This past week brought three impressive celestial events – the vernal equinox, a solar eclipseand a geomagnetic stormcaused by major solar flares with CME’s – Coronal Mass Ejections – that lit up the Aurora Borealis in a most spectacular manner. Most people were unaware of any unusual activity in the sky. It was simply another week that happened to include the first day of spring.

I have always been fascinated with space weather. I check two sites daily to keep tabs on what’s going on in the heavens. I don’t think that’s so unusual. A lot of people are interested in space technology, astronomy and especially with things happening in our solar system. Fireballs are still considered unusual, making headlines even though they happen relatively frequently now.

Why the seeming universal interest in things falling from the sky? Most astronomers agree with Phil Plait that the odds of death from the skies are infinitesimally small. Yet disaster movies that depict that exact scenario are almost always blockbusters. Is there some sort of hidden memory in the collective human subconscious that we all have regarding past cosmological disturbances?

We Live With Collective Amnesia

In a word, yes. We, as members of the human race, have collective amnesia. We have forgotten something extremely important, something our ancestors tried to record so we would remember.

There are thousands of artifacts from ancient civilizations all over the world that point us to one unescapable conclusion – something terrible happened in the skies. It all but wiped out humanity. The planets were Gods to ancient peoples. Old Testament Prophets dealt with this idol worship.

Myth is the history of the psyche – William Irwin Thompson

Myth is the history of the solar system – David Talbott

“Ancient traditions, even when they are dressed as myth and saga, cannot be dismissed lightly as fantastic, or worse, meaningless fabrications. It is particularly proper to avoid this pitfall when dealing with serious reports, especially those of religious nature such as those that occur in large number in the Old Testament.” – Franz Xavier Kugler, “The Sibylline Battle of the Stars and Phaethon Seen as Natural History” (1927)

Here is some forgotten knowledge:

“The ancient name Melchizedek is a compound name, derived from ‘Milki’ (Moloc, Meleck) and ‘Zedek’ (Zadok, Sadat). Etymologists readily acknowledge that Zedek is the ancient Hebrew name for Jupiter. Milki is likely a name for Saturn. So the compound name Melchizedek most likely literally means ‘Saturn / Jupiter,’ often translated ‘Jupiter is my God’ or ‘Righteousness is my God’ by scholars. The seal of Melchizedek is probably a symbol once associated with the two gas giant planets in history.” – Anthony Larson

Prophets Recorded What They Saw

“The imagery spawned in cosmic apparitions which dominated Earth’s ancient heavens, employed by the Savior and all the prophets, is not exclusive to this creation. It is as eternal as God himself. That is, every world ever created by God has been graced by the same glorious celestial phantasmagoria — planetary and plasma discharges — witnessed by our ancestors. That this marvel is a mystery to us is due to our own failure to take our modern prophets, beginning with Joseph Smith, at their word.” Anthony E. Larson, www.mormonprophecy.com

“When the earth was framed and brought into existence and man was placed upon it, it was near the throne of our Father in heaven. And when man fell … the earth fell into space and took up its abode in this planetary system and the sun became our light. This is the glory the earth came from, and when it is glorified it will return again unto the presence of the Father ….” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 17:143.)

“If the message of the Savior, his apostles and prophets is couched in terms that originated in cosmic images, then that imagery is all important. Additionally, if we fail to understand the real meaning and intent of that imagery, we also fail to understand the message. And if we miss the complete message, we cannot know and do what we must to gain salvation.” Anthony Larson

Understanding Gospel-Centric Cosmological Imagery

Ancient (i.e., historically traditional) Astrotheology was neither solar nor lunar. Both Venus and Mars were held in awe by people everywhere, and Venus in particular was closely watched for a period of over 4000 years (especially since -2349) in Mesoamerica to the complete exclusion of the Sun and the Moon. This, in fact, is one of the most curious aspects of our historic past. As Velikovsky wrote:

“The Sun and the Moon are two great luminaries, and it is easily understandable that the imagination of the peoples should be preoccupied with them and should ascribe to them mythological deeds. Yet the ancient mythologies of the Chaldeans, the Greeks, the Romans, the Hindus, the Maya, preoccupy themselves not with the Sun or the Moon, but prima facie with the planets.” (Velikovsky, unpublished document at www.varchive.org)

“As related in all creation mythologies, mankind was witness to the birth of the Gods and the creation of the Universe. The Universe, however, at this time consisted only of ‘Upper Earth’ in the north populated by Saturn’s satellites, and […] the equatorial rings standing in the sky in the south, thought to also represent an ocean or sea. Humans had thought of themselves as living in a valley between these two regions. Only in the far north of Earth was it obvious that the globe in the sky was nearly overhead. (Recovering the Lost World, A Saturnian Cosmology — Jno Cook Chapter 3: The Osiris Mystery – http://saturniancosmology.org/)

Things as They Are, Were and Are to Come

When I first started blogging, I wrote about a few of my favorite books on Prophecy. One of them has always intrigued me because it is so unique and explained so much about what will happen when the Savior returns, cosmologically speaking. I was pleased to receive an email from the author of that series of books. We have been conversing via email and Facebook ever since.

