is now. People hardly aged at all. They lived much longer than today. There was little or no disease.

Comparative mythology tells us that all ancient cultures have traditions of an idyllic era, a halcyon epoch at the beginning of human memory when life was tranquil and without hardship, pain or illness.

There were no temperature extremes, no rain, no snow, no wind and no weather, as we know it.

Earth’s meteorological environment was drastically different than now due to tremendous electromagnetic forces in play.

Food grew in abundance year round, with no need of cultivation or irrigation. The whole world was a garden.

This electromagnetically enhanced environment dramatically affected its flora and fauna. All life prospered, whether animal or vegetable.

There were no nations, governments or even tribes. Therefore, there were no wars, no battles, no contention and no strife.

The abundance humans enjoyed led to an absence of need and hardship. Competition for vital resources was unknown. It was a completely egalitarian society.

Not only was this Earth vastly different, so were the heavens. A motionless, golden sun that never set warmed the world. Thus, there was no darkness, no day-night cycle. Its light was softer and more diffuse than the brilliant sunlight we see today.

Cultures the world over worshipped this god/sun. Anthropologists consistently refer to early cultures as “sun worshippers,” which is true. But it was not the sun we see in our sky today. Surprisingly, the ancients report the “first, best sun” was the planet we know today as Saturn.

Though it produced a subdued light equivalent to our twilight, Saturn generated sufficient electromagnetic energy to illuminate and warm our world.

It appeared to hover, motionless, because Earth was positioned directly beneath Saturn’s southern pole. At the same time, Earth’s North Pole was oriented toward Saturn. Put simply, they shared a common axis of rotation. Thus, Saturn stood where Polaris, the North Star, stands today.

A Supreme or Universal Monarch, the same sun that lighted the world, ruled from the high heavens. He was the Creator King, the first light of creation, who created himself as well as all the cosmos.

This was the archetype for all earthly kings. Coronation rites reflected Saturn’s station and actions in the heavens. This is also the source of royal imagery in our scriptures.

This creator brought himself into being as he emerged from a pool or sea of churning water, foam or mud, seen hovering like a layer of clouds in the heavens. From that chaotic void, he emerged to begin his reign over this world and its heavens.

This was the event that all cultures, including the Hebrew, recalled as the creation. The cyclonic pool, called the “firmament” in the Old Testament, was the core vortex of a plasma column or “pinch” that enclosed several planets, positioned along the common axis of rotation between them.

This Great King, seated on his throne, was also the City, Temple or Kingdom of God. He presided over an age of natural abundance, longevity and cosmic harmony.

A variety of symbols were ascribed to Saturn, due to its position and size. It was not only anthropomorphosized as a king, it was also considered a city, a temple and a kingdom. Thus, it was so described in a multitude of variations on one archetype, a dominant orb in Earth’s ancient skies.

Also born in this fixed spot in the northern heavens were the Monarch’s first creations and companions. They appeared as the Warrior or Hero of Heaven and the Son of the King and as the Queen of Heaven. Together, they joined the Sovereign to form a Holy Trinity of ruling, celestial deity.

The first act of this creator god/planet was to bring two others into existence to accompany him. Both were planets that shared the same axis of rotation with Earth and Saturn. They were Mars and Venus, Mars standing closest to Earth.

Like Saturn, anthropomorphic characteristics were attributed to them because of their appearance and behavior. One was the female planet, and the other was the male planet—the yin and the yang. Together, they spawned a multitude of sacred images: the celestial city with a temple in the middle, a heavenly eye, a wheel, etc.

These two active, companion planets appeared to stand before Saturn as it emerged from what was characterized as the heavenly “waters” of creation.

All four planets shared a common axis of rotation and were “stacked” in the following order, from the “bottom” upward: Earth, Mars, Venus and Saturn. From a visual perspective on Earth, Mars appeared centered on Venus, and Venus appeared centered on Saturn. Thus, earthbound observers saw three nested planets in Earth’s northern skies.Earth’s inhabitants honored, worshipped and revered these celestial powers in all their phases and manifestations, and there were many.

The abode of the Three was fixed in the heavens, suspended on a marvelous column or pillar of light, the Cosmic Mountain or Celestial Tree of Life. This was also the Heavenly Street and Great River of Light. It was The Way to heaven. It was this Pillar of Light or Celestial Mountain that supported and sustained the Celestial City wherein dwelt the gods. Only the worthy could mount its heights to access high heaven.

But there was more … much more. There was also a polar, plasma column that appeared to connect heaven to Earth, resembling a great pillar of light, that embraced those three planets overhead and our planet beneath, illuminating our world day and night. From its magnificent crest, the planetary triumvirate dominated the earth and the heavens. To the Hebrews, it was Zion or Sinai; to the Greeks, it was Olympus, the abode of Zeus, Hera and all the Olympians.

The polar column was also visualized as the Celestial Tree, with roots in the earth and branches among the planets/stars/gods. It was also seen as the Great River of Light, Life or Abundance connecting heaven and earth and as a ladder/stairway/path to heaven, the only avenue to the gods’ abode, the Heavenly City.

The Queen of Heaven was the wife/daughter/consort of the Creator King. She was the Celestial Egg or the Womb or Heaven, who held within her the Holy Seed, the Son of God, to whom she would later give birth in a monumental event that stirred the imagination of ancient peoples everywhere. She was the Iris of God’s Eye; her unborn child was the Pupil of God’s Eye. She was the Mouth; he was the Opener of the mouth. Together, they were the dual Heart of Heaven, the Creator’s Heart.

Venus was the archetype of all female goddesses in antiquity, the prototype of every female character in religion and mythology.Because Mars was centered on Venus, various aspects were attributed to that planet. It was an iris to Mars’ pupil, forming an eye with Saturn. It was part of Saturn’s heart. It was an egg, with the unborn child within it. Mars completed the mouth formed by Venus on Saturn’s face.

Soon, she became the Star of Heaven, the dazzling Radiant Goddess. She burst into glory that eclipsed the Creator King. She was the light and power of the Heaven King, the animating force that illuminated and protected heaven or the Kingdom of God.

The entire world remembered the planet Venus as the “star” goddess. It was Astarte, Ishtar, Ashteroth, Aphrodite, Hathor and the Greek Venus. It was not only stunningly brilliant, the planet’s plasma discharge assumed a variety of shapes that came to dominate the iconography of all ancient cultures. These star icons still dominate the imagination of humankind today. The flags of nearly every nation carry Venus’ star image in one form or another.

The Warrior Hero was a powerful god, the son of the King and Queen of Heaven. Born of his mother, he left his exalted station to descend to the Earth. As he descended, he grew from a dwarf to a giant, and heaven erupted into chaos. He had become the Destroyer of Worlds. The earth and the heavens shook. The closer he approached, the worse things became and the more terrible he looked. In so descending, he became old, sickly and decrepit, becoming human-like and taking upon himself the evils of the world, thus redeeming mankind.

Mars was the archetype for most male gods of antiquity. That planet’s story is the stuff of a multitude of legends. Mars became the model for every legendary, cultural hero. It was powerful, yet strangely impotent at times. It could topple the heavens, but it could not control itself. It was the dwarf who became a giant, the prototypical shape shifter. It was the quixotic Hero that very nearly destroyed creation, yet it was also the god who restored the heavens to their former peace and glory. It was the youth that aged and then became a youth again.

Yet, this is only one take on a variety of misadventures of Mars in ancient skies.

After his descent to the Earth, the Warrior Hero returned to his home in heaven by climbing the Cosmic Mountain or Celestial Stairway to Heaven. As he ascended, the commotion and tumult diminished. He became the Prince of Peace as the heavens ceased their tumultuous roar and the incessant shaking of the earth died away.

As Mars receded from its close encounter with Earth, it appeared to grow smaller as it also appeared to ascend along the polar column toward Venus. As the distance between Earth and Mars increased, its harmful effect on our planet diminished.

He ascended once again to return to the Mother Goddess’ womb. As he did so, he became youthful once again or reborn. He had completed his given task and overcome many vicissitudes. The Hero entered Heaven only after great Gates of Light parted to admit him, whereupon he took his mother as his wife by coupling with her in the celestial city or garden.

This is the story of the polar column as told in conjunction with Mars’ odyssey. As such, its story became the genesis of heroic adventure tales in all ancient cultures.This version of the Mars saga is the core of the Oedipus legend. As risqué as it sounds to our Victorian ears, this was at the center of many cultural traditions, including illicit temple rites the world over.

In returning to the Center Place, the Warrior/Hero reinstated the Eye or Mouth of God, thus restoring Heaven to its former appearance, glory and splendor.

