War in Heaven and on Earth, page 3
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Our Solar Entity – Celestial Body of the Archangel
Earthlings saw angels doing battle in the heavens and archangels slaying dragons. They saw Lucifer, the Morning Star, cut down from on high; they even saw witches flying on broomsticks — the stuff of legends, folklore, and religious beliefs. They prophesied the end of the world and made human sacrifices to placate the gods and stave off the destruction of the world. Such was the climate for hundreds of years during cataclysmic events Immanuel Velikovsky writes about in his heavily documented Worlds in Collision — from which I will share a few more excerpts.
Lucifer Cut Down
It can be said that the planet Mars saved the terrestrial globe from a major catastrophe by colliding with Venus. Since the days of Exodus and Joshua, Venus was dreaded by the peoples of the earth.
For about seven hundred years this terror hung over mankind like the sword of Damocles. Human sacrifices were made to Venus in both hemispheres in order to propitiate her. After centuries of terror, one sword of Damocles was removed from above the heads of mankind, only to be replaced by another. Mars became the dread of the peoples, and its return was feared every fifteen years. Before this, Mars had absorbed the blow, even the repeated blows of Venus, and had saved the earth.
Venus, which collided with the earth in the fifteenth century before the present era, collided with Mars in the eighth century. At that time Venus was moving at a lower elliptical velocity than when it first encountered the earth; but Mars, being only about one-eighth the mass of Venus, was no match for her. It was therefore a notable achievement that Mars, though thrown out of the ring, nevertheless was instrumental in bringing Venus from an elliptical to a nearly circular orbit. Looked at from the earth, Venus was removed from a path that ran high to the zenith and over the zenith to its present path in which it never retreats from the sun more than 48 degrees, thus becoming a morning or an evening star that precedes the rising sun or follows the setting sun. The awe of the world for many centuries, Venus became a tame planet.
Isaiah, referring figuratively to the king of Bbylon who destroyed cities and made the land into a wilderness, uttered his remarkable words about Lucifer that fell from heaven and was cut down to the ground. The commentators recognized that behind these words applied to the king of Babylon must have been some legend about the Morning Star. The metaphor regarding the king of Babylon implied that his fate and the fate of the Morning Star were not dissimilar; both of them fell from on high. But what could it mean that the Morning Star fell from the heights? asked the commentators.
Significant are the words of Isaiah about the Morning Star, that it “weakened the nations” before it was cut down to the ground. It weakened the nations in two collisions with the earth, and it weakened the nations by keeping them in constant fear for centuries.
The Book of Isaiah, in every chapter, provides abundant evidence that with the removal of Venus, so that it no longer crossed the orbit of the earth, danger was not eliminated, but became even more threatening. . . .
Meteorites fell from the sky as stones. One of those stones is the “black stone of Kaaba” venerated as the holiest thing in Mecca which pilgrims come from afar to kiss. According to Moslem tradition, it fell from the planet Venus, although another legend says that Archangel Gabriel brought it down.
Kaaba is older than Mohammedanism. Mohammed, in the early part of his career, worshiped Venus (al- Uzza) and other planetary gods, which even today enjoy great veneration among the Moslems as the “daughters of the god.”
Who, then, is this Archangel Gabriel?
The Archangels
In the Scriptures the destruction of the army of Sennacherib is said to have been caused by a “blast,” and a few verses later it is said to have been the act of an angel of God.” The Talmudic and Midrashic sources, which relate that the army of Sennacherib was destroyed by a blast and scourge accompanied by a terrible din on the night following the day when the shadow of the sun returned ten degrees, are
more specific: the scourge was inflicted by the Archangel Gabriel “in the guise of a column of fire.” In the present research it has been established that it was the work of Mars.Are archangels planets? “An old tradition, dating back to Gaonic times, had it that there are seven archangels, each of whom is associated with a planet.” “The seven archangels were believed to play an important part in the universal order through their association with the planets and the constellations. There is some variation, in the different versions, in the angels assigned to the planets.” In some medieval writings Gabriel is associated with the moon, but in one or two with Mars.”
The following, however, makes the identification of Gabriel possible: Gabriel is connected with the foundation of Rome. The Jewish legend says that when Solomon took the daughter of Pharaoh to wife, “the Archangel Gabriel descended from heaven and inserted a reed in the sea. About this reed more and more earth was gradually deposited, and, on the day on which Jeroboam erected the golden calves, a little hut was built on the island. This was the first dwelling-place of Rome.” Here Gabriel is cast in the role the Romans ascribed to Mars, that of the founder of Rome?* Our assumption that it was the planet Mars which caused the destruction of the army of Sennacherib in the spring of -687 is implied also by rabbinic sources: Since the Archangel Gabriel is another name for the planet Mars, the ancient Jews knew the origin of the “blast” and the identity of “the angel of the Lord” who destroyed the Assyrian army.
*It was Aeneas who founded the city of Rome in the eighth century before the present era after he was saved when Troy was captured and went to Carthage and from there to Italy.
