Let Them Be for Signs

Observational history

Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to view the Pleiades through a telescope. He thereby discovered that the cluster contains many stars too dim to be seen with the naked eye. He published his observations, including a sketch of the Pleiades showing 36 stars, in his treatise Sidereus Nuncius in March 1610.

The Pleiades have long been known to be a physically related group of stars rather than any chance alignment. 

John Michell calculated in 1767 that the probability of a chance alignment of so many bright stars was only 1 in 500,000, and so surmised that the Pleiades and many other clusters of stars must be physically related.

When studies were first made of the stars’ proper motions, it was found that they are all moving in the same direction across the sky, at the same rate, further demonstrating that they were related.

Charles Messier measured the position of the cluster and included it as M45 in his catalogue of comet-like objects, published in 1771. Along with the Orion Nebula and the Praesepe cluster, Messier’s inclusion of the Pleiades has been noted as curious, as most of Messier’s objects were much fainter and more easily confused with comets — something that seems scarcely possible for the Pleiades. One possibility is that Messier simply wanted to have a larger catalogue than his scientific rival Lacaille, whose 1755 catalogue contained 42 objects, and so he added some bright, well-known objects to boost his list.

Edme-Sébastien Jeaurat then drew in 1782 a map of 64 stars of the Pleiades from his observations in 1779, which he published in 1786.

OF THE COMING OF THE ELVES AND THE CAPTIVITY OF MELKOR 

Through long ages the Valar dwelt in bliss in the light of the Trees beyond the Mountains of Aman, but all Middle-earth lay in a twilight under the stars. While the Lamps had shone, growth began there which now was checked, because all was again dark. But already the oldest living things had arisen: in the seas the great weeds, and on earth the shadow of great trees; and in the valleys of the night-clad hills there were dark creatures old and strong. 

To those lands and forests the Valar seldom came, save only Yavanna and Oromë; and Yavanna would walk there in the shadows, grieving because the growth and promise of the Spring of Arda was stayed. And she set a sleep upon many things that had arisen in the Spring, so that they should not age, but should wait for a time of awakening that yet should be. But in the north Melkor built his strength, and he slept not, but watched, and laboured; and the evil things that he had perverted walked abroad, and the dark and slumbering woods were haunted by monsters and shapes of dread. 

And in Utumno he gathered his demons about him, those spirits who first adhered to him in the days of his splendour, and became most like him in his corruption: their hearts were of fire, but they were cloaked in darkness, and terror went before them; they had whips of flame. 

Balrogs they were named in Middle-earth in later days. 

And in that dark time Melkor bred many other monsters of divers shapes and kinds that long troubled the world; and his realm spread now ever southward over Middle-earth. And Melkor made also a fortress and armoury not far from the north-western shores of the sea, to resist any assault that might come from Aman. That stronghold was commanded by Sauron, lieutenant of Melkor; and it was named Angband. It came to pass that the Valar held council, for they became troubled by the tidings that Yavanna and Oromë brought from the Outer Lands; and Yavanna spoke before the Valar, saying: ‘Ye mighty of Arda, the Vision of Ilúvatar was brief and soon taken away, so that maybe we cannot guess within a narrow count of days the hour appointed. Yet be sure of this: the hour approaches, and within this age our hope shall be revealed, and the Children shall awake. Shall we then leave the lands of their dwelling desolate and full of evil? Shall they walk in darkness while we have light? Shall they call Melkor lord while Manwë sits upon Taniquetil?’ And Tulkas cried: ‘Nay! Let us make war swiftly! Have we not rested from strife overlong, and is not our strength now renewed? Shall one alone contest with us for ever?’

But at the bidding of Manwë Mandos spoke, and he said: ‘In this age the Children of Ilúvatar shall come indeed, but they come not yet. 

Moreover it is doom that the Firstborn shall come in the darkness, and shall look first upon the stars. 

Great light shall be for their waning. 

To Varda ever shall they call at need.’ 

Then Varda went forth from the council, and she looked out from the height of Taniquetil, and beheld the darkness of Middle-earth beneath the innumerable stars, faint and far. 

Then she began a great labour, greatest of all the works of the Valar since their coming into Arda. 

She took the silver dews from the vats of Telperion, and therewith she made new stars and brighter against the coming of the Firstborn; wherefore she whose name out of the deeps of time and the labours of Eä was Tintallë, the Kindler, was called after by the Elves Elentári, Queen of the Stars. Carnil and Luinil, Nénar and Lumbar, Alcarinquë and Elemmírë she wrought in that time, and many other of the ancient stars she gathered together and set as signs in the heavens of Arda: 

Wilwarin, Telumendil, Soronúmë, and Anarríma; and Menelmacar with his shining belt, that forebodes the Last Battle that shall be at the end of days. 

And high in the north as a challenge to Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing, Valacirca, the Sickle of the Valar and sign of doom. 

It is told that even as Varda ended her labours, and they were long, when first Menelmacar strode up the sky and the blue fire of Helluin flickered in the mists above the borders of the world, in that hour the Children of the Earth awoke, the Firstborn of Ilúvatar. 

By the starlit mere of Cuiviénen, Water of Awakening, they rose from the sleep of Ilúvatar; and while they dwelt yet silent by Cuiviénen their eyes beheld first of all things the stars of heaven. Therefore they have ever loved the starlight, and have revered Varda Elentári above all the Valar. In the changes of the world the shapes of lands and of seas have been broken and remade; rivers have not kept their courses, neither have mountains remained steadfast; and to Cuiviénen there is no returning. 

But it is said among the Elves that it lay far off in the east of Middle-earth, and northward, and it was a bay in the Inland Sea of Helcar; and that sea stood where aforetime the roots of the mountain of Illuin had been before Melkor overthrew it. 

Many waters flowed down thither from heights in the east, and the first sound that was heard by the Elves was the sound of water flowing, and the sound of water falling over stone. Long they dwelt in their first home by the water under stars, and they walked the Earth in wonder; and they began to make speech and to give names to all things that they perceived. 

Themselves they named the Quendi, signifying those that speak with voices; for as yet they had met no other living things that spoke or sang. 