During Mars’ absence, the eye or mouth was no longer complete. With its return to the center place, the eye or mouth archetypes were reinstated. This is the source of Egyptian resurrection rituals called “The Opening of the Mouth or Eye,” and similar rites in other cultures.

All was well for a time. But one day, a fierce Chaos Monster arose from the Cosmic Mountain. Breathing fire and roaring across heaven, it menaced the Celestial City and the Gods as it writhed and struck out at heaven and earth. The Queen of Heaven became the disheveled Hag of Heaven, the Witch. All creation seemed doomed to destruction by the dragon who had grown many heads until the Warrior/Hero stepped forward to subdue the monster or beast. When he did, all things became tranquil again. Life was beautiful and all heaven was at peace.

On occasion, the denizens of this kingdom moved from their appointed places, changing their appearance and their behavior, menacing our Earth, unleashing chaos and catastrophe. At such times for example, the Cosmic Mountain transformed into a serpent/snake/beast called the Chaos Monster, writhing and fierce beyond comprehension in disordered heavens, striking fear and awe into Earth’s inhabitants.

During these periods of disorder, the formerly brilliant and spectacular Venus did a role reversal, taking on the appearance of a disheveled monster that raged across the skies.

At these times of chaos, Mars became a warrior, appearing to do battle with a monster, using great bolts of lightning to subdue the threatening beast, as in the Babylonian tradition of Marduk and Tiamat.

Then, things would settle down again for a time.

In the end, this Golden Age perished in the greatest upheaval the world had ever known. The monarch was thrown down, fled and vanished, along with his castle, city or kingdom. The mountain that sustained him vanished as well, along with the queen and the son—all went into the dark abyss. The remnants of their dismembered bodies were scattered across the sky to become the glittering star field we know today. But in the process, our world was nearly destroyed, and mankind with it, by a vast flood of epic proportions. Yet, some few survived to inherit a new world and a new sky—not as pleasant as the first, but survivable.

All the movement, appearance changes disruptions and dislocations of orbs in the ancient polar configuration of planets were the result of forces dismantling that grouping. When the final dissolution came, earthlings saw the gods and the mountain they lived on recede into distant space.

Once those brilliant planets and glowing plasma disappeared, the starry heavens could be seen for the first time.

The polar oceans, held in place as permanent tides, were released, flooding the Earth. Centrifugal force drove those waters to the equator, dividing continents and creating islands for the first time. This was the origin of flood traditions in all ancient cultures.

So, everyone lived happily ever after. The end. (Until it all starts over again.)

Humans adapted and thus survived, but at a terrible cost. Constant fear of destruction from the skies haunted all mankind. We adopted survival strategies that evolved into beliefs, institutions and practices taken for granted today.But the fear of astral destruction remains, buried deep in our subconscious. The fear of doomsday remains vivid in the human psyche, though unrecognized and largely unacknowledged. We struggle to suppress those fears, denying them by replacing them with ‘scientific’ theories that put us on a peaceful and largely uneventful planet for “billions and billions of years.”

Sounds a bit like a fairy tale, doesn’t it? That’s because all myths and legends began life as cultural traditions, reenacted in sacred rites, rituals, pageants and holidays designed to preserve those memories. This One Story is also the basis for all religious tradition. Parts of it were incorporated into our temples, telling us that Joseph Smith knew the One Story ... all of it ... by heart.

This overview may be a bit hard to accept for those new to these ideas. Yet, if given enough time to fully consider them and study them in relation to the restored gospel, anyone can see the simplicity and power of such concepts. They not only explain the system of traditions, myths and legends of all nations and cultures, they explain the iconic elements of our restored religion, instituted by a prophet who knew and understood all these things, judging by his many corroborating statements.

Restoring the true religion meant reinstating all the elements of the One Story. The evidence for this can be found in our temples and scriptures, where symbols, rituals and metaphors true to the many actors and elements of the One Story abound. They are the iconic and metaphorical trappings of our religion, restored in their fullness for our edification and enlightenment. This connects us to antiquity and our ancestors. It offers a basis for understanding the ineffable and the inexplicable. But most of all, it promises to expand our wisdom and our testimonies far beyond their present, narrow boundaries.

© Anthony E. Larson, 2009

The Two Gospels

Once the symbolic nature of the scriptures is understood, as well as its origins and its implementation, an entirely new perspective of the gospel emerges. Knowledge of the events and conditions that lead to the religious symbolism of all ancient cultures allows us to see that gospel symbolism and the symbolism of idolatry both have their roots in the same ancient history. That is, the symbolism found in all ancient religions — false and true — shares the same origins.

It also allows us to make a clear distinction between the symbolism of the gospel and the truths of the gospel — hence the title of this article. One gospel is symbolic; the other is literal. The trick is recognizing which is which.

The gospel of symbolism

The symbolism of the gospel is typified by the New Testament book, Revelation. Nearly everything John wrote of was described in traditional, symbolic terms. In fact, it becomes clear that little about future events is ever revealed literally. With only a few notable exceptions, revelation given to prophets seldom explains the future in literal terms. Symbolism is the device used almost exclusively to depict future events. (It is not within the scope of this article to attempt an explanation as to why this is so. Whether symbolism is injected into the message by the prophet, who then transmits it to the people, or whether it comes from a divine source, the reader may judge for himself. Still, the question is worth asking, rhetorically. Why would revelation from an eternal source contain symbolism born in this creation only?)

This symbolic gospel can be an invaluable vehicle for communicating, but both the giver and the receiver must have a clear understanding of its use. Otherwise, the receiver is left with a multitude of confusing images and metaphors that seem meaningless and muddled — the fevered inventions of manic minds. The Savior’s use of parables is a mild form of this symbolic or metaphorical method. Those who were “enlightened” got the full meaning of his story, while the remainder simply heard a prosaic homily.

Clearly, the symbolic gospel is a kind of Gnosticism — a system of metaphors and symbols that both the giver and the receiver must know (hence the Greek term for knowing, gnosis) to properly interpret the story or lesson. Gnostic writings are cluttered with symbolism that is still largely incomprehensible to modern scholars and religionists.

Latter-day Saints fail to recognize that even modern revelation has this element of Gnosticism. Yet, they seem perfectly willing to embrace the gnostic elements of temple worship. This may be a reflection of the intellectual dichotomy the Saints exhibit, or it may be due to simple ignorance and indifference.

This universal use of symbolism is the reason the traditions of other religions — indeed, all the myths and legends of antiquity — seem so extravagant to the modern mind. We have not been schooled in their symbolic traditions. The modern, rationalist philosophy has no place for ancient symbolism. The rationalist — whether an agnostic or a believer — sees ancient symbolism as so much nonsense. Thus, any religion based in ancient symbolism holds no meaning for him or her.

Common traditions, common symbols

The common origin of ancient symbolic religious systems may explain many strange similarities between religions that are usually explained away by the process of diffusion (the migration of ideas, beliefs and practices from one culture to another). The fundamental ideas behind common beliefs and traditions originated in the same ancient heavenly events. It also explains why all ancient religions possess a cosmology in one form or another.

All ancient religious traditions, no matter the religion or culture, share a common origin in ancient heavenly events. Yet, each culture created unique stories, gods, and rituals based on those events. At first glance, the symbolic traditions of one culture appear to have nothing to do with those of another. Yet, upon closer inspection and considering those ancient celestial events, we find that they all share a remarkable degree of coincidence. Those ancient traditions all tell of gods and demons: super-human beings who ruled the heavens, whose actions determined the fate of mankind; they describe a cataclysmic creation and the near destruction of the world. Their traditions are intricately interwoven with astronomical interests: stars, suns, and planets. These religions are filled with concerns for the movement and order of the heavens: the solstice, the equinox, precession, the rising of certain constellations and planets, etc. Seen from this perspective, the disciplines of Comparative Mythology and Comparative Religion are very nearly the same discipline.

This pervasive use of symbolism also explains a small curiosity. When Joseph Smith inquired of the Lord about the meanings of certain passages in Revelation, he was given a more extensive explanation of the symbols themselves — more symbolism, in other words — not their origin or their meaning. Most Saints have the impression that the revelation gave literal explanations for the symbols, but a careful reading will demonstrate that this is not the case. Rather, he was given all the shades of meaning that have been attributed to the symbols from hoary antiquity, attributions typical of the elaboration and exposition of all such symbols that have been going on since the beginning of time. (See Doctrine and Covenants, 77, “. . . explanation of the Revelation of St. John.”)