Gabriel is the angel appointed over fire; he is also, according to Origen,” the angel of war. Thus we again recognize in him Mars Nergal. The rabbinical tradition says that the Assyrians of the host of Sennacherib, before they died, were permitted by Gabriel to hear “the song of the celestials,” which can be interpreted as the sound caused by a close approach of the planet. The words of Isaiah (33 : 3)
“at the noise of the tumult [hamon] the people fled,” should, according to the Jewish tradition as related by Jerome, refer to Gabriel, Hamon being another of his names.”The planet Mars is red, and Maadim (the red or the one who redens) is the name for Mars in the Hebrew astronomical texts. One text says: “The Holy One created Mars–Maadim–that he should throw them [the nations] down into hell.”
A few rabbinical sources attribute the destruction of Sennacherib’s army to the action of the Archangel Michael; some ascribe it to both archangels.
Who, then, is the Archangel Michael?
The entire story of Exodus is connected with the Archangel Michael. In Exodus 14 : 19 the pillar of fire and of cloud is called Angel of God. According to the Midrash it was the Archangel Michael who made himself “a wall of fire” between the Israelites and the Egyptians. Michael is said to be made of fire. The Haggadah states: “Michael was appointed High Priest of the celestial sanctuary at the same time that Aaron was made high priest of Israel,” that is, in the time of the Exodus. Michael was also the angel who appeared to Joshua, son of Nun.
The celestial struggle at the Sea of Passage is depicted in the familiar image of the Archangel Michael slaying the dragon. Michael produces fire by touching the earth, and it was the emanation of this archangel that was seen in the burning bush, He has his abode in heaven and is the forerunner of Shehina [Shekinah] or God’s presence, but as Lucifer, Michael falls from heaven and his hands are bound by God. All these attributes and acts of the Archangel Michae lead us to recognize which planet he represents: it is Venus.
The Archangel Michael, or the planet Venus, and the Archangel Gabriel, or the planet Mars, saved the people of Israel on two dramatic occasions. At the Sea of Passage, when the hosts of Egypt, pursuing the fleeing slaves, could be seen in the distance (“the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid,” the sea was torn apart, and the slaves walked on the bottom of the sea and reached the other shore. Their enemies were thrown high by the released tides, which fell down when a spark passed between Venus and the earth.
Eight hundred years passed after the Exodus. The Assyrian hosts, which a generation earlier had removed the Ten Tribes of Israel to an exile from whence they never returned, invaded Judea with the express purpose of crushing rebellious Judah and removing him from his homeland and from the scene of history. A blast from the planet Mars fell upon the camp of the Assyrians and annihilated it. Those rabbinical sources which ascribed this act to both archangels were not wrong. Venus pushed Mars toward the earth, and thus both were instrumental in the destruction.
The author of the apocryphal book of the Ascension [Assumption] of Moses knew that “Venus and Mars are each as large as the whole Earth.”
Because of their intervention at moments when the national existence of Israel was at stake, Michael and Gabriel were looked upon as “guardian angels” of the eternal people.
Gabriel is the Hebrew Hercules (Heracles). Actually the classic authors made it clear that Hercules is another name for the planet Mars. In the Gospel of Luke (1:26) Gabriel is the angel of Annunciation to the Virgin.
In the Roman Catholic Church Michael is the conqueror of Satan, “head of the host of heaven and first of the saints after Mary.
Planet Worship in Judea in the Seventh Century
In the Northern Kingdom the process of disassociating the deity from the celestial object had not yet been completed when the Kingdom was destroyed (-723 or -722), and its population was led away into captivity, from which they did not return. “And they [the tribe of the Northern Kingdom] left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal” (II Kings 17: 16).
Only a few years after the deliverance of Judea from the hand of Sennacherib, Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, ”built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord” (II King, 21: 5). “For he [Manasseh] built again high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and he made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served
them” (II Chronicles 33 : 3).
“Baalim” or “Baal” are shorter versions of Beelzebub (Baal Zevuv), names given to Venus when she was a comet. This sheds an historical light on the story of Elijah and his contest between the worshipers of Baal and those who worshiped the Lord God. Then there’s this legend behind our Halloween witches on broomsticks:
The Pageants of the Sky
Cosmic perturbations took place, catastrophes swept the globe, but did witches fly through the air on brooms? The reader would agree that cosmic catastrophes, if they occurred, could leave, and must have left, similar memories all around the world; but there are fantastic images that do not appear to represent realities. We shall follow this rule: if there exists a fantastic image that is projected against the sky and that repeats itself all around the world, it is most probably an image that was seen on the screen of the sky by many peoples at the same time. On one occasion a comet took the striking form of a woman riding on a broom, and the celestial picture was so clearly defined that the same impression was imposed on all the peoples of the world. It is well known how, in modern times, the forms of comets impress people.
Besides being a source for creative imaging (pareidolia), folklore, and religious beliefs, cataclysmic upheavals of the past tell us that we live in a world that is far from stable and that has its own cycles and seasons of evolution which impact our planet’s climate and weather far more than anything we humans could possibly do. I will continue sharing Velikovsky with you in the next post. Until then,
Be love. Be loved
Anthony
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