And on a time it chanced that Oromë rode eastward in his hunting, and he turned north by the shores of Helcar and passed under the shadows of the Orocarni, the Mountains of the East. Then on a sudden Nahar set up a great neighing, and stood still. And Oromë wondered and sat silent, and it seemed to him that in the quiet of the land under the stars he heard afar off many voices singing. 

Thus it was that the Valar found at last, as it were by chance, those whom they had so long awaited. 

And Oromë looking upon the Elves was filled with wonder, as though they were beings sudden and marvellous and unforeseen; for so it shall ever be with the Valar. 

From without The World, though all things may be forethought in music or foreshown in vision from afar, to those who enter verily into Eä each in its time shall be met at unawares as something new and unforetold. 

In the beginning the Elder Children of Ilúvatar were stronger and greater than they have since become; but not more fair, for though the beauty of the Quendi in the days of their youth was beyond all other beauty that Ilúvatar has caused to be, it has not perished, but lives in the West, and sorrow and wisdom have enriched it. 

And Oromë loved the Quendi, and named them in their own tongue Eldar, the people of the stars; but that name was after borne only by those who followed him upon the westward road. 

Yet many of the Quendi were filled with dread at his coming; and this was the doing of Melkor. 

For by after-knowledge The Wide declare that Melkor, ever watchful, was first aware of the awakening of the Quendi, and sent shadows and evil spirits to spy upon them and waylay them. 

So it came to pass, some years ere the coming of Oromë, that if any of the Elves strayed far abroad, alone or few together, they would often vanish, and never return; and The Quendi said that The Hunter had caught them, and they were afraid. And indeed the most ancient songs of the Elves, of which echoes are remembered still in The West, tell of the shadow-shapes that walked in the hills above Cuiviénen, or would pass suddenly over the stars; and of the dark Rider upon his wild horse that pursued those that wandered to take them and devour them. 

Now Melkor greatly hated and feared the riding of Oromë, and either he sent indeed his dark servants as riders, or he set lying whispers abroad, for the purpose that the Quendi should shun Oromë, if ever they should meet. Thus it was that when Nahar neighed and Oromë indeed came among them, some of the Quendi hid themselves, and some fled and were lost. 

But those that had courage, and stayed, perceived swiftly that the Great Rider was no shape out of darkness; for the light of Aman was in his face, and all the noblest of the Elves were drawn towards it. 

But of those unhappy ones who were ensnared by Melkor little is known of a certainty. For who of the living has descended into the pits of Utumno, or has explored the darkness of the counsels of Melkor? Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressëa, that all those of the Quendi who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes. For the Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar; and naught that had life of its own, nor the semblance of life, could ever Melkor make since his rebellion in the Ainulindalë before the Beginning: so say the wise. And deep in their dark hearts the Orcs loathed the Master whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery. 

This it may be was the vilest deed of Melkor, and the most hateful to Ilúvatar.

Let Them Be for Signs

Observational history

Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to view the Pleiades through a telescope. He thereby discovered that the cluster contains many stars too dim to be seen with the naked eye. He published his observations, including a sketch of the Pleiades showing 36 stars, in his treatise Sidereus Nuncius in March 1610.

The Pleiades have long been known to be a physically related group of stars rather than any chance alignment. 

John Michell calculated in 1767 that the probability of a chance alignment of so many bright stars was only 1 in 500,000, and so surmised that the Pleiades and many other clusters of stars must be physically related.

When studies were first made of the stars’ proper motions, it was found that they are all moving in the same direction across the sky, at the same rate, further demonstrating that they were related.

Charles Messier measured the position of the cluster and included it as M45 in his catalogue of comet-like objects, published in 1771. Along with the Orion Nebula and the Praesepe cluster, Messier’s inclusion of the Pleiades has been noted as curious, as most of Messier’s objects were much fainter and more easily confused with comets — something that seems scarcely possible for the Pleiades. One possibility is that Messier simply wanted to have a larger catalogue than his scientific rival Lacaille, whose 1755 catalogue contained 42 objects, and so he added some bright, well-known objects to boost his list.

Edme-Sébastien Jeaurat then drew in 1782 a map of 64 stars of the Pleiades from his observations in 1779, which he published in 1786.

OF THE COMING OF THE ELVES AND THE CAPTIVITY OF MELKOR 

Through long ages the Valar dwelt in bliss in the light of the Trees beyond the Mountains of Aman, but all Middle-earth lay in a twilight under the stars. While the Lamps had shone, growth began there which now was checked, because all was again dark. But already the oldest living things had arisen: in the seas the great weeds, and on earth the shadow of great trees; and in the valleys of the night-clad hills there were dark creatures old and strong. 

To those lands and forests the Valar seldom came, save only Yavanna and Oromë; and Yavanna would walk there in the shadows, grieving because the growth and promise of the Spring of Arda was stayed. And she set a sleep upon many things that had arisen in the Spring, so that they should not age, but should wait for a time of awakening that yet should be. But in the north Melkor built his strength, and he slept not, but watched, and laboured; and the evil things that he had perverted walked abroad, and the dark and slumbering woods were haunted by monsters and shapes of dread. 

And in Utumno he gathered his demons about him, those spirits who first adhered to him in the days of his splendour, and became most like him in his corruption: their hearts were of fire, but they were cloaked in darkness, and terror went before them; they had whips of flame. 

Balrogs they were named in Middle-earth in later days. 

And in that dark time Melkor bred many other monsters of divers shapes and kinds that long troubled the world; and his realm spread now ever southward over Middle-earth. And Melkor made also a fortress and armoury not far from the north-western shores of the sea, to resist any assault that might come from Aman. That stronghold was commanded by Sauron, lieutenant of Melkor; and it was named Angband. It came to pass that the Valar held council, for they became troubled by the tidings that Yavanna and Oromë brought from the Outer Lands; and Yavanna spoke before the Valar, saying: ‘Ye mighty of Arda, the Vision of Ilúvatar was brief and soon taken away, so that maybe we cannot guess within a narrow count of days the hour appointed. Yet be sure of this: the hour approaches, and within this age our hope shall be revealed, and the Children shall awake. Shall we then leave the lands of their dwelling desolate and full of evil? Shall they walk in darkness while we have light? Shall they call Melkor lord while Manwë sits upon Taniquetil?’ And Tulkas cried: ‘Nay! Let us make war swiftly! Have we not rested from strife overlong, and is not our strength now renewed? Shall one alone contest with us for ever?’