The gospel of literalism

The truths of the literal gospel are typified by latter-day revelation. (For example, see Doctrine and Covenants 138, “. . . a vision of the redemption of the dead.”) This literal gospel invariably transmits information about the nature of our relationship with God, the pre-existence, the afterlife, the eternities and the purpose of mortality. There is nothing symbolic about it, except perhaps for the language used in a vain attempt to explain the ineffable.

Thus, what we call the gospel is really a combination of two primary elements: symbolism from ancient tradition and literalism from eternal truths. If we can discriminate between the two, there is little concern about misinterpretation. However, if we perceive the two as one, then misunderstanding is inevitable. It is this kind of confusion — mistaking imagery for reality — that has caused some of the most heated debate among Latter-day Saints in this dispensation. More apostasy and more bitter acrimony can be traced to this cause than almost any other.

Take the second coming, for example. The literal gospel teaches us that the Savior will come again to the Earth to usher in an age of peace and prosperity called the Millennium. It gives no details about the actual event, except to suggest that he will simply descend from heaven as he ascended. (See Acts 1:11.) The symbolic gospel describes his coming as if it were to be a staged media event, as the return of a conquering hero: Christ comes with fire in his eyes, wearing many crowns, riding a white horse, with a sword in his mouth, his clothing dipped in blood, and accompanied by concourses of angels. (See Revelation 19:11-15.)

The literal gospel teaches truths; the symbolic gospel employs elaborate imagery to make an entirely different point. In this case, as with so very many other doctrinal issues, this view of the scriptures helps avoid misinterpretations.

© Anthony E. Larson, 2003

"The World That Then Was ..."

Other than the actual creation itself, the most notable catastrophe in Earth’s early history that also brought the Patriarchal Age to an end, was Noah’s Flood. This was the benchmark, the dividing line between two great epochs in Earth’s history. Before the Flood, the world was an astonishingly different place; after the Flood, it became the “lone and dreary” world we know today.

We learn this from the scriptures. Peter’s understanding of the change that brought an end to the most remarkable epoch in Earth’s history — the age of the Patriarchs or the Golden Age — coincides with a radical change in the Earth and its heavens. He wrote that the “old world” disappeared, saying that God

… spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; … Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store. (2 Peter 2:5, 3:6, 7.)

Thus, in the Apostle Peter’s view, the change in the Earth, wrought by the Deluge, was so dramatic that he deemed it proper to say that “the old world” had “perished,” implying that “the heavens and the earth which are now” are entirely different from those that existed prior to the Flood.

This event, this remarkably dramatic and profound change, is central to an understanding of Earth’s early history. Thus, knowing how it came about and what happened to create it are vital to our understanding of the scriptures, history and the gospel.

The division

Also critical to our view of this epoch is the enigmatic secondary change that took place soon after the Deluge: the division of the Earth in the days of Noah’s grandson. “And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided.” (Genesis 10:25.)

But to fully understand those changes, one must see them in the proper context. Only with the understanding that the Saturn myths and the Polar Configuration give us can we begin to grasp the true impact of the Old Testament narrative.

As catastrophists and mythologists labor to understand the true history of our planet, a startling and amazing view of Earth’s early history begins to emerge — one that explains the most enigmatic and baffling parts of scripture. While there are still many gaps in the narrative, leaving considerable room for further revision and adjustment, an overall picture begins to emerge that supports scriptural history and helps Latter-day Saints better understand the gospel.

In the very beginning

As elucidated elsewhere, it is most likely that Jupiter and Saturn were part of a binary sun system. Binaries are the most common arrangement known to astronomers, far more common than the single star system we inhabit today.

That parental binary also had several smaller bodies in tow, Earth being one of them. Indeed, most of the planets we know today as part of our present solar system were probably part of that original binary system. It also would have appeared as what astronomers today call a “brown dwarf” star with a relatively dim corona or photosphere. Earth and its companion planets would have orbited beneath that corona, creating a truly unique set of conditions unlike anything we see or can even properly imagine.

It was in this state that most of Earth’s pre-history took place, before Adam came to inhabit the planet. It is likely that the record in stones and bones, buried in the Earth, represent this earliest epoch. The flora and fauna of Earth’s prehistoric period are truly bizarre and foreign to our world and, likely, could not have survived the world as we know it today. It seems reasonable to assume that conditions on our planet were vastly different than those we know today, given the forms of plant and animal life that proliferated in those prehistoric days. What is likely is that the flora and fauna we see around us today represent radical adaptations of those early forms.

Celestial car crash

The real story of our world begins when our present sun, Sol, and our parent, Jupiter/Saturn binary had a close encounter with another star. It was most certainly not a head-on collision, since if the angle of incidence were that radical, none of the orbs involved would have survived intact. Rather, one sun overtook the other, much as the space shuttle docks with other satellites or the space station today. Hence, the capture of the Jupiter/Saturn binary by Sol was a rather lengthy process rather than a sudden event, thus lacking any of the catastrophic manifestations associated with later events.

But the contact was not without profound consequences. The interaction between the two primaries may have created an exchange of charge or electrical potential that gradually snuffed out the brown dwarf binary while it boosted the output of Sol. Such an exchange would explain why early traditions make no mention of the sun that is so prominent in our heavens, while they recall, at the same time, the dominant first god/planet, Saturn, emerging from the “waters” of “creation” as the photosphere fog of the binary faded, allowing earthlings to actually see Saturn for the first time. Indeed, this take on the events of the creation found in Genesis fully and understandingly explains those circumstances as no other theory can.

The original binary system remained largely intact while it began to orbit Sol. Somewhere in this period of relative calm, shortly before or after the capture began, Adam was placed on the Earth. This is so because the earliest recollections of mankind, recorded in cultural traditions the world over, including the Old Testament, remember an emerging heaven and earth that correspond to the Polar Configuration, as proposed by Talbott. It is that same configuration illustrated by Joseph Smith for Philo Dibble.

At this point in the process, Saturn and/or Jupiter became a dying star. The fire went out and the star’s photosphere or corona slowly dissipated, allowing Earth’s newest inhabitants to gradually see Earth’s companion planets, the orbs that seemed to hover above their world, in the heavens. What early mankind then saw was the nested group of planets (Saturn, Venus and Mars) slowly appearing or emerging from what seemed to be a heavenly haze or fog, sometimes referred to as “waters.”

The real creation

It is worthy of note that what is recorded in Genesis as the creation may not have been the real creation at all, but the recollection of an event that all mankind witnessed and remembered as the “creation.” This may be so because virtually all ancient cultures remembered and recorded this creation, indicating that there were many eyewitnesses to this event — an impossibility if man were placed on the Earth only after this supposed creation. The Genesis account is, likely, only one of many such recollections.

As explained elsewhere, the most meaningful explanation yet offered of the creation events, as described in the Bible, is provided by the emergence of the Earth/Mars/Venus/Saturn/Jupiter system from its original status as an independent brown dwarf, binary star system to a satellite system of Sol in a linear, polar configuration. Ancient cultures the world over, which had already descended several generations from Adam, watched and recorded those unfolding heavenly events and then recorded them as the creation.

The late emergence of the biblical creation account is even more likely when we consider that Moses is traditionally regarded as the author of Genesis. While he certainly could have received the story via revelation, what is more likely is that his account was derived from even earlier accounts (much as Joseph Smith received the Book of Mormon) that reported the same things all other ancient accounts reported about this creation event.

The original heavenly order of things

Saturn occluded Jupiter from the earthlings’ point of view, so Jupiter did not yet step onto the celestial stage or into their iconographic belief system. But, Venus and Mars were clearly visible, appearing in a nested arrangement within Saturn’s limb. Much less imposing, but certainly visible, were seven small satellites or moons that orbited Saturn. These seven appeared much smaller than Venus or Mars. All these planets and moons were the original Titans, as remembered by the Greeks, planetary powers that stood imposingly above the Earth.

At this juncture, it is worthy of note that from these seven small satellites come all the traditions, practices and icons that employ the sacred number seven — seven days of the week, seven gates, seven cities, etc. Perhaps more importantly for scriptorians, these are the archetypes for the seven angels of John’s Revelation.

A solar system within the solar system

Assuming a new orbit about Sol, its new primary, the Jupiter/Saturn mini-solar system with its unusual configuration of satellites became increasingly unstable. It was just a matter of time before the same forces that caused its capture also dismantled it. That dismantling, like its original capture, was a process rather than an event. And because it was a process, mankind watched it unfold over many generations, from Adam to Noah.

