THOTH
                     A Catastrophics Newsletter


                           Vol IV, No 10
                           June 15, 2000

FORTRESS AND LABYRINTH
By Dave Talbot

Amy asks:
Humbaba/Huwawa has the ugliest mug I have ever seen, made up of
"intestines" twined around a couple of eyes (see Hamlet's Mill, By
Georgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, pg. 291).  The
authors connect the monster's face and name with intestines and
with the labyrinth.  They also point out similarities to the Aztec
Tlaloc, although Tlaloc's face was formed from two snakes rather
than intestines.  I can imagine that the superstition that you can
read a person's fortune in the windings of steaming intestines
also came from this image.  Where did it come from?  Was it part
of the polar configuration?

Dave responds:
Well, I thought I'd take a little time to respond, since I've
already stuck my neck out by claiming that, when it comes to the
landscape of myths and symbols, all roads lead to the polar
configuration.

Amy, you're right about the ancient labyrinth and its connection
to superstitions regarding entrails and fate.  And yes, the
labyrinthine "intestines" do have a logical place in the evolution
of the polar configuration.

The image relates to a rather complex phase, involving the
transition from Saturnian to Jovian sovereignty.  Here we also
meet the terrible goddess (Venus) in her "entangling" aspect, and
the legendary perils confronted by the Martian hero.  As I've
noted previously, I find it difficult to discuss these later
sequences without the use of pictures, particularly while so much
of the earlier symbolism remains to be presented at a sufficient
level of detail.  It is the earlier images that give the necessary
context to comprehend the later evolution of the configuration.

The brief comments here are for those familiar with the basic
planetary forms of the polar configuration.

The general motif involves these common elements, among others:

1) meandering, "drunken" or "crane"-dance of the hero;
2) winding path of the maze or labyrinth;
3) the cross or swastika, the central celestial source from which
the sinuous "paths" arose;
4) "bowels" of the cavern entered by the hero;
5) swallowing of the hero by the chaos monster;
6) disheveled and "entangling" hair of the mother goddess in her
threatening aspect;
7) winding or unwinding of intestines;
8) intricate windings of a rope or thread, or an elaborate "knot"
which only the hero can undo; and
9) a "riddle" or "paradox" which only the hero can solve--this
being the most abstract form in initiation rites, folklore, and
later analogies,.

In all of these forms we see key sequences in the hero's
confrontation with the chaos powers.  Though the images are quite
diverse and often complex, the root explanation provided by the
Saturn model is surprisingly simple.

The explanation begins with the planetary alignment of the polar
configuration--the juxtaposition of Mars, Venus and Saturn--when
four luminous streamers were seen radiating from Venus in the form
of an equal-limbed cross.  (As I've noted on other occasions, this
is the most frequently recorded form of the discharging Venus.)
In a phase of intense discharging linked to the onset of
instability, these streamers took on a whorl-like appearance, a
form that numerous ancient cultures recorded stylistically as the
swastika.  There is reason to believe that initially the whirling
appearance retained its symmetry as the streamers wound up the
polar axis.  But eventually the displacement of the aligned
planets produced an irregular and complex streamer pattern, as
Venus and Mars danced around the polar center in awkward motions,
due to the visual effects of displacement from the polar axis and
the moving position of the observer on a rotating earth.  In their
labyrinthine windings these streamers acquired the appearance of
an impenetrable citadel in the heavens.  Fundamentally, that is
what the labyrinth means: a great fortress which only the hero, be
he Gilgamesh or Theseus, will succeed in entering.

There is much more to the ancient imagery of this celestial
"stronghold" or "prison".  The cavernous "bowels" of the divine
habitation, the Gordian Knot, the mythic "cavern" of the hero's
initiation or re-birth, and the labyrinth all mean the same thing.
Moreover, only a few of the experts have discerned the essential
corollary to this theme: the conjunction of the hero and mother
goddess.  The windings of the labyrinth are, in fact, the very
essence of the goddess, and the hero's entry into the labyrinth
can not be separated from his conjunction with the great mother.
(As I've stated more than once, ALL mythical themes involve the
conjunction principle.)

Thus, the Saturn model provides a series of acid tests.  It
identifies specific forms in the sky as the objective references
for seemingly incompatible mythical and symbolic images. What
appear to be DIFFERENT symbols actually refer to the same external
form and to the same sequence of events.  The imaginative symbols
will appear to have no connection to each other in the absence of
the external references.  But if you grant the concrete forms in
the sky--if only for the sake of the obvious tests--then the
connections will be EXPECTED.  It is this logical expectation that
supports the claimed "predictive power" of the model.  The model
implies entire complexes of symbolic equations that would not be
anticipated under any other theory of the past.