But at the bidding of Manwë Mandos spoke, and he said: ‘In this age the Children of Ilúvatar shall come indeed, but they come not yet. 

Moreover it is doom that the Firstborn shall come in the darkness, and shall look first upon the stars. 

Great light shall be for their waning. 

To Varda ever shall they call at need.’ 

Then Varda went forth from the council, and she looked out from the height of Taniquetil, and beheld the darkness of Middle-earth beneath the innumerable stars, faint and far. 

Then she began a great labour, greatest of all the works of the Valar since their coming into Arda. She took the silver dews from the vats of Telperion, and therewith she made new stars and brighter against the coming of the Firstborn; wherefore she whose name out of the deeps of time and the labours of Eä was Tintallë, the Kindler, was called after by the Elves Elentári, Queen of the Stars. Carnil and Luinil, Nénar and Lumbar, Alcarinquë and Elemmírë she wrought in that time, and many other of the ancient stars she gathered together and set as signs in the heavens of Arda: Wilwarin, Telumendil, Soronúmë, and Anarríma; and Menelmacar with his shining belt, that forebodes the Last Battle that shall be at the end of days. And high in the north as a challenge to Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing, Valacirca, the Sickle of the Valar and sign of doom. 

It is told that even as Varda ended her labours, and they were long, when first Menelmacar strode up the sky and the blue fire of Helluin flickered in the mists above the borders of the world, in that hour the Children of the Earth awoke, the Firstborn of Ilúvatar. 

By the starlit mere of Cuiviénen, Water of Awakening, they rose from the sleep of Ilúvatar; and while they dwelt yet silent by Cuiviénen their eyes beheld first of all things the stars of heaven. Therefore they have ever loved the starlight, and have revered Varda Elentári above all the Valar. In the changes of the world the shapes of lands and of seas have been broken and remade; rivers have not kept their courses, neither have mountains remained steadfast; and to Cuiviénen there is no returning. 

But it is said among the Elves that it lay far off in the east of Middle-earth, and northward, and it was a bay in the Inland Sea of Helcar; and that sea stood where aforetime the roots of the mountain of Illuin had been before Melkor overthrew it. 

Many waters flowed down thither from heights in the east, and the first sound that was heard by the Elves was the sound of water flowing, and the sound of water falling over stone. Long they dwelt in their first home by the water under stars, and they walked the Earth in wonder; and they began to make speech and to give names to all things that they perceived. 

Themselves they named the Quendi, signifying those that speak with voices; for as yet they had met no other living things that spoke or sang. 

And on a time it chanced that Oromë rode eastward in his hunting, and he turned north by the shores of Helcar and passed under the shadows of the Orocarni, the Mountains of the East. Then on a sudden Nahar set up a great neighing, and stood still. And Oromë wondered and sat silent, and it seemed to him that in the quiet of the land under the stars he heard afar off many voices singing. 

Thus it was that the Valar found at last, as it were by chance, those whom they had so long awaited. 

And Oromë looking upon the Elves was filled with wonder, as though they were beings sudden and marvellous and unforeseen; for so it shall ever be with the Valar. 

From without The World, though all things may be forethought in music or foreshown in vision from afar, to those who enter verily into Eä each in its time shall be met at unawares as something new and unforetold. 

In the beginning the Elder Children of Ilúvatar were stronger and greater than they have since become; but not more fair, for though the beauty of the Quendi in the days of their youth was beyond all other beauty that Ilúvatar has caused to be, it has not perished, but lives in the West, and sorrow and wisdom have enriched it. 

And Oromë loved the Quendi, and named them in their own tongue Eldar, the people of the stars; but that name was after borne only by those who followed him upon the westward road. 

Yet many of the Quendi were filled with dread at his coming; and this was the doing of Melkor. 

For by after-knowledge The Wide declare that Melkor, ever watchful, was first aware of the awakening of the Quendi, and sent shadows and evil spirits to spy upon them and waylay them. 

So it came to pass, some years ere the coming of Oromë, that if any of the Elves strayed far abroad, alone or few together, they would often vanish, and never return; and The Quendi said that The Hunter had caught them, and they were afraid. And indeed the most ancient songs of the Elves, of which echoes are remembered still in The West, tell of the shadow-shapes that walked in the hills above Cuiviénen, or would pass suddenly over the stars; and of the dark Rider upon his wild horse that pursued those that wandered to take them and devour them. 

Now Melkor greatly hated and feared the riding of Oromë, and either he sent indeed his dark servants as riders, or he set lying whispers abroad, for the purpose that the Quendi should shun Oromë, if ever they should meet. Thus it was that when Nahar neighed and Oromë indeed came among them, some of the Quendi hid themselves, and some fled and were lost. 

But those that had courage, and stayed, perceived swiftly that the Great Rider was no shape out of darkness; for the light of Aman was in his face, and all the noblest of the Elves were drawn towards it. 

But of those unhappy ones who were ensnared by Melkor little is known of a certainty. For who of the living has descended into the pits of Utumno, or has explored the darkness of the counsels of Melkor? Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressëa, that all those of the Quendi who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes. For the Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar; and naught that had life of its own, nor the semblance of life, could ever Melkor make since his rebellion in the Ainulindalë before the Beginning: so say the wise. And deep in their dark hearts the Orcs loathed the Master whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery. 

This it may be was the vilest deed of Melkor, and the most hateful to Ilúvatar.

That's The Tyler

The Mouth of Sauron 

 is what emerges from The Black Gate, 

when you approach, 

To Talk You Out of Coming in.

"That's Not Your Opinion."

"You Don't Really Believe That."

"You Don’t Really Know What You’re Talking About."

"That Isn't True."

I started to pay very careful attention to what I was saying. 

I don’t know if that happened voluntarily or involuntarily, but I could feel a sort of split developing in my psyche. 

I’ve actually had students tell me that the same thing has happened to them after they’ve listened to some of the material that I’ve been describing to all of you. 

