THE

ORION
CONCEPT
THE
CONCEPT(ION)OF
ORION

“But when Orion and Sirius are come into midheaven, and rosy-fingered
Dawn sees Arcturus, then cut off all the grape-clusters, Perses, and bring
them home. Show them to the sun ten days and ten nights: then cover
them over for fire, and on the sixth day draw off into vessels the gifts of
joyful Dionysus. But when the Pleiades and Hyades and strong Orion begin
to set, then remember to plough in season: and so the completed year will
fitly pass beneath the earth. But if desire for uncomfortable sea-faring seize
you when the Pleiades plunge into the misty sea to escape Orion’s rude
strength, then truly gales of all kinds rage.”

(Hesiod - Works and Days 609-621)

The path of the stars across the fabric of the heavens provided the earliest
inspiration for the religious concepts formulated by the humans below. Within
these primordial concepts lies the origin of human religions and their artistic
manifestation. The stars that formed the euphemistically named ‘Orion’s Belt’
created a phallic trinity that were equated in this text by Hesiod with Dionysian
vegatative growth.
THE CONCEPTION OF THE CONSTELLATION OF ORION

“adnuerant omnes. Omnes ad terga iuvenci

constiterant - pudor est ulteriora loqui.
tum superiniecta texere madentia terra:
iamque decem menses, et puer ortus erat.
hunc Hyrieus, quia sic genitus, vocat Uriona
perdidit antiquum littera prima sonum.” 1

The myth that is here related by Ovid in the ‘Fasti’ is about the birth of the constellation
of Orion. Ovid alludes to more ancient myths that underlie the legends and indicates that
the name of Orion had changed over the course of the ages.

In this myth Hyrieus chances upon the gods Jupiter, Neptune and Mercury (Zeus,
Poseidon and Hermes). By providing hospitality to the gods while in their human form
Hyrieus wins their favour and is granted a wish. Hyrieus requests that he be made a
father without breaking a vow of faithfulness to his deceased wife.

The concept reveals that the true nature of the myth is to enable procreation purely
within a male construct. This device allows the universe to be created outside
conventional procreative means either by a single deity or in this case by three male
deities.

vocat Uriona: perdidit antiquum littera prima sonum

According to Ovid the pronunciation of the first letter of Uriona had changed over time
and the name of this deity had become Orion. This suggests that Orion is a corruption of
the original Uriona which itself is a simplification of Uranus or Urania. All of these derive
ultimately from the original god Ouranos.

The archaic Greek deity stood at the apex of the most ancient Greek pantheon. This was
the god of the vault of the heavens that formed a duality with Gaia (the earth) below. It
appears that Ovid is suggesting that in archaic times there was an association between
Uranus and the constellation now known as Orion.

This association of the constellation of Orion with the archaic god Uranus is heretical but
entirely plausible. This primordial deity eventually came to symbolize the heavens in
their entirety. Orion as the most visually compelling constellation must have had an
association with the most prominent deity of the archaic pantheon.
Instead the constellation is inexplicably named after the minor entity of Orion the Hunter
according to the limited modern interpretation. Ovid indicates here that there was an
awareness in his time that the name of Orion was a simplified logo or word that had
changed over the course of time from its primordial source.

The identification, or misidentification, of Uranus with the planet beyond Saturn is a

relatively modern construction. The planet was unknown in ancient times. This then,
according to our modern understanding, leaves Ouranos/Uranus unattached to any
specific heavenly body or constellation. He consequently assumes the chimerical quality
of the father of the heavens.

Therefore the archaic head of the Greek pantheon is left without any significant
presence in the sky while the most visually striking and coherently structured
combination of stars is named after the supposedly minor deity of Orion.

Further evidence of the association of Uranus with Orion is the sexual synthesis of the
legends attached to the deities. Orion is born from the semen splattered hide of an ox (or
bull) that is buried in the earth. Uranus was castrated with a gigantic flint scythe wielded
by Chronos (Saturn) leaving his disembodied phallus shining in the night sky.

According to Cicero “... an ancient belief prevailed throughout Greece that Caelus
(Uranus) was mutilated (castrated) by his son Saturn, and Saturn himself thrown into
bondage by his son Jove: now these immoral fables enshrined a decidedly clever
scientific theory. Their meaning was that the highest element of celestial aether or fire,
which by itself generates all things, is devoid of that bodily part which requires union with
another for the work of procreation.”2

tum superiniecta texere madentia terra:

iamque decem menses, et puer ortus erat.

superiniectum - scatter or throw over a surface

madentia - be made wet with tears, perspiration (or other bodily fluids)
texere - weave, plait together

Ovid states that modesty prevents him from fully describing the act that took place but
from the words used the inference is obvious. In order to give birth to the entity that was
subsequently named Orion the three deities stand over the hide from a freshly
slaughtered ox. They then splatter the hide with their semen covering the surface with a
network of conjoined semen.
The semen splatters are then woven or plaited together to form the constellation of
Orion. The intertwining network of multiple strands of the semen splatter the night sky
with a lattice of heavenly forms.