Since it will take a sizable volume to detail the labyrinth motif,
for now I will simply provide a few random notes--

Many themes relating to the terrible goddess and the ordeal,
initiation, or rebirth of the hero occur in association with the
first appearance of Jupiter.  In one way or another the motifs of
swallowing, cavernous hiding place, wrapping or winding, binding,
and imprisonment run through all of the accounts relating to
Jupiter's emergence as sovereign power.  Ideas as to who was doing
what to whom, and how badly, will vary according to highly
subjective mythical interpretations.  A good starting point for
confirming the complex of motifs noted above might be Hesiod's
Theogony recounting the fate of Kronos and the "birth" of Zeus.
But don't expect everything to become immediately clear!  Every
motif or symbol has a larger context requiring cross-cultural
analysis.  It is the rigorous comparative approach that enables us
to confirm the integrity of the substratum.

That a great fortress in the sky would be composed of "intestines"
is really quite ridiculous UNTIL one grants something visible in
the heavens to prompt the mythical language.  In the words of the
Babylonians themselves, Humbaba/Huwawa was the guardian of "the
fortress of intestines", and more than one specialist has proposed
that this mythical fortress was a prototype of the labyrinth.

But other crucial associations of the labyrinth are usually
overlooked.  The swastika at the center of the labyrinth occurs
not just in Cretan and Attic art, but among the Hopi Indians as
well.  The most common centerpiece of the labyrinth, of course, is
the equal-limbed cross, from which the swastika itself arose,
representing the whirling aspect of the cross.

One scholar who did not overlook this connection was A. B. Cook.
>From his extensive study of the theme, he concluded [Zeus, Vol 1,
p. 478]:  "it seems certain that both Attic and Cretan art
presuppose the swastika as the earliest ascertainable form of the
Labyrinth."

So it is simply inconceivable that the labyrinth motif could be
illuminated without simultaneous illuminating the cross and
swastika (or vice versa). One theme leads inexorably to another,
each adding nuances and perspective: intestines, labyrinth,
swastika, dance.  There can be no doubt, for example, that the
swastika is inseparably connected to the whirling dance of the
hero and goddess when the world has slipped into chaos.  Moreover,
this dance is consistently linked to the labyrinthine passage.
Indeed, one of the more common dance patterns in ancient times was
that of whirling performers, dancing along a path marked by a
labyrinth. Cook, for example, relates the pattern simultaneously
to a symbolic "imitation of the sun's movements in the sky" and to
a pattern of imitative spiraling dance.  The word "labyrinth"
often MEANS dance, and the archaic roots of the symbol are
acknowledged to have given rise to the "Troy dance" and similar
children's games.

But again, the relationship of the swastika to the dancing form of
the hero (in conjunction with the goddess) will virtually always
go unnoticed by the specialists, while nothing in familiar
experience today will suggest any link to the complex images of
"intestines".  Yet curiously, from the Americas to Africa to the
South Pacific we find recollections of the dancing trickster-hero
"unraveling his own intestines".  That such ludicrous imagery
would recur from one land to another surely requires an
explanation!

It is important to note that the labyrinthine dance of the hero
has its own unique and awkward form, as we should expect.  The
dance of the warrior Theseus, most famous for his entry into the
Cretan Labyrinth, was called the Crane Dance, a very appropriate
image for the visual movements of Mars in relation to the origins
of the labyrinth motif.  Numerous Hindu myths relating to the
"dance of Shiva" are suggestive of the same concepts while adding
vital associations.  The illustrated movement of the dancing
hero's arms and legs mimic the whorl/swastika form of the
discharge streamers.   The warrior Siva holds his consort Sati
above his head (again, as we should EXPECT), and in their violent
whirling movement, the body or essence of Sati is dispersed in
flame--

>From Stella Kramrisch, _The Presence of Shiva_, pp. 319-20:  "He
danced exceedingly, his arms flailing the regions.  The stars were
scattered by the swish of his hair.  Death, love, and despair
syncopated the escalating speed of his Tandava dance; the earth
shook while Siva went on dancing in frenzy, his eyes whirling ...
As Siva danced on and on, the body of Sati became lighter and
lighter, and he saw that limbs and parts had fallen from it."  In
the end all that was left was the mystic yoni, the core identity
of the goddess (the planet Venus, in the Saturn model).

A comparative analysis will show that that the god's four arms
"flailing the regions" are, beyond any reasonable doubt, the arms
of the whirling cross or swastika that mark out the four regions
or quarters of the celestial habitation. So too, the comet-like
"hair" whirling in the heavens will trace to early images, such as those

from Sumer, showing the arms of the swastika as the long-
flowing hair of female figures.  Hence, the presence of a swastika
in the center of the labyrinth is a crucial piece of evidence.