The gradual dismemberment of the old binary covered a rather lengthy period of time. The same forces that brought Sol and the old binary system together now began to dismantle the Polar Configuration. The motions of Earth, Mars and Venus became more and more erratic. As they did so, a multitude of celestial phantasmagorias played out in Earth’s heavens, giving rise to the elements described above, and many more.

Myth making in the heavens

It is in the elucidation of this part of the planetary saga that Talbott has made the greatest strides. His work has shown how very many images from antiquity — iconographic and metaphoric — have their origins in the heavenly epic seen by ancient peoples the world over as the planets began their sky dance and metamorphoses. This has been the area where this author has concentrated his explanatory efforts concerning the connection between those ancient planetary powers and the gospel and the scriptures are concerned. Nearly everything his author has written has dealt with the archetypes that originated in this period of the Polar Configuration. Each of the planets became an actor in this, as yet, poorly understood drama that played itself out across earthly heavens — poorly understood because of the distortion and elaboration of traditions (myths and legends) over the millennia, because modern science can accept only what it can see and test (empiricism) and because recent generations have no familiar point of reference since nothing even remotely like those events has transpired in our time.

The roles they played

Each of the planets, which stood majestically above the Earth in that epoch, looked and behaved differently due to their position in that configuration. As a result, each was assigned a different role, attributes and character by ancient observers.
Saturn was not as active, so he remained in the background — ever present, ruling the skies, the king of heaven, the architect of all creation, the great center. He was Cronus (Kronos), the timekeeper because all else turned around him while he remained motionless in the heavens.

Venus became the archetype for female goddesses in all cultures. She was the prototypical star from which all modern star symbols are derived, a thing of beauty and wonder in the heavens. She was god’s (Saturn’s) daughter and/or wife, his invigorating power and his glory. If the goddess is female — whatever the culture — she was probably invented to depict some aspect or act of Venus. And because Venus was the most active element in the planetary saga, she has the most incarnations in myth and legend. At some point in the celestial drama, she moved away from her previous location, centered on Saturn. Hence, she (Athena) was said to have been born from the head of Zeus.

Mars had his own career. He became the archetype for all ancient hero gods. He was a warrior, a villain, a fool, a giant, a dwarf, etc. He was also the son of Saturn, because he was seen to leave or be born from within Venus, god’s wife/sister/daughter. Being the most proximate of the planets to Earth, Mars soon became the most terrifying when periodic instabilities in the Polar Configuration brought Earth and Mars close together. Mars was seen to descend toward the Earth, along the common planetary axis. As he did so, he grew from a child to a youth and then to an adult. He then receded, moving away from the Earth. This, in effect, reversed the previous process in that he once again became a child and returned to his former place in the center of Venus, the "womb" of heaven.

Elements other than planets

During these events, a flux tube of electrified plasma and elements from the atmospheres of both planets erupted into an apparent connection between the two, Earth and Mars, that changed its appearance from time to time. On one occasion, it was an awe-inspiring pillar of light, standing majestically between heaven and earth with Mars sitting atop its pyramidal shape. At other times, it became an interplanetary vortex, the mother of all twisters that oscillated in Earth’s heavens, churning up Earth’s polar landscape and all beneath it, leaving behind it the polar ice cap and the permafrost layer known today as tundra. It was the archetype of all sacred mountains (Olympus) atop which sat the temple of heaven (Saturn), god’s habitation. It was a pillar, a mountain, a ladder, a stream of water or wind, and the great celestial tree after which our Christmas trees are modeled.

Of course, there is much, much more to the story. Whole books could and will be written as ongoing research reveals more and more about each of the gods, goddesses, icons, appearances and elements that went to make up the history of the Polar Configuration.

The great change

What happened next in the history of this configuration of planets is presently the least understood part of the entire epic. For that reason, any analysis will necessarily be flawed and therefore subject to revision. Nevertheless, it is worth risking a few missteps to connect the entire story to ancient traditions — especially scriptural accounts — and the modern epic so that we may better understand our catastrophic, planetary heritage. Moreover, this segment of the planetary history supplied its own share of unique images, still more grist for the myth mill.

Over time, the same forces that brought Jupiter/Saturn into an orbit around Sol and that held Earth, Mars and Venus in the relatively short-lived, linear configuration, eventually dismembered the old binary system, allowing all the bodies in that defunct group to assume their own, individual orbits around Sol. This process is recorded in Genesis as the Great Flood and the dividing of the earth in the days of Peleg.

The end and the beginning

That final process of dismemberment began, likely, with the event known to students of the Bible as Noah’s Flood or the Great Deluge. It began with a nova-like explosion of the old binary, Jupiter/Saturn. Perhaps it was the final stage of the old stars’ death throws. In any case, the flare-up first threw out light, then copious amounts of water in the form of ice. According to Hebrew tradition, Noah and his contemporaries saw seven days of light followed by copious amounts of rain that rapidly inundated the world.

The Genesis account of Noah’s miraculous escape from the Deluge is not the only such story. Accounts from ancient cultures the world over tell of the Great Flood. Each account also tells of survivors. Thus, it may be that the Old Testament perspective that Noah and his family were the exclusive survivors may be misleading. From the Hebrew perspective, they were the sole survivors. However, from a worldwide perspective, they were only some of many. This view is supported by evidence that people from many cultures the world over saw the subsequent celestial events.

A new heaven and a new earth

In any case, when the heavens cleared, the survivors and their descendents saw a changed sky. Saturn, they thought, was dying because, rather than the featureless, shining white orb that once dominated the heavens, it had become a dark body with clearly delineated features. It now had clearly visible variegated stripes girding it, much as it does today, giving religious significance to the funerary practice of wrapping the corpse in the mummification process and a wide variety of other mythic themes.

What is more, the dying god (Osiris) now appeared to wander away from his exalted station at the center of heaven — something he had never done before, from the ancients’ perspective. This was not the simple meandering about the center axis as Mars and Venus had done previously. At this juncture, the highest god, the center, god’s house, the celestial city itself began to move — almost imperceptibly at first, then in ever increasing circles. This new movement in the sky was actually mostly due to Earth’s own erratic motions as it left its location at the common axis of planets to eventually assume a new orbit around Jupiter. This movement now revealed Jupiter (Zeus), which up to this point had been occluded by Saturn (Cronus) — hence the traditions that Zeus was Cronus’ offspring.

The seven small satellites that played a very minor role in the early part of the epoch now played a pivotal role that gave rise to numerous sacrificial traditions and rituals as they appeared to fall into Saturn (Cronus/Kronos), who was seen by the ancients to consume his “children” in flames. For example, from this event comes the pagan tradition, recorded in the Old Testament, practiced by those who worshipped Moloch (Cronus/Saturn), of burning children as sacrifices to the planetary gods, a particularly repugnant practice denounced by Israelite prophets.

Celestial battles

As Jupiter emerged from behind Saturn, a battle appeared to commence between them, with Jupiter (Zeus) throwing interplanetary lightning bolts. Thus, Jupiter seemed to come out of nowhere to evict Saturn from his throne, the center place of heaven.

Saturn, Venus and Mars left their former positions along the central axis of the polar configuration — as did the Earth as well. That arrangement ended as Saturn left the congregation of planets to assume its own orbit around Sol. Judging by ancient religious traditions, it vanished into the starry heavens (for today’s familiar stars were now visible to mankind for the first time) in the vicinity of the constellation of Orion to become the dead god, Osiris, of the Egyptians.

Instead of peace, beauty and an inspiring display in the heavens as before, there was now chaos and mayhem as the gods began to do battle with one another. Lightning bolts leaping across millions of miles of space became the weapons the gods launched at one another. The most menacing, evil icons from ancient lore emerge in Earth’s skies in this brief period of chaos. Swarms of debris became demons of destruction and darkness. Images of many-headed serpents and menacing goddesses, witches, wolves, incredible dragons and fantastic beasts, found in all the ancient religions of mankind, have there origins in greatly distorted plasma streams, debris, gases and electromagnetic phenomena that now stretched between planets as they moved in highly erratic ways.

A new god replaces the old

Jupiter now dominated Earth’s skies, appearing to stand where vanished Saturn once stood. For a time, it ruled over a chaotic heaven where Mars and Venus appeared to metamorphose wildly as these orbs did battle with one another. This period gave rise to the universal story told about the struggle between a god of light and the demons of darkness or hell led by a dragon or monster. These were the chaos hoards, evil fiends that threatened to destroy all creation as the earth trembled, heaven thundered and the skies repeatedly darkened. Jupiter was not the benign monarch, as Saturn had been. He is darker, more ruthless and war-like. Yet he battles to keep at bay the powers of darkness that seemingly threaten all creation. Indeed, he is the archetype for the angry, vengeful god of the Old Testament.