This hide is then buried in the earth until it gives birth to Uriona. From ancient times the
pronunciation of the first letter changed so that the constellation came to be known as
Orion.

To translate Uriona as a reference to urine and so suggesting that the gods urinated on
the hide makes no sense within the overall context of the myth. Although hides may be
soaked in urine during the tanning process this does not allow the human mind to
imagine that this could result in a birth. The use of the word superiniecta is not
consistent with the hide being soaked in urine. In addition it is unlikely that the use of
urine would be sufficiently provocative for Ovid to state that modesty prevented him from
further describing the act.

omnes ad terga iuvenci

The previous section of Ovid’s text refers to an ox (bovem) that ploughs the fields of
Hyrieus and it is this animal that is sacrificed and provides the hide for the act. However
here as he gives the partial description of the act he uses the word iuvenci (young bull).

The use of iuvenci suggests that a different version of the myth envisages the semen
splattered hide of a bull. This in itself opens up a range of links to the religious myths
that are focused on the bull as a primary deity.

The existence of another version of this myth is confirmed by Strabo where he

references a lost text from Pindar. “Hyria is the scene of Hyrieus, and of the birth of
Orion, of which Pindar speaks in his dithyrambs; it is situated near Aulis.”3

The act of creation by the three deities of Zeus, Poseidon and Hermes is clearly
associated with the three stars we euphemistically term Orion’s Belt. This is phallic by
association and is further enhanced by representing the triple phalli of the three deities.
Hence Plutarch refers to the triple phalli of the festival of the Pamylia.

“Moreover, when they celebrate the festival of the Pamylia which, as has been said, is of
a phallic member, they expose and carry about a statue of which the male member is
triple; for the god is the Source, and every source, by its fecundity, multiplies what
proceeds from it; and for ‘many times’ we have a habit of saying ‘thrice,’ as, for example,
‘thrice happy,’ and unless, indeed, the word ‘triple’ is used by the early writers in its strict
meaning; for the nature of moisture, being the source and origin of all things, created out
of itself three primal material substances, Earth, Air and Fire.”4
The inclusion of Hermes in this trinity of deities is in itself significant. This explains the
name of the Egyptian variant who is called Hermes Trismegistus - the ‘Thrice Greatest.’
He links the creation of Orion to the Egyptian pantheon demonstrating the intertwining of
Egyptian and Greek myth.

The Egyptian creator deity Atum constructs the constellations using his fingers to mould
them out of his own semen as a sculptor might make forms out of clay. According to the
Shabaka Stone this was the original act of creation. “This Ennead of Atum came into
being through his semen and through his fingers.”5

Therefore the universe is formed from an act of male-only procreation that is comparable
to the Greek myth of the birth of Orion. In the Egyptian myth the creator is a single deity
that procreates two further entities through an act of self-contained autoeroticism.

The rivers of semen that stream from this act of deified autoeroticism define the creation
myth of ancient Egypt. Atum is self-created through this act which gives birth to the
sacred primordial mound that rises out of the undefined waters of the pre-existing state.
Thus the rising of the phallus of Atum is the first act of creation.

The theology of the Shabaka Stone is supported by the Pyramid Texts of Sakkara which
confirm this theory of creation. The Pyramid Texts document the original Egyptian
creation myth and are in themselves the most ancient evidence of recorded human
thought.

“To say: O Atum-Khepri, when thou didst mount as a hill,

and didst shine as bnw of the ben (or, benben) in the temple of the ‘phoenix’ in
Heliopolis,
and didst spew out as Shu, and did spit out as Tefnut,
(then) thou didst put thine arms about them, as the arm(s) of a ka, that thy ka might be in
them.”6

The autoerotic act of Atum is elaborated in these ancient Pyramid Texts. The rivers of
semen that flow from this act fill the night sky with shining celestial foam. The Nile is
replicated above by these celestial rivers. The celestial aetherial river of the Milky Way is
reflected in the Nile below.

“To say: Atum created by his masturbation in Heliopolis.

To put his phallus in his fist
to excite desire thereby.
The twins were born, Shu and Tefnut.”7

Thus the single entity (the autoerotic mind of Atum) gives birth to two entities (Shu and
Tefnut) without recourse to procreative intercourse. This act avoids the chicken and egg
syndrome by postulating the original act of creation within the self-contained autoerotic
mind of the creator.