It needs to be emphasized here that the identification of Shiva's
dance with the famous dance of the Theseus will not be justified
by a mere reading of popular summaries.  Too much is lost in
trivial approaches to myth.  How, for example, do we know that the
dance of Theseus was in conjunction with a GODDESS, since the
usual treatments do not mention such a thing?  The builder of the
labyrinth of Knosos was Daidalos, who constructed the palace-like
fortress to imprison and protect the Minotaur.  Though the
labyrinth became the ground for the Crane Dance of Theseus, we
read in the Iliad that Daidalos "once wrought in Knosos broad a
dancing-ground for fair-haired Ariadne". But the real key is the
golden "thread" of Ariadne, unraveled by Theseus as he danced
through the winding passages.  For the comparative approach will
confirm that the spiraling thread of life and fate is nothing else
than the luminous essence of the goddess herself.  The hero's
unraveling of the "thread" in his meandering dance is in fact a
counterpart to Shiva's whirling dispersal of the essence of Sati.
The dance of Theseus is in conjunction with the goddess.  This is
why, as noted by Cook, the labyrinthine dance was said to be "the
first occasion on which men and women danced together."  Here, as
so often is the case, we see the telltale signature of an
archetype, the cosmic "first form" to which all imitative or
ritual practices direct our attention.

[An aside: in Egypt one of the key images is that of the red ab-
heart of Re, the "heart of carnelian" which Egyptian texts
identify with such warrior heroes as Shu and Horus (Mars, in our
reconstruction).  This innermost masculine heart is presented
within (i.e., in conjunction with) the feminine hati-heart of Re,
The hieroglyphic image shows a male figure in a dancing posture
virtually identical to that of Shiva, who similarly stands in
conjunction with the Hindu mother goddess.  But none of these
images seems to be intelligible to Egyptologists or other
specialists.  Thus, they do not notice that the swastika itself
symbolized the whirling, dancing heart of the ancient sun god
(Saturn).  And until the underlying equations are recognized, such
obvious clues as the placement of a swastika on the HEART of
Apollo in familiar Greek representations, will mean virtually
nothing to them.]

As noted above, a symbol linking the winding path of the labyrinth
to a winding rope, cord, or string is the "thread of Ariadne".  The
Greeks claimed that Theseus way through the labyrinth was MARKED
by this very "golden thread" which he unwound as he entered the
cavernous path.  [Hero unwinding the golden thread = hero
unwinding intestines = hero winding through the passages of the
labyrinth = dancing hero and goddess]  A common association noted
by numerous comparative symbolists was that between the labyrinth
and symbolic "knots" or elaborate "knotwork", a connection fitting
perfectly with the Saturn model's identification of the
labyrinthine pathway and the "Gordian Knot". In fact, the symbolic
knotwork of Ireland and Scandinavia will often present striking
parallels to the labyrinth, and I am fully satisfied that, at
root, the two motifs arose from the same experience.  Labyrinth
and knotwork also overlap in the Chinese image of the p'ang-chang,
the "endless knot" or "knot of happiness".  Nor can the symbolic
"intestines" be separated from this particular theme, for the
legends describe the p'ang-chang as a "knot" formed from the
INTESTINES of a slain enemy.  All of which reminds us again of the
"fortress of intestines" to which Humbaba/Huwawa, the enemy slain
by Gilgamesh, gave his name.

I should hasten to add that the most common association of the
labyrinth revealed by cross-cultural comparison was with the
mythical cave or cavern entered by the hero (as we should also
expect).  Thus Dorothy Norman, in The Hero, p. 107, writes:  "In
those cases where the ritual has been preserved, the labyrinth
itself, or a drawing of it, is invariably situated at the entrance
of the cave or dwelling".  The Saturn model says: labyrinth
entered by the hero = cavern of the hero's initiation.

In fact all of the predicted symbolic equations or identities
noted above can be fully verified by an independent researcher
following the keys provided by the Saturn model.  The hero untying
or finding his way through the "knot", as observed by Chevalier
and Gheerbrant, is equivalent to the hero "being swallowed by the
monster" -- a universal motif.  The disgorging of the hero is simply
one more form of the god's victory and release.

To untie the knot is to defeat the chaos power.  The labyrinth is
a "puzzle", a challenge to the hero, and conceptually it is only a
short distance to the mythic riddle or paradox, a folklore variant
of the same critical juncture in the biography of the hero.  When
Oedipus answered the riddle of the sphinx correctly, the devouring
goddess plunged over the precipice.

Among those comparative symbolists who have discerned the
essential connections (though certainly not accounted for them), I
would list J. C. Cooper, who writes in An Illustrated Encyclopedia
of Traditional Symbols: "[The labyrinth is] related to the
symbolism of the cave and with initiation rites, often held in a
cavern or crypt, or with funerary rites, all of which are
associated with death and rebirth.  It also shares the symbolism
of the knot in binding and loosing, restricting but uniting.  The
labyrinth is also thought to have been concerned with the
symbolism of the coiled snake [a globally-recognized form of the
devouring goddess] or with patterns of entrails divination and the
bowels of the earth. The labyrinth in a square depicts the four
cardinal points and the cosmos and may be connected with the
swastika."
                 -------------------------------
Perhaps I should mention in closing that we are now looking ahead to a
two and a half-day seminar in September, presenting the convergence of
the Saturn model and electric universe.  This event will include the
first public presentation of several key mythical images and their
relation to concrete forms seen in the sky.  The labyrinth will be among
the featured motifs.  The tentative date for the event, which will
include about eight presenters, is September 22-24, in Portland, Oregon.
Look for an announcement shortly.

Dave Talbott