The fall

Earth, too, succumbed to the forces that wrenched the polar configuration apart. It fell into an orbit around Sol similar to that which it follows today. This dramatic change, from the perspective of earth-bound observers, sent Earth’s former neighboring planets and the seat of god or heaven itself off into the “wilderness” of distant space to become mere pinpoints of light — planeta, or “wanderers” in the heavens. Earth was then said to have “fallen” from its formerly exalted status and position near heaven or the throne of god. Indeed, the “division” of the Earth that is said in the scriptures (Genesis 10:25, D&C 133:24.) to have occurred in the days of Peleg, one of Noah’s grandsons, was this very event, thereby establishing a sequence of events: the Flood first, followed by the “division” two generations later.

The Earth was divided

There are two elements to the “division” of the Earth, providing two equally credible explanations for that scriptural statement: one is the separation of the Earth from its “celestial” counterparts, the other is the dividing of Earth’s continents by the oceans.

The ancients considered the ground they stood upon to be an intimately connected part of the collection of orbs they saw in the sky above them. Hence, in their view, when those orbs departed the sky it made good sense to say that the Earth had been divided — another way of saying it had fallen. Additionally, with the demise of the Polar Configuration, which held Earth’s oceans in tremendous tides at the poles, water rushed to the equator due to centrifugal force, raising the water levels around the globe’s girth to unprecedented levels. Include in that the tremendous volume of additional water the Flood event added to Earth’s store. Thus oceanic water levels rose dramatically worldwide in the wake of the Flood, inundating many land bridges that once connected continents, effectively changing the topography of the entire earth and creating another, new “division” of the landmasses.

Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end

The above events are remembered in the Old Testament as Noah’s Flood and the division of the Earth in the days of Peleg, while other ancient cultures characterized it as the end of one world and the beginning of another.

The profound effects of the Earth’s “fall” cannot be overemphasized. Ancient prophets sought to impress this fact upon future generations, making this motif a part of the description of Adam’s transgression, as we read in the scriptures.

The appearance of the firmament above the Earth had changed radically, as had the environment on the Earth. As if to inform us as well as Noah, the Lord swears to maintain the new order as long as the Earth exists by listing the burdensome new conditions that had not existed before, “seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night …” (Genesis 8:22.) All these new conditions were imposed on mankind due to the Earth’s “fall” to its new position in the solar system.

Abbreviated life spans

Nowhere is this altered environment that came with Earth’s fall more evident than in the life span or longevity of human beings. We learn from the genealogy of Adam (Genesis, chapter 5) that the normal life span before the Flood reached many hundreds of years — almost a thousand in Methuselah’s case. But compare that to the normal life span immediately after the Flood and in the following generations as recorded in the genealogy of Abraham (Genesis, chapter 11). The life span of those born after the Flood was dramatically foreshortened to almost half of pre-Flood lengths. Furthermore, within eight generations it was down to a little over a hundred in Abraham’s case, a fraction of pre-Flood life expectancy.

No wonder the human race associated the "fall" with death. Lifespans had been drastically truncated.

Scholars and scriptorians have always been puzzled by the seemingly inordinate life expectancy of the Patriarchs and its sudden foreshortening after the Flood. Some dismissed it as a distortion of the truth. Some accepted it on faith, but still could not explain it. Only the catastrophist view of Earth history gives any meaning to the longevity rates recorded in Genesis and the records and traditions of other ancient cultures. Even accepting the likely fact that “years” before the flood were not the same time length as those we know today (since planetary close encounters have clearly altered the length of the solar year since those ancient times), the dramatic decrease of longevity immediately after the Flood and the declining life expectancy rates thereafter serve as indicators that some dramatic change was afoot in Earth’s environment to cause those declines.

Radical environmental change

What changed to bring about foreshortened life spans? There can be little doubt, from a catastrophist point of view, that the electromagnetic environment in the Jupiter/Saturn binary system was far more hospitable to life than the sterile, hostile, one-sun system we inherited. It is like comparing life in an incubator, where everything necessary to promote life is present in abundance, to survival in an inhospitable world that oscillated between cold and heat, dark and light, where life became a struggle for survival. When the salubrious electromagnetic environment of early Earth collapsed, life expectancy naturally dropped dramatically.

A more stable, but still destructive epoch

What is more, Earth’s new orbit opened the door to a new, prolonged epoch of instability. Earth and its inhabitants were not yet out of the woods — not by a long shot. While the Earth, Jupiter and Saturn apparently settled quickly into somewhat stable orbits very nearly like their present paths around the Sun, Venus and Mars entered into elongated, elliptical orbits much different from those they follow today. Those eccentric orbits, which crossed Earth’s orbit, determined that Venus and Mars would periodically pass in close proximity to one another and the Earth, generating new catastrophes in the process. This was the historical epoch with which Velikovsky concerned himself.

Beginning after the flood with the Tower of Babel incident and continuing on down to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, this new period of instability and danger also included later biblical events such as the Exodus, Joshua’s Long Day, Jonah’s ministry to Nineveh and the day fire from heaven consumed Elijah’s sacrifice on Mt. Carmel. In the biblical narrative, the last catastrophic episode that saw Earth menaced by another planet was in approximately 701 B.C. when the Assyrian army of Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem. “And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they (the Jews in Jerusalem) arose early in the morning, behold, they (the Assyrians soldiers) were all dead corpses.” (2 Kings 19:35.)

Beyond the Bible

Every emerging culture from that prolonged epoch, whether Hebrew, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Chinese or Inca, left records of those events from their own perspective. Each culture — even city-states within cultures — gave different names to the same planets/gods. Thus, the same story or a similar story is told in separate cultures, using different names, deeds and settings; yet modern scholars fail to see the commonalities. For example, there can be little doubt that Homer’s epic story of the battle of Troy recorded a catastrophic event that was also reported by Old Testament prophets; or that the Exodus even was chronicled by those outside Egypt who experienced those phenomena. The trick, as Velikovsky discovered, is to correlate the two because each saw those events from vastly different perspectives.

So, it may not be prudent to assume that since Venus was said to be Aphrodite, she was not Athena as well. She was both. She was also Hera, Medussa, Pandora, Isis, Hathor, Astarte and a multitude of other goddesses — all in different guises and settings to tell some aspect of the ancient planet’s story anthropomorphically.

What historians see as transmissions or “borrowings” of knowledge and cultural traditions — one culture to another — are largely parallel accounts from different cultures of the same events, gods and conditions in antiquity. In addition, each story or cultural tradition may or may not indicate a new event or a new god or goddess. It may simply be a re-telling of the same story from a new perspective. To further complicate things, characters, events and conditions are swapped around to create even more elaborate story lines, as in modern works of fiction or modern holidays. It is a time-tested tradition, even in temple or festival rituals where dramatic rehearsals of the acts of the gods were rehearsed.

Like witnesses to an auto accident, each one tells the story differently. The task is to recreate the actual event from the various perspectives. In this case, we are trying to sort out the accounts of a multitude of planetary encounters, told by a variety of cultures, where the actors and the settings change more frequently than ever imagined. So, each mythical account has elements of truth, but none is a fully accurate retelling of what happened or who participated. Each myth, each legend, each tradition must be carefully blended with its counterparts to create a whole that tells the real story. This is a work in progress that has only just begun.

Symbolic masking and overlays

In addition to that, these periodic, catastrophic encounters between Earth and its formerly two closest neighbors in the polar configuration, Venus and Mars, generated a new symbolism and iconography, which was superimposed on the old symbolism of the Polar Configuration. This “masking” of earlier catastrophic events by later ones makes it doubly difficult to discern the symbolism of the older events and the original configuration because of similarities — all catastrophes are natural events, born of similar physical phenomena. Thus, the mythical and ritual symbolism of later events copies or mimics that of earlier catastrophes.

Cultures not destroyed in any given catastrophe tended to focus their traditions on those most recent events. Hence, various cultures reverenced gods and icons that emerged in that catastrophe, yet they also drew on older, traditional imagery with which to adorn their new gods.

Thus, the masking of older events and symbols by more recent ones and the dramatically different perspective of events recorded by divergent cultures all has a multiplying effect on early traditions, icons and motifs, causing even more variations on ancient mythic themes. Hence, any attempt to unravel the interwoven threads of cultural and religious traditions creates bewilderment and perplexity. There is such a multitude of symbolic stories and traditions — myths, in other words — that it frustrates any systematic study of these remnants of history. Anyone who attempts to sort out the cacophony and confusion of ancient mythology can be easily overwhelmed.