But I split into two, let’s say. 

One part was the old me that was talking a lot, that liked to argue, and that liked ideas. 

There was another part that was watching that part, just with its eyes opened, and neutrally judging. 

The Part that was Neutrally Judging was watching The Part That was Talking, and going,

that wasn’t your idea; 

you don’t really believe that; 

You Don’t really know what you’re talking about; 

That Isn’t True. 

I thought, 

"Hm! That’s really interesting!" 

That was happening to like 95 percent of what I was saying, and then I didn’t really know What to Do. 

I thought, 

"Okay, This is Strange. Maybe I fragmented, and that’s just Not a Good Thing, at all." 

It’s not like I was hearing voices, or anything like that. 

It wasn’t like that. 

People have multiple parts. 

So then I had this weird conundrum: 

"Which of These Two Things are Me?

Is it The Part That’s Listening and Saying --

'No, that’s rubbish'

'That’s a lie'

'You’re doing that to impress People'

'You’re just trying to Win The Argument.' 

Was that me?

Or was I the part that was going about its normal, verbal business? 

I didn’t know, but I decided that 

I would go with The Critic. 

And then what I tried to do 

— what I learned to do, I think — 

was to 

Stop Saying Things that Made Me Weak.

 I mean, I’m still trying to do that. 

I’m always feeling, when I talk, whether or not the words that I am saying are making me align or making me come apart. 

I really do think that the alignment is the right way to conceptualize it, because if you say things as true as you can say them, then they come out of The Depths inside of you. 

We don’t know where thoughts come from. 

We don’t know how far down into your substructure the thoughts emerge. 

We don’t know what process of physiological alignment is necessary for you to speak from the core of your being. 

We don’t understand any of that — we don’t even conceptualize that. 

But I believe that you can feel that. 

I learned some of that by reading Carl Rogers, who’s a great clinician. 

He talked about mental health, in part, as the coherence between the spiritual —

or the abstract — and the physical —

that the two things were aligned. 

There’s a lot of ideas of alignment in Psychoanalytic and Clinical Thinking. 

But, anyways, I decided that I would start practicing not saying things that would make me weak. 

What happened was that I had to stop saying almost everything that I was saying —

95 percent of it. 

That’s a hell of a shock — this was over a few months — to wake up and realize that you’re mostly DEAD WOOD. 

It’s a shock. 

You might think, well, 

"Do You Really Want All of That to Burn Off? 

Well, there’s nothing left but a little husk — 5 percent of you.

Well, if that 5 percent is SOLID, then maybe that’s exactly what you want to have happen.

D'aath Veda

"Only a Master of Evil, D'aath...!!"

"Hey, you know what - Screw You, White-Hat!!

You wanna know something "Evil" - Leaving your BEST FRIEND, who is in PAIN, has just made a series of HORRIBLE (to your thinking) mistakes, to DIE, ALONE, inside a FREAKIN' VOLCANO, on FIRE!!!

And lecturing him on evil and betrayal, watching him burn whilst WEARING A BLANKET.!!

You don't get to Judge me."

“...the echo of the music went out into the Void, and it was not void.” 

The Silmarillion, ‘Ainulindalë’

"Some have said that in ages long before She descended from The Darkness that lies about Arda […] in The Beginning She was one of those that He corrupted to His Service. But she had disowned Her Master."

– The Silmarillion, 

‘Of the Darkening of Valinor’ 

Chapter 8

In The Beginning was The Word, 

and The Word was with God, 

and The Word was God. 

The same was in The Beginning with God. 

All things were made by Him; 

and without Him was not any thing made that was made. 

In Him was Life; 

and The Life was The Light of Men. 

And The Light shineth in Darkness; 

and The Darkness comprehended it not.

"Then the Unlight of Ungoliant rose up even to the roots of the trees, and Melkor sprang upon the mound; and with his black spear he smote each Tree to its core, wounded them deep, and their sap poured forth as it were their blood, and was spilled upon the ground. 

But Ungoliant sucked it up, and going then from Tree to Tree she set her black beak to their wounds, till they were drained; and the poison of Death that was in her went into their tissues and withered them, root, branch, and leaf; and they died.

And still she thirsted, and going to the Wells of Varda she drank them dry; but Ungoliant belched forth black vapours as she drank, and swelled to a shape so vast and hideous that Melkor was afraid."

J.R.R. Tolkien

– The Silmarillion, 

‘Of the Darkening of Valinor’ 

Chapter 8

"But still, she was there, who was there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dûr; and she served none but herself, drinking the blood of Elves and Men, bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow; for all living things were her food, and her vomit darkness." 

—The Two Towers

Only a Master of Evil, Darth...

Clash of Lightsabres

In retrospect, looking back from where we are are currently, that final exchange of words between the two former friends and brothers-in-the-spirit, seems actually kinda odd, meeting one another again after decades of estrangement following the rupturing of their friendship and journey along very differing paths - why does The Hermit address his as Da'ath, like as if that's actually his NAME, rather than  an honorific title conferred upon initiates to the Sith art, along with their secret magickal name, bestowed upon each new initiate upon the commencement of his apprenticeship by his Master.

Why would he address him as "Darth", when everyone else addresses him as "Vader", or "My Lord", especially given that he not only knows his True, Given Name, but also his true CHOSEN Name, conferred upon him by His initiating Master Tutor in the Black Arts of Sith Sorcery and Dark Side Magicks, in a supposedly intended-to-be completely secret and occult 30 second P-2 style ceremony, never before witnessed by any amongst the profane, non-Sith outsiders, anywhere in the galaxy in nearly a thousand years...

But seriously, NO-ONE else addresses him or refers to him  (or any of the other Sith Lords) as simply "Darth", at any other point, anywhere in the saga - and only Yoda and Obi Wan ever refer to him in his absence as "Darth Vader", when talking with Luke concerning his future, destiny, and his ultimate test of skill and fate.

Nobody else in the galaxy, other than his master is meant to know his Secret Sith name and title, and by naming his order of rank aloud, The Hermit is able to gain just enough power over Vader during their fleeting excuse for a final final duel as to seize the initiative, momentarily knock Vader off balance just sufficient to gain the  upper hand over him, surrender his flesh of matter and achieve a decisive non- physical victory over his former pupil turned Nemesis and Shadow-self. 