Macrobius defines the difficulty in explaining the original act of creation through an act of
conventional procreation. “To say that the egg was produced before the chicken is like
saying a womb came to be before a woman: asking how a chicken could exist without an
egg is like asking how humans were produced before the genitals instrumental in their
procreation.”8

Therefore the act of primordial creation is explicitly linked to the autoerotic act of Atum.
The visual evidence of this is seen in the shining celestial trails of star clusters in the
night sky. The foaming celestial star clusters, formed from the primordial semen, were
envisaged as the ejaculatory splatter of the deity in the night sky.

Another ancient document, the Derveni Papyrus, supports this theory of creation. The
clusters of stars are similarly seen as the foaming secretion of the deified phallus. The
celestial phallus was consequently the originator of the firmament of stars. The Derveni
Papyrus records that “He (the deity) ingested/swallowed the phallus that first procreated
the aether.”9

In this vision the stars become the semen of the gods filling the night sky with a shining
heavenly foam. Aphrodite Urania emerged from the foam surrounding the severed
genitals of Uranus. According to Hesiod this foam formed the heavenly body of the
goddess.

“And so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the land into
the surging sea, they were swept away over the main a long time; and a white foam
spread around them from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden … Her gods
and men call Aphrodite and the foam-born goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea,
because she grew amid the foam …”10

Therefore the foaming clusters of stars are the source of all creation. These streams of
semen were envisaged as rivers of stars formed from the ejaculatory acts of the gods in
the night sky. This semen spatter was woven into an infinite network of stars that formed
the shining constellations.

The single deity Atum creates by an act of autoeroticism Shu and Tefnut. The trinity of
deities is therefore formed in the night sky. Then Atum “didst put thine arms about them,
as the arm(s) of a ka, that thy ka might be in them.”

This theory of creation coexists with a parallel myth that envisages the lotus rising out of
the primordial waters as the first act of creation. The symbolism of the lotus stalk with its
bulbous tip that echoes the shape of the uncircumcised phallus is undeniable. The two
parallel myths posit the phallus of Atum and the lotus as both being centred on the
primordial mound and are clearly interrelated.

In the Pyramid Texts there is an identification between the Eye of Horus and the lotus
that flourished on the banks of the Nile. The specific plant, a blue lotus, is now defined
as the Nymphaea caerulea water lily. The sacred status of this plant is made manifest by
numerous depictions of the blue lotus in the temples and funerary monuments of ancient
Egypt. Thus the sceptre is described as bearing the shape of the lotus.

“Your sceptre is in your hand that you may give orders to the living, the handle of your
lotus-shaped sceptre in your hand.”11

This establishes the lotus as synonymous with a ceremonial phallic shaft that projects
regal power. The lotus-shaped sceptre exhibits a magical power over supernatural
entities. This is consistent with the apotropaic power that was believed to be intrinsic to
the phallus in antiquity.

“Your lotus-shaped sceptre is at the head of the living, your staff is at the head of the
spirits …”12

The lotus (Nymphaea caerulea water lily) was sacred in Egyptian myth. The flower
tracked the course of the sun by opening in the morning and closing at night. It visually
represented the sun in the sky by being constructed with a yellow centre and a surround
of blue petals. By being both immersed in water and blooming above the surface the
plant symbolized an existence both in the temporal and underworld realms.

The significance of this plant is preserved in the lily-formed columns of Egyptian

temples. The architectural form of the column capital with the lily flower in an open or
closed state was intrinsic to Egyptian temples. The stalk of the plant was represented by
the shaft of the column.

The lily-shaped capitals represent the container holding the seed and symbolize the
encasement of human seed in their phallic form. In these temples the phallic columnar
forms based on the lotus/water lily contained in their bulbous capitals the seeds of
creative generation.

Despite the extensive array of surviving phallic columns the evident status of the water
lily/lotus is not sufficiently reflected in the Pyramid Texts. The plant held a central
significance in Egyptian ritual practises and it appears that this was recognized in the
Pyramid Texts by associating the blue lotus flower to the Eye of Horus. Herodotus
documents the centrality of the lotus.

“When the river is in flood and flows over the plains, many lilies, which the Egyptians call
lotus, grow in the water. They gather these and dry them in the sun; then they crush the
poppy-like centre of the plant and bake loaves of it. The root of this lotus is edible also,
and of a sweetish taste; it is round, and the size of an apple. Other lilies grow in the river,
too, that are like roses; the fruit of these is found in a calyx springing from the root by a
separate stalk, and is most like a comb made by wasps; this produces many edible
seeds as big as olive pits, which are eaten both fresh and dried.”13

The blue lotus was a divine plant that could be consumed both by humans and the gods.
The sacred nature of the lotus is confirmed in the texts of the Book of the Dead and the
scent was seen as bearing the signature of the gods. The scent enabled the purification
of both the body and the soul. The process of purification, that is linked to irradiating
light, is central to religious myth.