Skepticism buries history

As if that were not enough, add the confusion of myth, legend and religion to the disbelief and skepticism of later generations who saw nothing but peace and stability in the solar system, and you have a formula for complete dismissal of the message our ancient forebears struggled to preserve and communicate in stone, story and ritual.

These close passes ended in the 6th century B.C., leaving a tradition of planetary catastrophe that upcoming generations had difficulty understanding or even accepting. Millennia later, mankind is almost totally ignorant of Earth’s catastrophic past. Most records of those events have long since vanished. Those few records that survived, like the scriptures, have been savaged by translators who knew nothing of ancient planetary catastrophes and subsequently mistranslated references to catastrophes. Moreover, a spirit of skepticism and unbelief has taken hold of mankind that tends to dismiss anything the least bit fantastic as invention rather than fact. Hence, those few records that have survived, sacred and profane, have been almost completely stripped of their real meaning, whitewashed by ignorance and bias. Oral traditions, myths and legends have been relegated to obscurity by generations of scientists and scholars that obstinately deny that anything extraordinary has happened in our solar system — certainly nothing like the account given above.

While much information regarding the true nature of Earth’s catastrophic past still remains in the religious traditions, customs, records, architecture, rites and rituals of all cultures — carefully preserved due to its “sacred” nature — such data carries no real credibility today, even in the minds of religious believers who completely fail to examine the evidence with anything but “spiritual” eyes.

Where the Saints stand

Mormons are no exception to this rule. The founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, spent copious amounts of his precious time trying to restore and revive information about and belief in those ancient events and conditions. His notes on Egyptian texts and his use of universal, symbolically correct archetypical symbols in modern temples as well as rites and rituals true to ancient forms are moot evidence of this. Why did he spend his invaluable time doing that rather than some other, more overtly good works? Because this knowledge is vital to one’s understanding of the gospel, the scriptures, the temple and one’s religion.

Latter-day Saints who ignore that information — the vast majority of the church membership, as it turns out — do so at their own peril.

© Anthony E. Larson, 2003

Before the Beginning

In an earlier monograph, the events of the creation, as written in the Old Testament, were explained in light of the Saturn thesis of David Talbott. Latter-day Saints typically believe what most of Christendom believes about the creation: that man had not yet been placed on the Earth when the first events transpired, that the creation account was subsequently revealed to prophets long after the first events themselves.

However, other evidence suggests that the creation story may actually be an eyewitness account, handed down from generation to generation. That is, even though the scriptures speak of man’s creation at the end of the story, Adam and his early descendants may have seen events that they came to call the ‘creation’ because it brought into existence a radically different world from the one they had previously known. Indeed, the ancient traditions and records of other cultures clearly portray the creation as an event witnessed by all mankind.

To fully understand how this might be, we must consider the work of Wal Thornhill, plasma physicist and electric universe proponent, who has given us a practical view of the conditions that may have existed in our solar system during the time when Adam was placed on the Earth, before Saturn became dominant in Earth’s heavens. Thornhill’s proposition not only fits with the sketchy details of the creation recorded in the Old Testament and the many traditions of other cultures, but it gives us a more complete view of the world our forefathers experienced before the epoch Latter-day Saints know as the Patriarchal Age, the Golden Age or the Age of Saturn. It was the world as it existed before the event that came to be known as the creation and the age of abundance that followed it when Saturn came to dominate Earth’s ancient skies. It is also an amazing view of what may be the most common condition of planets in our universe today — radically different than our own — and what the Earth and the heavens looked like in our world’s earliest epoch before the celestial collision that made it the harsh place it is today.

In his monograph entitled, “Other Stars, Other Worlds, Other Life?” Thornhill begins by pointing out that the most common stars in our galaxy, by far, are called Brown Dwarfs — ‘brown’ because they emit far less light than bright stars like our Sun, and ‘dwarfs’ because they are much smaller than the Red Giants that dominate the starry skyscape by their sheer size. In fact, Brown Dwarfs are remarkably small, approaching in size the gas giant planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn.

Brown Dwarfs are far too small and cool to be powered by internal thermonuclear processes. (A serious problem for orthodox science, the very existence of such small, cool stars argues strongly for Thornhill’s electric universe theory.) The plasma envelope surrounding a Brown Dwarf is so tenuous that its planets could orbit within the star’s atmosphere. Rather than being vaporized by the intense heat of a thermonuclear star, such planets would encounter a salubrious, electrical environment. Such small, cool stars may be excellent incubators for life-bearing planets that might orbit them, as we shall see momentarily.

Spectrographic analysis of the light emitted from Brown Dwarfs confirms that their ‘atmospheres’ are rich in water (the atmosphere being the area within the photosphere) and other molecules of elements important to life. They emit light predominantly in the blue (ultraviolet) and red (infrared) ends of the visual spectrum.

The photosphere, together with the corona, is the source of light and heat in an electric star. The plasma envelope of the largest stars can extend many millions of miles above the surface. For example, were our Sun such a giant star, its atmosphere might extend beyond the present orbit of Jupiter! All the inner planets would orbit within its plasma envelope. Thornhill speculates that planets orbiting a parent sun within the envelope of the sun’s atmosphere are likely the most common arrangement in the universe since the recent discoveries of planets orbiting distant stars are all uncommonly close-orbiting planets. This is crucial because such an arrangement would put those planets in an environment radically different from the one in which we find ourselves today.

Consider what such a state of affairs would mean to the inhabitants of such a planet. Light would seem to come from all around rather than from a single, point source as it does now. There would be neither glaring sunlight nor shadows. There would be no day or night. There would be no stars or sun seen crossing the sky, and therefore no way of marking time. Even the parent sun would be virtually indistinguishable in a uniformly lighted sky.

Radiant energy would be evenly distributed over the entire planet, making every part of the planet pleasantly habitable, from the equator to the poles. There would be no seasons, no tropics and no ice caps. The weather systems we know would simply not exist. Such a mild, friendly climate would have none of the harsh extremes we endure now.

Lit by mostly ultraviolet and infrared light, the world would have been a bit gloomier than what we know, with a pale purple sky. On the other hand, because plants thrive on red light, such an arrangement would be very friendly to plant life — especially true because of an abundance of water and other life-giving molecules accumulated by the planet from the ‘atmosphere’ of its sun. Indeed, the environment within the parent sun’s atmosphere would be very conducive to life: consistent temperature, ample light for growth and abundant water. Under those conditions, one would expect such a planet to be teeming with life, a veritable planetary greenhouse.

The law of entropy that governs our existence would be suspended or largely negated in the altered electromagnetic environment near such a star. The energy received from the parent sun would operate to create more complexity and life, not dissolution and death as on our world. Oxidation or decay, as we know it, would be greatly mitigated. Aging would be slowed for the same reason because organs within the body would not be crippled by degeneration, as they are now. In fact, the electromagnetic environment would probably energize our cells and cause the body to renew and repair itself more rapidly and easily than at present. The lifespan of a human living on such a planet might be several times longer than in the harsh environment we presently endure.

All this should sound familiar to the student of the scriptures. What Thornhill describes sounds remarkably like the world described in the early verses of Genesis and in the fabulous traditions of all ancient cultures. Clearly, as established by Talbott’s research, Earth, Mars and Venus were once satellites of one or perhaps two Brown Dwarf parents, Jupiter and Saturn. All the remarkable conditions listed above pertained to our planet at one time. Our earliest ancestors lived in that exceptional environment.

Then, one tragic day, our pacific, primordial home experienced a “galactic traffic accident,” as Thornhill puts it. A pernicious intruder began to capture our Brown Dwarf parent, along with its planetary entourage. That interloper was Sol, our present-day sun. The trespassing sun usurped our parent sun’s power in the process and this extinguished its light and power until it became a faint shadow of its former self. Ultimately, after a long period of instability as the original system struggled to maintain its unique configuration in a new electrical environment, the original polar planetary configuration was dismantled in the aftermath of the capture, but not before creating a spectacular and astonishing celestial pageant for Earth’s newest inhabitants, Homo Sapiens, which became the basis for their cultural and religious traditions. Eventually, the ‘fall’ of Earth from its position near its parent and sister planets to its present, isolated orbit around the interloper sun gave us the world we know today: brilliant day with a glaring sun, black of night with a star-strewn sky, heat and cold, storm fronts, wind, rain, snow, ice ages, a largely uninhabitable planet and an existence fraught with pain and danger. Indeed, a “lone and dreary world.”