The Da'ath is the Dweller on the Threshold of the gateway between the worlds, between ALL Worlds, that lies at the boundary where Life and Death meet to come face to face with their own dark refection of one another, and all that lies beyond both Death and Life, Beyond Good and Evil, out in the higher (and lower) plains of otherwise emanation, and the Nine other  Realms connecting together out there in the beyond, elsewhen within the branches of The Tree.

I have been using Tolkien as well as Twin Peaks, David Lynch movies generally, Kubrick, the Tarot and Astrotheology lately as a structure and cosmological schema to relate to a lot of these ideas and notions on a conceptual and operational level for this kind of deep study work on the really heavy duty shit like the Da'ath, and in respect of that, I think you may find the Sillmarillion especially useful and helpful to get a proper handle on this rather daunting thing (which is deliberately occluded and typically hidden away and not even shown to neophytes, due to its raw potency and potential to unleash complete mayhem on your life if you are incautious or poorly prepared to take on such a challenging and taxing spiritual test of your True Will - as Deputy Hawk warns in Twin Peaks, if you attempt to pass through the Black Lodge of your own inner Shadow-Self and think you can try to come face to face with The Dweller on The Threshold armed with only imperfect courage, then it will not only see right through you, it will utterly annihilate your soul. 

To be able to ask, 
"How's Annie?"

But back to Tolkien, in studying the mythos of the Silmarillion, I immediately intuited and recognised when studying it for the first time what I had previously suspected for quiet a while before, albeit subconsciously, from viewing and reading his later (cosmologically- speaking), far more accessible works as a firmly asseted subtext in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings - that for Tolkien, he was able to use in his writing, the biology, lifecycle and habits of Giant Spiders as his way relating to and copy big his expressions and manifestations of Da'-ath intruding into our, limited 3-Dimenional  realm of matter and certain mundane varieties of energies, protecting down onto our perceptual plane from a higher dimensionality, making themselves noticed  and conspicuously present and just plain THERE to our limited sensory REALITY construct via monstrous, vivid  emanations that take on the full shape, aspect, behaviour and form of Giant Spiders (of various different real-world scales of size, menace and monstrousity)


There is a very clearly related and intenntionally done and alarming  dramatic episode that occurrs around 1/3 of the way into the main narratuve, which Tolkien goes out of his way for a third time to make it clear to the reader, this time in plain and unambiguous terms that the Spiders are ABE NOT an original or native element of either Old White-Bearded Father God's design and plan for creation, OR that of Satan, starting  out simply by just fantasising and imagining how HE might have gone about laying out the universe, in a was that was clearly  just simply  more than accessible and versatile in terms of applying different techniques for figuring out exactly how to live in it, understand it and relate to how all of so many disparate aspects of it might add meaning, texture and flavours to your soul, in various ways that were ideally simple, Labour-saving and made sense without excessive forays into the abstract or pretentious. [Kinda like that last part, huh?]

But yeah, the first Mamma Spider-Demon  is explicitly identified by Tolkien as being a non-created sentience composed of Dark Matter and yawning, gaping hunger to devour ANYTHING that is of either matter, or spirit, all lights and forms of energy, a Dark Destructor beastial Demon Goddess originating from the area which exists OUTSIDE, and beyond the created universe of God and its realms of  Titans, Giants , Olympians, Heroes, Fair Folk, Men and Halflings.

Relatively early on in the cosmology of Middle Earth, Tolkein's Satan, Melkor, also called Mogroth, Sauron's original mentor, master and predecessor, the FIRST Dark Lord of matter to walk and dwell in or upon Middle Earth (I.e., here, our 3-D material reality), had just been bound and punished for his wicked behaviour by his peers, The Valar (which basically correspond exactly to the 200 Fallen Angels of the Book of Enoch, the Chiefs of Tens bound to material existence by swearing together mutual curse or an oath that locked them into the realm of materiality), and Mogroth was able to effect his escape from their fortress stronghold on Middle Earth - and while he is sneaking around at the base of the mountain range upon which it was built, and swearing  to return and wreak a terrible vengeance upon his fellow archons for binding and imprisoning him in chains for the equivalent of three or four ages of The Earth - there, in a dark, dank corner, he discovers and reveals himself to the great spider Ungoliant (Da'ath, by my reckoning).

And she has the effect of striking Mogroth (Satan) speechless and dumb in mortal terror and horror to behold her and her ceaseless aching, gluttony to devour EVERYTHING, because Mogroth instantly realise and recognises in the embodiment and incarnation of Ungoliant that :

a) Being familiar with every aspect of creation (having been present there in person along with the other Valar at the moment of creation, and witnessed the making of the entire cosmos he knows that God didn't have a hand in creating Da'ath, born of The Darkness outside creation, beyond the cosmos.

b) Satan knows HE certainly didn't create the Da'ath, and 

c) Aside from just promising her riches and spoils of vast bounties in matter to gorge on and just pointing Her in the opposite direction, towards his enemies and Nemesises, he is completely incapable of controlling or even restraining her and her ceaseless need to devour and consume EVERYTHING that is of matter, including him and ultimately as a thing of the purest darkness, she would resort to endlessly consuming even herself. She can't be reasoned with, quietened or calmed, merely held back by promises of still greater feasts and rich people eating in return for forming an alliance born of mutual greed and appetites.

Thief

"The soldiers [seen on Fox in Iraq] in the foreground should be identified as 

'sharpshooters,' 

not 'snipers,' which carries a negative connotation."

Well, thief. I smell you. I hear your breath. I feel your air. 
Where are you? Where are you? 
Come now. Don't be shy. Step into the light...

You have nice manners for a thief... and a LIAR!

"Dear Quark, 
I used parts of your disruptor to fix the replicators. 
Will return them soon. Rom. "

QUARK: 

I will kill him. 

ODO: 

With what..?

  SISKO: 
It's really quite simple, Quark. 
You're not going to leave. 

QUARK: 
Not going to leave? 
But we're packed and ready to go. 

