Morning Star

[smokingboot]

Venus eclipses the sun today, leaving a trail of drooling astronomers and astrologers in her wake.

In honour of this rare event (the eclipse of course - I can't comment on the drooling) and because I am revelling in the pure mythic resonance of it, here are some snippets about the morning and evening star. The first is an ancient hymn to Inanna, brilliant goddess of Sumer (Iraq/Iran more or less), some thousands of years ago:


THE LADY WHO ASCENDS INTO THE HEAVENS

My Lady, the Amazement of the Land, the Lone Star,
The Brave One who appears first in the heavens -
All the lands fear her.

In the pure places of the steppe,
On the high roofs of the dwellings,
On the platforms of the city,
They make offerings to her:
Piles of incense like sweet smelling cedar,
Fine sheep, fat sheep, long haired sheep,
Butter, cheese, dates, fruits of all kinds.

They purify the earth for My Lady.
They celebrate her in song.
They fill the table of the land with the first fruits.
They pour dark beer for her.
They pour light beer for her.
Dark beer, emmer beer,
Emmer beer for My Lady.

The sagub-vat and the lamsari-vat make a bubbling noise for her.
They prepare gug-bread in date syrup for her.
Flour, flour in honey, beer at dawn.
They pour wine and honey for her at sunrise.

The gods and the people of Sumer go to her with food and drink.
They feed Inanna in the pure clean place.

My Lady looks in sweet wonder from heaven.
The people of Sumer parade before the holy Inanna.
Inanna the Lady Who Ascends Into the Heavens, is radiant.
I sing your praises holy Inanna.
The Lady Who Ascends into the Heavens is radiant on the horizon.

- translated by Wolkstein and Kramer


Note her love of grub and beer and long baths! An excellent goddess!

Next is from a prayer/invocation to Aphrodite channelled by a woman called Anna Kingsley (I think, but I'd need to check, cos I always get her name wrong) in the 19th century.


'I am the dawn, daughter of Heaven and of the deep: the sea-mist covers my beauty with a veil of tremulous light. I am Aphrodite, the sister of Phoibos, opener of heaven's gates, the beginning of wisdom, the herald of the perfect day. Long had darkness covered the deep: the soul of all things slumbered: the valleys were filled with shadows: only the mountains and the stars held commune together. There was no light on the ways of the earth: the rolling world moved outward on her axis: gloom and mystery shrouded the faces of the Gods. Then out of the deep I arose, dispeller of night: the firmament of heaven kindled with joy on beholding me. The secrets of the waters were revealed: the eyes of Zeus looked down into the heart thereof.

Yea I am before all things: desire is born of me: by me the earth and the heavens are drawn together. But I am hidden until the time of the day's appearing: I lie beneath the waters of the sea, in the deeps of the soul: the bird of night seeth me not, the herds in the valleys, nor the wild goat in the cleft of the hill. As the fishes of the sea am I covered: I am secret and veiled from sight as the children of the deep.'


And finally, not forgetting the most infamous of morning stars, a little background on how Lucifer got his name and his association with Venus:


'A later addition to the hierarchy of hell came from the book of Isaiah. While prophesying the downfall of the kings of Babylon, Isaiah declaimed: 'How art thou fallen from Heaven, Hellel, son of the Dawn.'(14:12) Hellel means 'shining one.' Isaiah used the metaphor as one familiar to his audience but its original signification is now lost. It may have been a version of the Canaanite version of Ashtar, a god associated with the planet Venus as morning star, who tried to sit on the throne of Baal, proved too small for it, and so fell from heaven down to the underworld.

Whatever Isaiah meant, Jewish commentators never connected this passage with the legend of the fallen angels. The first person known to have made the link was the Greek Christian Origen in the second century AD., who quoted it using the Greek equivalent of Hellel, Phosphoros, with the specific intention of refuting those who denied that Satan was once in heaven.

A problem arose here, for Phosphoros, 'Shining One,' was the usual name for the morning star, and in the book of Revelation, Jesus states, "I am the bright and morning star." (22:16 King James Version) It may have been in reference to the latter passage that the fourth century bishop of Cagliari took the Christian name of Lucifer, the Latin equivalent of Phosphoros. At this time the church was divided between the Arians, who held that Jesus was the first being created by God, and the Athanasians, who held that Jesus was as eternal as God. Eventually the Athanasian viewpoint was made official and Arians were made to recant their belief on pain of death. This was not good enough for Bishop Lucifer, who said that they ought to be put to death even if they recanted. No doubt to his astonishment as well as distress,this view was found to be a little too extreme by the church authorities, and he himself was declared a heretic.

At this time, Saint Jerome, who was famous for his invective against anyone who disagreed with him, was engaged in translating the Bible into Latin. He rendered Hellel/Phosphoros as Lucifer. In a letter to Bishop Damasus he wrote, concerning the rival candidates for the bishopric of Antioch: "Now the Sun of Justice is rising in the West; but in the East that notorious Lucifer, who had fallen, has exalted his throne above the stars." The "Sun of Justice" was the bishop of Rome: perhaps "Lucifer" was a snide reference to Paulinus, one of the would-be bishops, who had himself been consecrated by Bishop Lucifer. Whatever the case, the name Lucifer, which so nearly became a title of Christ, came down on the side of hell as an alternative name for Satan.'

- Lure of the Sinister,
Gareth J Medway



OK, now I must stop. Here's to the morning star, beautiful beyond fact or story, herald of the perfect day.

Comments

[thru-her-lens.livejournal.com]

And inspiring, as ever.
Love xx