It takes courage to go against the mainstream understanding and acceptance of cosmology and the role, or lack thereof, in the modern LDS Church. In early Mormonism, knowledge of the heavens, and the history of what happened there, was much more important. Joseph taught much about the way things were and would be once again, referred to now as the polar configuration.

“This knowledge is vital to our salvation and exaltation. We need it to fully understand the prophets, comprehend prophecy itself and inherit the blessings promised in the Endowment. Otherwise, Joseph Smith, under God’s tutelage, would not have restored it to us. At some point in our eternal progression, we will have to come to this knowledge and understanding.

“Sooner or later, in this life or the next, we will be required to include this in our worldview. So, why not get an early start? Why not follow Joseph Smith’s counsel to get as much correct knowledge in this life as possible to our greater benefit in the next?”

Much of this post quotes from the writings of Anthony Larson, author of a Trilogy of books on Prophecy and Last Days.

Cosmology To Understand The Prophets

“The brethren focus on the basics for the benefit of potential converts and the newest church members because their mission is worldwide conversion and the building of the kingdom. That’s why their message is repetitive. They consistently emphasize the basics. And there is great wisdom and virtue for each of us in revisiting those basics on a regular basis. That’s why we consistently hear that same, vital counsel. But once firmly grounded in the faith, the responsibility to move forward is wholly ours. The brethren are not there to do what we can do for ourselves. We are responsible for our own salvation. This has always been true.

“The whole purpose of studying the Restored Gospel from a cosmological perspective is to allow us to easily and correctly distinguish what is spiritual (the fundamental truths) from what is temporal (the origins and meaning of symbolism). If we cannot easily and correctly differentiate between what is symbolic and what is literal in the scriptures and the teachings of the prophets, then we run the very real risk of reaching incorrect conclusions about their pronouncements.

“Restoring the ‘fullness of the gospel’ required including the cosmological traditions and their respective rituals that were honored and repeated by all the prophets. Again, Joseph wrote: “I also gave some instructions in the mysteries of the kingdom of God; such as the history of the planets, Abraham’s writings upon the planetary systems, etc,” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 118, emphasis added.)

“This was done so that we can understand the arcane allusions and references of the prophets and apostles as they meant them to be understood, not as our emasculated, spiritualized and Christianized versions had them before Joseph Smith. Clarifying these symbolic and metaphorical usages was as much a part of restoring the truth as instituting the correct manner of baptism or the reality that God has a body of flesh and bone.”

Cosmology To Understand The Temple

“One simply cannot comprehend the teachings in the temple endowment without a working knowledge of ancient cosmological imagery, derived from apparitions once beheld in Earth’s heavens. Without that comprehension, all we do, see, say, hear and wear in the endowment rituals is meaningless gibberish to us. However, with that comprehension, we can vicariously share the glorious vision given to all the prophets.”

“Perhaps the best reason to study all this is that our temples, inside and out, are replete with that same cosmic imagery. In fact, the whole temple experience is geared to show us the cosmological components of the prophetic experience, beginning with the creation. The visions of Moses and Abraham are, just like our temple icons, filled with the cosmic imagery of planets, stars, suns and moons. Our endowment is a virtual example of the prophetic ascension experience related throughout scripture in the visions of the prophets. This is the core message in our temple ceremonies.

“Thus within our temples, each of us is afforded the marvelous opportunity to vicariously experience the visionary odyssey of the prophets. In so doing, we share the awe-inspiring, cosmic vision revealed to them. So, how can we fully understand the endowment message if we don’t see its cosmological components? The tragedy is that so few Latter-day Saints recognize that truth and thus miss the vital and mind-expanding message the endowment is meant to convey. Thus, the core message of our restored endowment goes unnoticed and unappreciated by nearly all temple goers.”

Source: http://mormonprophecy.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-cosmology_21.html?m=1

Cosmology To Prepare For Future Events

So much of what is prophesied to occur in the last days has to do with cosmological cataclysmic events that intersect directly with human events. When the Savior comes to the earth in power, he will be accompanied by the hosts of heaven. Some of the illustrations accompanying this post are from Ryan Darger. One of them, the first in the post, depicts the concept of the hosts of heaven. Think about it.

The idea of collective amnesia is not espoused by modern science. Yet in my lifetime, I have witnessed more and more evidence brought forth to support the polar configuration Joseph knew and taught. Of course, there are detractors and disbelievers who claim Joseph never taught any such thing. Sadly, we do not have recorded details of what he taught from Abraham’s writings.

I have long been convinced Anthony Larson has got it right. It may not occur in my lifetime, but the day will come when the Lord returns with the City of Enoch – once a part of this planet – and other hosts of the heavens. Think planets when you read that phrase. The reconfiguration of this solar system is exactly what Joseph meant when he wrote of earth returning to paradisiacal glory.