SISKO: 
Unpack. 

QUARK: 
I don't understand, Commander. 
Why would you want me to stay? 

ODO: 
I'm curious myself. 
The man is a gambler and a thief. 

QUARK:
 I'm not a thief. 

ODO: 
You are a thief. 

QUARK: 
If I am, you haven't been able to prove it for four years. 

SISKO: 
Please. My officers, the Bajoran engineers, all their families depend on the shops and services of this Promenade. 
If people like you abandon it, this is going to become a ghost town. 
We need someone to step forward and say, 
'I'm staying, I'm rebuilding.' 
We need a community leader and it's going to be you, Quark. 

QUARK: 
Community leader!?!

ODO: 
Seems reasonable. 
You have all the character references of a politician. 

QUARK: 
How could I possibly operate my establishment under Starfleet rules of conduct? 

SISKO: 
This is still a Bajoran station. 
We're just here to administrate. 
You run honest games, you won't have any problems from me. 

QUARK: 
Commander, I've made a career out of knowing when to leave, and this Bajoran provisional government is far too provisional for my taste. 
And when governments fall, people like me are lined up and shot. 

SISKO: 
There is that risk, but then, you are a gambler, Quark. 

ODO: 
And, a thief. 

SISKO: 
You know, Quark, that poor kid is about to spend the best years of his life in a Bajoran prison. 
I'm a father myself. I know what your brother must be going through. 
The boy should be with his family, not in some cold jail cell. 
Think about it. It's up to you. 

(Sisko leaves) 


ODO: 
You know, at first, I didn't think I was going to like him...

There are 3 thieves who shall not suffer punishment, —

• A Woman Compelled by her Husband, 
• A Child, 
• A Necessitous Person Who Has Gone Through 3 Towns and to 9 Houses in Each Town Without Being Able to Obtain Charity Though he Asked for it.

There are 3 Ends of Law,—

• Prevention of Wrong, 
• Punishment for Wrong Inflicted
• Insurance of Just Retribution.

There are 3 things free to all Britons,—

• The Forest, 
• The Unworked Mine, 
• The Right of Hunting Wild Creatures.

There are 3 things which are private and sacred property in every Man, Briton or foreigner,—

• His Wife, 
• His Children, 
• His Domestic Chattels.

There are 3 things belonging to a Man which no Law of Men can touch, fine, or transfer,—

• His Wife, 
• His Children, and
• The Instruments of His Calling; 

for 

No Law Can Unman a Man, 

or 

Uncall a Calling.

"The European Dragon guards two things in his Cave - 

He guards heaps of Gold, and Virgins.

And he can't make use of either of them.

But he just GUARDS."

Beowulf-The Hobbit

Beowulf and Storyline of The Hobbit

A comparison of The Hobbit and Beowulf

By Joanna D. 6/28/06

J. R. R. Tolkien was professor of English literature, and he really liked Beowulf. This being so, he managed to use many of the same scenes, characters, and symbols in his book, The Hobbit.

To understand the rest of this report, you will need to be acquainted with Beowulf. He is the nephew of a Geatish ruler. He comes to the aid of a Danish king who has a problem with a cannibalistic monster. This monster, Grendel, comes every night to the hall where all the king’s warriors sleep and devours many of them in their sleep, returning every night to his lair. Beowulf stays in the hall one night and fights Grendel with his bare hands, tearing off the monster’s arm before he escapes.

The next night Grendel’s enraged mother comes, thinking only of revenge. She is met by many men and, capturing one of them, she flees with Grendel’s arm. They track her to the pool of her underwater lair, finding there the remains of her captive. Beowulf takes the loan of a sword (Hrunting), dives, and is brought by Grendel’s mother to her lair, where he finds a great sword, with which he slays her. He also finds Grendel, who is dead, and cuts off his head as a trophy. As he comes up, however, he finds that the blade of the marvelous sword melts in the heat of the gore in the water, and that every one seeing all the blood on the water thought he was dead.

After many thanks and rewards, Beowulf returns to Geotland, where his uncle, Hygalec also praises and rewards his valor. Many years later, when they are in a break in a battle with the Swedes, Hygalec leads an expedition up the Rhine River. They are all, with the exception of Beowulf, who escapes, killed. Hygelac’s son is killed for harboring royal Swedish refugees. Beowulf becomes king. One of his men is Wiglaf, a young warrior who was hired by the Swedish king to kill as Swedish prince whose armor Wiglaf now wears. That prince’s brother, however, is now the king of Sweden.

One day, a run-away slave stumbles across a dragon’s treasure, and steals a golden cup as atonement for some crime. It is accepted, but the dragon begins to wreak havoc across the region. Then, learning where the cup came from, Beowulf, eleven of his warriors, and the slave set off to fight the dragon. Beowulf, now about seventy, starts to falter in his duel with the dragon despite his sword Naegling. Wiglaf, seeing that something is wrong, leaps to the aid of Beowulf, calling for the others to join him. Beowulf, though the dragon bites him, kills it with the aid of Wiglaf, his nephew, whom he makes his successor. As he dies, he requests that he should be buried in a tall grave on a cliff top, visible from sea. The ten other swordsmen never joined in and are disinherited. All of the gold is either burned or buried with Beowulf. The end of the poem is disheartening. In addition to the many enemies who will attack when they hear of Beowulf’s death, there is also the king of Sweden whose brother’s armor Wiglaf wears and an old curse put upon the gold because they did no totally destroy it.

Most of The Hobbit’s emphasis is on the dragon, but I will speak briefly of the other monsters. Bilbo Baggins started as a respectable hobbit, who are short, fat, brightly clothed, and calm, with curly hair on their leather-like feet and head. In this case, respectable means rich, estimable, and never going on adventures. He is forced into an adventure when a wizard, Gandalf comes, and Bilbo unwillingly and inadvertently admits to liking adventures. Gandalf immediately arranges that he be sent on one. He goes off with thirteen dwarves, and Gandalf. The dwarves’ names are Balin, Dwalin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bomber, and Thorin Oakenshield. None of them are very memorable except Thorin, who is chief dwarf and grandson of Thrain, the king under the mountain;as well as Bomber, a fat dwarf who is the comic relief. Fili and Kili, who are Thorin’s young nephews, are also memorable because they are characters with whom you can sympathize with more then the rest of the dwarves. Their first adventure is some trolls. Bilbo accidentally alerts the trolls of the rest of his group’s presence, but Gandalf saves them by making the trolls argue until sunrise, when they turn to stone.