Perhaps more importantly, if we are to believe these prophecies, our parent planet will be returned one day to its “paradisiacal glory.” (Tenth Article of Faith, History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 535-541.)

Now we know what that change will bring.

© Anthony E. Larson, 2000

The Saturn Epic: Mythmaking

The beginning of the Saturn epic, as we have already seen, gave rise to some remarkable imagery. That imagery can be seen in our own religion, as well as other Christian denominations. But it goes far beyond that limited scope. For those schooled in world religions, it should be apparent that the imagery is universal. This will become even more evident as we continue to probe the evolution of the ancient polar configuration of planets.

Understanding all religion

Scholars have long noted similarities in the world’s religions. Until now, the best explanation for such conformity has been cross-cultural exchange, called diffusion. While there has clearly been some borrowing in cultural religious tradition, the Saturn events serve to explain why there are so many profound and remarkable commonalities in world religions. In addition, as the iconography and imagery of those ancient, celestial events continues to unfold, many more unnoticed similarities between Man’s religions begin to emerge. Indeed, the similarities become clearly apparent and continue to multiply before our eyes. Icons from the most exotic religious traditions become quite understandable, even to our ‘symbolically sanitized’ Christian eyes, to the point that we can plainly see that all religious traditions stem from the same original, cosmological events.

For Latter-day Saints, this exercise proves invaluable in our quest to understand our own religion. It only stands to reason that a restored religion would have echoes of the ancient traditions, symbols and metaphors. An apparent example of this in Mormonism is the erection of temples—a practice as old as mankind—complete with rituals, icons and architecture as authentic and traditionally accurate as any Egyptian, Babylonian, Mayan, Buddhist, Islamic, Greek or Hebrew temple.

The gospel connection

In addition, a restored religion would connect those ancient traditions, symbols and metaphors to the actual events that spawned them. This Joseph Smith did with statement like that recorded in the History of the Church, volume 5, page 337, where he attributed the miraculous events of the last days to a “grand sign” which he identified as “a comet, a planet.” His considerable work to identify the meaning of certain Egyptian documents in his possession are another, profound connection with recent discoveries.

What he left us clearly points to the research and insight of modern scholars who struggle to unlock the secrets of Earth’s remarkable past as it relates to Catastrophism and the Polar Configuration. Significantly, their research serves to support Joseph Smith’s claim to revelation since this remarkable view of ancient history has only just begun to come to light among secular scholars in the last 50 years. There is simply no other way an individual living the primitive intellectual atmosphere of the American frontier in the early 19th century could come by this kind of knowledge. It was simply nonexistent then. It could have come only by revelation, as Joseph asserted. This should give added strength to the witness of any Latter-day Saint who strives to perfect their testimony and their knowledge of the gospel. This is what Joseph Smith strove to do for the Saints of his day. Thankfully, modern Saints can now enjoy nothing less.

Recapitulation

The appearance of Saturn, Venus and Mars, standing above the Earth in ancient times, began to undergo a remarkable metamorphosis from the simple to the complex. In the process it would assume a variety of configurations, each giving rise to a new group of symbols, metaphor and traditions. Venus’ evolution into the prototypical star was only one phase of its career.



Eventually, the streamers that formed the “points” of the “star of glory” radiating outward from Venus toward Saturn reached similar length and breadth to form a new image.



Venus’ streamers had reached their widest, brightest expansion. Recalling that the plasmas that formed these streamers fluoresced like the neon in fluorescent lights, one can understand that the brightness of this display must have been awesome and impressive. The ancients refer to Venus’ streamers as the “light” and “life” of Saturn. It is easy to see how filling the ancient heavens with brilliant light gave the impression the Polar Configuration had come to life, that Venus was the animating or life-giving force behind that birth. It must have been an astounding sight!

What we see, they saw

What do you see in the above image? A wheel? A flower? A sun? A shield? A crown? The ancients saw and described this stage of the Polar Configuration as all those and much more.

There is little doubt that the image above can be described as a wheel, complete with spokes. So it is that ancient tradition from many cultures associated the primary, father god with the wheel and so depicted him. It is also the reason why the wheel was not employed as a laborsaving device in many ancient cultures. To use a sacred symbol as a mere utilitarian device would be the height of irreverence and sacrilege.

The wheel of god

Anthropologists and archeologists are puzzled by this enigma. It is clear that the Meso-American cultures, for example, knew about the concept and utility of the wheel. They made numerous illustrations of it. They even made what the archeologists characterize as a toy using a wheel. (It was probably not a toy, but a religious icon instead.) The Mexicans (Mejica) used the format of a wheel to create their stunningly beautiful calendar stone. Yet, laborers in those ancient cultures carried their burdens of their backs instead of employing a wheeled device. (Remember, they did not have the use of horses until the Spaniards brought them from Europe.)

The reason for this seeming penchant for physical labor is simple, given their religious traditions that hearken back to this wheel symbol. To employ the wheel in as mundane a fashion as in a cart or wagon would have been blasphemous to those who venerated this icon as holy. Much as the horned cow is venerated as a sacred beast by some Eastern cultures, allowing it free reign and refusing to use it for work or for meat, many ancients refused to employ the wheel to carry loads — much less touch the ground.

The plant of life

The Hindu tradition that the world was created when a lotus flower of light opened to reveal all creation stems from this stage of the configuration’s development. It is probably also the origin of the “Tree of Life” symbolism found in the scriptures. It was probably first rendered as the “plant of life,” since the light it emitted was considered the rebirthing of creation in an event of light/glory/spirit. The Christian imagery of the light of god or the spirit of god radiating outward, innervating all creation, also probably traces its roots back to this event.

This was the origin of many “sun” pictographs from ancient cultures worldwide. A bright circle of light with radiating spokes of light is virtually universal, common to every culture — ancient or modern. As with the star symbols, there is no analog to this symbol in the physical world. Nothing in our experience would lead us to depict the Sun with rays of light radiating out in all directions. It is a construct we draw upon that comes from our cultural traditions, which hearken back to this magnificent image in the sky — the true sun, the best sun, the sacred sun.

The sun-shield

It is, at the same time, the shield of the ancient god, standing before him and protecting him from the darkness and chaos around him. It is the prototype of all ancient shields carried into battle. Since war itself was considered a sacred ritual — an attempt to bring all humanity under the benevolent rule of a god-on-earth — then the shield, designed after and decorated by the ancient sun symbol, was thought of as a powerful icon to carry into battle as a divine protection. Even when the shape of the shield was altered by later cultures for more practical, utilitarian reasons, a version of the sun symbol was used to decorate it. That symbol was thought to give the shield supernatural protective powers. It also explains why a female nature was attributed to the symbol and why so many ancient goddesses were depicted with a shield.

A shield, a garment, a crown

Because Venus’ streamers of light seemed to cover Saturn, some traditions spoke of it as a garment of light. Like the shield, tradition placed it upon him for protection. This idea should be familiar to most Latter-day Saints.

Lastly, Venus, with her streamers, was said to be the crown of Mars, the heir apparent of the heavenly kingdom and the son of the father-god, Saturn. This imagery is employed by John in Revelation, and is another key to understanding that enigmatic book.

Displacement of planets, more variations

The next stage of the polar configuration’s evolution is truly remarkable. It marks a critical phase in the relationships that existed between the several planets that composed the configuration. One or more of the smaller planets — Earth, Mars and Venus — began to ‘wobble.’ That is, they began to oscillate slightly back and forth through the centerline or swing about the centerline that they had shared. The configuration was in the early stages of dissolution. It began to come apart!

It would not take much movement away from the common center of alignment during that ancient epoch to create a remarkably different view of the heavens for Earth’s inhabitants. As will be seen in a future analysis of the ancient planetary conjunction, there was a great deal of movement among the planets involved before the extraordinary configuration that gave mankind its cultural traditions finally came apart. That movement generated a remarkable variety of images, as we shall see.
Which of the planets moved first and in what manner is a matter of conjecture; the visual effect that it produced for earth-bound observers is not because they recorded and reproduced it in abundance.

Whether Venus and Mars moved away from the center in tandem or whether the Earth alone moved, the displacement created an offset or parallax view of the polar configuration from Earth. At that point, the symmetry of the original icon, from an earthly perspective, was altered considerably.



Once again we have only to ask ourselves what this looks like to know what the ancients also thought of it. Do you see a bird’s or peacock’s tail? A hand fan? A flowering plant? A headdress? Or a scallop shell?