They find the troll’s cave, where they get Elvish weapons: Gandalf’s sword, Glamdring, Foe-hammer, worst hated by the goblins as Beater, Thorin’s sword, Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver also hated by the goblins as Biter, and Bilbo’s dagger which he names Sting. This is interesting: the practice of naming weapons, and while it was common in the Middle Ages, it is still a noteworthy similarity between the two books. It makes you wonder what Hrunting and Naegling mean. Also interesting is the the fact that the swords are known by multiple names. The swords obtained from the trolls in The Hobbit glowed when goblins were near. “Suddenly a sword flashed in its own light.” and, “It gleamed ever in the dark if foes approached.” Similar to the sword Beowulf found in Grendel’s mother’s cave; as, it was a “glittering a great hoard-weapon smith-wrought by giants a sword for victory blade for a champion best of war-weapons gleaming in gold work.”

They meet and, are captured by some Goblins. Their home is similar to Grendel’s mothers home: “It was deep, deep, dark, such as only goblins that have taken to living in the heart of the mountains can see through.” The mother of Grendel’s home was in an underwater cave. “That black she-wolf bore him away tugged through the water that warrior from above to her deep cavern-den”. Gandalf rescues them, but Bilbo gets left behind. The goblin’s feelings about their possession of the sword are similar to the mother of Grendel’s feelings about their possession of his arm. “They hated it and hated worse any one who carried it.” “Then his mother sorrowed grieved for her child greedy for man-blood went prowling for vengeance payment for her son.” Not to say that the goblins are an exact, or even a parallel to Grendel’s mother, they just come at similar places and do similar things. Bilbo’s reappearance was also similar to Beowulf’s. After escaping another carnivorous creature and finding an invisibility ring, he finds them “wondering and debating what they were to do now. The dwarves were grumbling, and Gandalf was saying that they could no possibly go on with their journey leaving Mr. Baggins in the hands of the goblins, without trying to find out whether he was alive or dead, and without trying to rescue him.” “ ‘And here’s the burglar!’ said Bilbo stepping down into the middle of them, and slipping off the ring. Bless me, how they jumped! Then they shouted with surprise and delight.” This was because they thought, like Beowulf’s warriors, that he might be dead: “they wished without hope that their hero would surface dive up to them.” “His thanes received him thankful to their God for bringing him back from that baleful journey safe after his fight with that sorceress of death. ”

They go through an evil enchanted forest and are captured by elves who live in the forest, but finally, they arrive at the town at the base of the dragon’s mountain. After announcing that the King under the Mountain has returned, they have great assistance. There were rumors about the king returning and gold. When they finally got into the mountain, Bilbo has to do his job. To prove himself to the others, he steals a great golden cup from under the dragon’s nose. “ His heart was beating and a more fevered shaking was in his legs than when he was going down, but still he clutched the cup, and his chief thought was: `I’ve done it! This will show them’.” This scene has exactly the same motives and outcome the scene where the wretched slave fleeing punishment for a crime steals a cup as a gift for Beowulf, so that he could have his life. “till a trembling slave kindled his [the dragon] anger carried off a gem-cup bore it to his lord begged a settlement a gift for his life. ” The treasure in The Hobbit and Beowulf is similar. Both hoards are cursed, “The dwarves of Yore made mighty spells”. And “Those ancient heirlooms earned much curse-power old gold-treasure gripped in a spell – no one might touch them those nameless stone-riches no good or bad man unless God himself the great Glory-King might give someone to open that hoard that heap of treasures a certain warrior as seemed meet to him.” Both hoards were also guarded by a dragon. “ ‘he took all their wealth for himself. Probably, for that is the dragons’ way, he has piled it all up in a great heap far inside, and sleeps on it for a bed.’ ” “a raging flame-dragon ruled in darkness fire-grim guardian of a great treasure mound”.

The dragon figures that the thieves who stole his cup must have come from the Lake Town. “ ‘If you are not one of those men of the Lake, you had their help. They shall see me and remember who is the real King Under the Mountain!’ ” The dragon in Beowulf figured the same thing, and went out on an angry rampage for his cup. “The dragon was ready on his wall by the sea soared with balefire fueled by his fury. The feud had begun, ”. Bilbo had seen the dragon’s vulnerable spot when he had talked with the old worm earlier. ‘Dazzlingly marvellous! Perfect! Flawless! Staggering!’ exclaimed Bilbo aloud, but what he really thought was ‘Old fool! Why, there is a large patch in the hollow of his left breast as bare as a snail out of its shell!’” A thrush had overheard, and told Bard, one of the besieged about it. “ ‘Wait! Wait!’ It said to him. ‘The moon is rising. Look for the hollow of his left breast as he flies and turns above you!’ And while Bard paused in wonder it told him of tidings up in the mountain and of all he had heard.” “The great bow twanged. The black arrow sped straight from the string, straight for the hollow by the left breast were the foreleg was flung wide. In it smote and vanished, barb, shaft and feather, so fierce was its flight. With a shriek that deafened men, felled trees and split stone, Smaug shot spouting into the air, turned over and crashed down from on high in ruin. Full on the town he fell. His last throes splintered it to sparks and gledes. The lake roared in. A vast steam leaped up, white in the sudden dark under the moon. There was a hiss, a gushing whirl, and then silence. And that was the end of Smaug and Esgaroth, [the Lake Town] but not of Bard.” And, thus, Bard symbolizes Wiglaf. He did the killing, as Wiglaf gave the fatal wound to his dragon: “He ducked past the head – hot flame-belching burned his hand then as he buried his sword burnished treasure-blade in that black snake belly.” Bard became the new ruler of the town, “ ‘We will have King Bard!’ the people near at hand shouted in reply.” Because Bard was the descendant of the ruler of Dale, (which had become deserted years earlier because of the dragon) Bard became the governer of Dale, but let the old Master continue ruling Esgaroth. Wiglaf also became Beowulf’s heir and inherited his throne. “ ‘Now would I give to my good son-child my armor and weapons if only a land-heir had been granted to me to guard my kingdom prince of my loins.’ ”

 “He removed from his throat a marvelous neck-ring gold-gleaming collar gave it to his thane, young spear-warrior, yielded his armor helmet and mailcoat hailed him farewell”. Smaug (Bilbo’s dragon) and Beowulf’s dragon also, basically died in the same place, though Beowulf’s dragon died by his cave on the sea shore and not in the sea, and both ended up in the sea/lake. Of Tolkien’s dragon, “He would never again return to his golden bed, but was stretched cold as stone, twisted upon the floor of the shallows.” And Beowulf’s dragon: “The dragon they shoved over the cliffwall into cold wave-water let the sea embrace that shepherd of wealth.”

There are preparations for a war at the end of The Hobbit, similar to the war foreshadowed at the end of Beowulf, “We will live to see dark slaughter-days when the death of our king is widely heralded over wave-rolling seas to Franks and Frisians. That feud was started hard against Hugas when Hygalac went forth sailing with float-troops to Frisian territory where the swordstrong Hetware humbled him in battle gained victory there with greater force-fighting till that best of spear-kings bent down in death fell among foot-troops – no fine gold plunder he brought to our hall. Since that day no stern Merovingians have sent us peace-tokens. Nor will Battle-Swedes bear us good tidings wish us good will.” The Lake-men and elves are about to fight it out for the gold, against the dwarves, minus Bilbo (who has gone over to the elves’/Lake-men’s side) and Gandalf, (who has returned, but is with Bilbo) plus Thorin’s friend Dain’s army. Fortunately, the war is prematurely stopped because of an oncoming hoard of Goblins. “ ‘Halt!’ cried Gandalf, who appeared suddenly, and stood alone, between the advancing dwarves and the ranks awaiting them. ‘Halt!’ He cried in a voice like thunder, and his staff blazed forth with a flash like the lightning. ‘Dread has come upon you all! Alas! It has come more swiftly than I guessed. The Goblins are upon you! Bolg of the north is coming, O Dain! whose father you slew in Moria. Behold! the bats are above his army like a sea of locusts They ride upon wolves and Warges are in their train. Amazement and confusion fell upon them all Even as Gandalf had been speaking the darkness grew the dwarves halted and gazed at the sky. The elves cried out with many voices Come called Gandalf. There is time yet for council Let Dain son of Nain come swiftly to us! So began the battle that no one had expected and it was called the Battle of five armies and it was very terrible Upon one side were the Goblins and the wild wolves and upon the other were Elves and men and Dwarves.” Because the goblins are mutual enemies, they all unite to defeat them. Even characters who were not in the original armies show up. They defeat the goblins, who do not cause anyone trouble for a long time after, distribute the gold, and make peace.

In the battle, Thorin Oakenshield nobly receives fatal wounds, and dies. As Beowulf dies in the passage I quoted earlier. [Thorin to Bilbo] “ ‘Farewell, good thief,’ he said. ‘I go now to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed.” Fili and Kili also die defending their uncle. Thorin is Buried as Beowulf was, with treasure. “They buried Thorin deep beneath the Mountain, and Bard laid the Arkenstone upon his breast. ‘There let him lie until the Mountain falls!’ he said. ‘May it bring good fortune to all his folk after!’ Upon his tomb the Elvinking laid Orcrist, the elvish sword that had been taken from Thorin in captivity. It is said in songs that it gleamed ever in the dark if foes approached, and the fortress of the dwarves could not be taken by surprise.” 

“Then a wagon was loaded with wound goldrings numberless bracelets borne beside the warrior…They raised skywards ready for their king a pyre on that point for their proud warleader hung it with helmets hard shield-bosses bright mesh-corselets as he bade them to do. They laid him in the middle their beloved gift-friend lifted with heartgrief the helm of their land. On the cliff the kindled a king’s balefire wavering death flames…In the barrow they placed bracelets and gems brought from the rock-den – each beaker and dish went back to earth bright gold meadcups stored once again where they still lie waiting as useless as they ever had been.” And so, the treasure was not used because Wiglaf had decreed, “that mighty dragon-hoard shall all go with him grimly purchased with his own lifeblood – for the last time now he has paid for goldrings. Pyre-flames shall eat them flame-roof shall thatch them no thane shall wear them treasures so dear no dressed hall maidens shell wear on their bosoms wound gold necklaces”. Which was true to a certain extent of the dragon’s hoard. “The old Master had come to a bad end. Bard had given him much gold for the help of the Lake-people, but being of the kind that easily catches such disease he fell under the dragon-sickness, took most of the gold and fled with it, and died of starvation in the Waste deserted by his companions.” Dain takes his place as king under the mountain and restores it’s halls, just as Wiglaf did. “There now Dain son of Nain took up his abode, and he became King under the Mountain, and in time many other dwarves gathered to his throne in the ancient halls. Of the twelve companions of Thorin, ten remained, Fili and Kili had fallen defending him with shield and body, for he was their mother’s elder brother. The others remained with Dain; for Dain dealt his treasure well.”

Everything turns out square. After a time, Bilbo journeys home with Gandalf. On returning, He finds all his stuff being auctioned off, his house being possessed by his relatives, and that everyone thinks that he is dead. (They never quite forgive him for it either.)

In The Lord of the Rings He gives the ring to Frodo, his younger cousin who also has some interesting adventures with it.

Afternote: I left out several things perhaps important quite probably some of my comparisons are stretched. However, I wrote it without the benefit of the knowledge that I could read other people’s reports. In addition, after reading the LOTR trilogy, I saw several other possible parellels. The ring which Bilbo found in the cave is similar to the sword Beowulf found in Grendel’s mother’s cave. Both dragon had armor. In the Hobbit, there were several hints as to the impending war of the rings (Gandalf visiting the Necromancer, going away to fight Sauron while they went through Mirkwood, and his long absence, reasoning with Sauraman to let them get at Sauron) This is quite similar to the fact that Geoltand’s enemies would probably attack after Beowulf was dead.