Even a cursory acquaintance with ancient symbolism allows one to see the multitude of icons that might have resulted from this manifestation. It certainly reinforced the “plant of life” or “tree of life” symbolism mentioned earlier because it looked much like a palm tree. It became the source of innumerable artistic motifs for sacred edifices. Eventually it found its way into every kind of decorative pattern — sacred or profane.

The peacock is an integral part of the symbolism of Eastern religions. Hindus and Buddhists, in particular, employ the peacock imagery where some of their deities are depicted seated upon a peacock as a throne. Such a relationship seems ludicrous to Western eyes, yet within the understanding of the Saturn myths comes a new appreciation and understanding of religious iconography from around the world. Some of the most eccentric images in ancient and foreign cultures become understandable, as in this case.

Of course, there are a plethora of sacred birds to choose from in ancient iconography. The Native American tradition of the thunderbird leaps to mind, as does the Phoenix legend. Most striking to Christians is the symbol of the white dove. If this brilliant, white-feathered, bird-like celestial image were considered the animating force or spirit of the ancient sky god, then the symbol of the dove—a white, feathered bird—would be quite proper in later Christianity to connote the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost. It would be an unmistakable icon, rife with meaning.

Fans, veils, wigs and hats

While our Western culture does not put much emphasis on the image of the fan or the veil, it was used in ancient times to cover the face—again, a sacred covering representing protection and glory. The fan was, in myth, a device used by many ancient goddesses to protect themselves, as odd as this may seem in practice, and to banish the powers of chaos and darkness that menaced them. It was also characterized as a whisk or broom for the same purpose. For that reason, the fan was used by young women in many ancient cultures to cover their faces—not to hide their face, as later cultures interpreted the custom, but to associate themselves with the ancient goddess of light and beauty that once covered the face of the celestial god.

We recognize this symbol in another of its incarnations or variations: the veil. Like the train worn by the new bride to symbolically associate her with cometary Venus, the veil over the face is a symbolic association of the individual with this aspect of Venus so as to identify the bride with the heavenly prototype of beauty, Venus in this most glorious aspect. As such, the train and the veil become a dual statement of the bride’s association with the prototypical bride of antiquity, Venus, the bride of heaven’s ruler, Saturn. Latter-day Saints will see the special meaning in the veil as a covering.

The ‘headdress’ motif is also nearly universal. Perhaps the most striking example is found in the imposing feathered headdresses of the Native American peoples. If the ancient god, Mars, wore a headdress composed of bright, white feathers, then any chief or ruler here on Earth should do the same. In fact, this image is the origin of the headdress or wig worn by Egyptian pharaohs, that of Tutankhamen being the most easily recognized in modern popular culture.





This headdress or wig was identical to the appearance of the ancient planetary configuration in this phase of its development. It was meant to designate the wearer as the heir to godhood. As with all Saturn traditions, we see that the headdresses of vastly different cultures, separated by time and distance, share a common origin.

Indeed, Venus in its various early stages of light may be the origin of all worldly headgear. If the veil and the fan were used by women as ceremonial adornments to connect them with the goddess of beauty, then the hats and headgear worn by men of all cultures likely hearken back the planetary configuration at one stage or another.

This is certainly true of crowns worn by rulers. Worn in one form or another, as ceremonial adornments (just as the pharaoh’s headdress), during rituals rehearsing specific events in the history of the polar column of planets, they are universal icons. Temple-going Saints should make note of this imagery.

Goddess on the half-shell

The scallop shell was also associated with many ancient, mythical goddesses. Mythmakers often chose to rhetorically adorn the goddess’ hair with scallop shells to identify them to readers or listeners. Aphrodite was said to have been born on a scallop shell. Perhaps it was the didactical importance of this symbol that led to its use in the Celestial Room of the Salt Lake Temple, where a young woman stands is depicted standing on a scallop shell.



Many have wondered why such an image was included in an LDS temple. Why bring a pagan image into such a sacred edifice? The reason is probably the same as that which inspired ancient Israelites to bring such images into their temple in Jerusalem. It is, likely, the same reason that brought all other images to early Mormon temples: They are part and parcel of the iconography that connects modern temple-building to ancient temples. Like so much of that temple’s iconography, the Salt Lake Temple points the viewer back to the original Saturn traditions.

One other aspect of this phase of the polar configuration, not readily apparent, is that of the ‘hand.’ As the ‘wobble’ in the planets progressed, the streamers were altered or distorted further. At one point, some appeared longer or shorter than others, and the number of streamers fell to five, thus giving the appearance of a human hand. Hence, we find the term “hand of God” in Hebrew and Christian scriptural references. Cultures worldwide depict the human hand as a sacred object. More often than not, that hand is illustrated with an eye and/or a wheel in the palm, a completely appropriate juxtaposition since the archetypical ‘eye’ and ‘hand’ were both formed in the ancient heavens by the same orbs in different manifestations. Those who have observed the exterior of the Salt Lake Temple have seen both symbols used there: the all-seeing eye and the hand (usually clasped hands).

Another aspect of this stage or phase of the configuration’s development is the apparent oscillation of the streamers from side to side, giving the appearance of so many serpents emerging from the head. This may be the origin of the Medusa image. Medusa, you may remember, was a horrific female creature from Greek mythology with the body of a serpent and hair that became a multitude of snakes emerging from her head. For those wishing to interpret the vision of John the Revelator in the New Testament book Revelation, this image is crucial because the many-headed serpent or dragon of chapters 12 and 13 finds its prototype in this original image.

The same ‘serpent’ motif can be found in widely divergent ancient cultures. The Greeks used the Medusa. The Hindus depict Nag as a serpent with seven heads. The Aztecs venerated a god with a human body and seven serpents sprouting from his shoulders where his head should be.

Interestingly, the oldest example of this many-headed serpent icon, matching John’s description in Revelation, was found by archeologists incised on a Sumerian shell inlay dating to about 2600 BC, long before John penned his cryptic vision.



These examples should amply demonstrate to the reader that these mythic icons predated Christianity and the New Testament. Thus, John’s use of the imagery of dragons and serpents constituted a borrowing rather than invention. This and a multitude of other examples cited by this author in The Plainest Book: Revelation, suggest that almost the entire book was a borrowing of ancient imagery. (Note that this makes John’s vision no less valid. In fact, it makes it a kind of scriptural Rosetta Stone, allowing us to understand the relationship between the ancient imagery of all cultures and that of early Christians. It was a syllabus for pagans — full of well-known and well-understood cultural imagery — who wished to understand the beliefs of early Christianity. This evidence also completely demolishes the popular interpretation of Revelation by modern Evangelists who see the image of the seven heads as some modern political alliance forged between ungodly nations in the last days.)

Making stories from symbols

The Egyptians, referring to this symbol, said that the hair of Isis became a “thicket” of papyrus in which she protected the child/god Horus and is so illustrated on the walls of tombs and temples. Thus, we see how a simple icon can give birth to a story that takes on a life of its own. Over time, the story is elaborated and embellished with detail until the original icon is obscured or lost entirely, and the story eventually attains the stature of historical fact.

For example, this suggests that some of Moses’ history about being hidden by his mother in the bulrushes may have been borrowed from religious tradition/imagery in order to validate his position in Hebrew tradition as a prophet. Indeed, this is probably true for most of the prominent Old Testament characters: All or part of their personal history had to conform to sacred traditions in order to validate their sacred role in history. Since almost all of those traditions stemmed from and conformed to the Saturn myths, it is not surprising that elements of those traditions have found their way into the histories of prominent Old Testament figures. This, as we shall see, was certainly true of Abraham and was also the case with some accounts of the Savior’s life.

Modern uses of these and other Saturn symbols include the logo for television networks, NBC and CBS.



This is an example of how these symbols continue to emerge in the cultures of man, each time more detached from their origins, often more elaborate and esoteric. Nevertheless, they continue to convey some aspect or meaning of the original.



Why choose the feathers of a peacock for a new electronic technology? Why employ the all-seeing eye for another? Some might scoff at the idea that they hearken back to ancient symbolism, saying that there are other, more logical reasons for choosing such symbols. Yet, when the appearances of the polar configuration are considered, it is completely logical that ancient symbols for vision, light, knowledge and wisdom should be selected. Ironically it allows us to see that we in our modern, enlightened culture have not divorced ourselves, in reality, from the beliefs and traditions of our idolatrous ancestors. However, we are completely unaware of their origins.

Once again, we see that the Saturn traditions brought to light by modern scholars connects us to the symbolism of the restored gospel. Indeed, the imagery of all mankind’s religions has a common origin in Earth’s ancient heavens — a remarkable revelation in itself.

© Anthony E. Larson, 2000