“Making the transformation into the Lotus:

The Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, saith: I am the holy lotus that cometh forth from the
light which belongeth to the nostrils of Ra, and which belongeth to the head of Hathor. I
have made my way, and I seek after him, that is to say, Horus. I am the pure lotus that
cometh forth from the field (of Ra).”14

The psychoactive properties of the blue lotus were used in the temple rites to gain
access to a passage to the afterlife. The Nymphaea caerulea is believed to be the lotus
that is referred to by Homer in the ‘Odyssey.’

“... what they did was to give them some lotus to taste, and as soon as each had eaten
the honeyed fruit of the plant, all thoughts of reporting to us or escaping were banished
from his mind. All they wished for was to stay where they were with the Lotus-eaters, to
browse on the lotus, and to forget that they had a home to return to.”15

New research into the treatment for erectile dysfunction has now revealed the true
secret behind the phallic symbolism of the blue lotus. Apomorphine, the chemical
component contained in the Nymphaea caerulea is now approved in some regions of the
world as a treatment for erectile dysfunction.

Apomorphine can therefore be used to enhance and prolong the sexual experience even
when there is no underlying erectile dysfunction. This then explains the use of this plant
in the orgiastic celebrations of the mysteries. It also explains the numerous depictions in
Egyptian temples that show serpents springing erect from the lotus.

There is therefore a direct relationship between the plant and human sexuality since the
chemicals within it can induce an erection. This quality demonstrates a far more
substantial symbiosis between the plant and the human than a purely symbolic
association. The consumption of the lotus leads to a real observable physical effect that
unites the human to the plant and opens the human mind to the mysteries of the
universe.
“And the marrow, inasmuch as it is animate and has been granted an outlet, has
endowed the part where its outlet lies with a love for generating by implanting therein a
lively desire for emission. Wherefore in men the nature of the genital organs is
disobedient and self-willed, like a creature that is deaf to reason, and it attempts to
dominate all because of its frenzied lusts.”16

Central to this creation myth is the metaphor of the Nile as a river of semen which by
flooding its banks regularly fertilizes the fields. “That which, like a field, was to receive
the divine seed, he made round every way, and called that portion of the marrow, brain,
intending that, when an animal was perfected, the vessel containing this substance
should be the head; but that which was intended to contain the remaining and mortal
part of the soul … he called them all by the name marrow.”17

The marrow encased in its container formed of bone and running as a channel through
the centre of the body corresponds to this image of the Nile. The spinal column connects
at one end with the brain and the other is in the vicinity of the sexual organs. “From the
passage of egress for the drink, where it receives and joins in discharging the fluid which
has come through the lungs beneath the kidneys into the bladder and has been
compressed by the air, they bored a hole into the condensed marrow which comes from
the head down by the neck and along the spine which marrow, in our previous account
we termed ‘seed.’”18

Semen was described as a substance like brain matter that contained hot vapour. From
the hot aether in the semen the process of creation began. “But the wiser of the priests
call not only the Nile Osiris and the sea Typhon, but they simply gave the name of Osiris
to the whole source and faculty creative of moisture, believing this to be the cause of
generation and the substance of life-producing seed; and the name of Typhon they give
to all that is dry, fiery and arid, in general, and antagonistic to moisture.”19

The foaming froth of the flooding Nile thus has a direct correlation with the warm foamy
substance of semen. Both are the originators of life. From this foaming substance the
human body would be created. From the foaming flood waters of the Nile the seeds
would germinate. “In fact, the tale is annexed to the legend to the effect that Typhon cast
the male member of Osiris into the river, and Isis could not find it, but constructed and
shaped a replica of it, and ordained that it should be honoured and borne in processions,
plainly comes round to this doctrine, that the creative and germinal power of the god, at
the very first, acquired moisture as its substance, and through moisture combined with
whatever was by nature capable of participating in generation.”20

Thus semen contained the life-giving moisture as its substance infused with a hot aether
to provide the spark of creation. The Nile could be seen as containing the semen of
Osiris which was deposited over the soil. The body of Osiris had been slashed into
pieces, with his genital parts hacked off and thrown into the Nile. The other parts of the
body of Osiris were located and reassembled by Isis but the genital parts remained lost
in the river. The Nile thus embodied the genital parts of Osiris and contained the divine
semen. “As they regard the Nile as the effusion of Osiris, so they hold and believe the
earth to be the body of Isis, not all of it, but so much of it as the Nile covers, fertilizing it
and uniting with it.”21

There is here the direct linkage of religion symbolized by Osiris, lord of the underworld
and the deity representing resurrection, and the life-giving secretion of moisture and
semen by the Nile. This was a divine water that contained the code for all generation.
The vital water was celebrated as containing the divine essence involved in creation.
“They think that Homer, like Thales, had gained his knowledge from the Egyptians when
he postulated water as the source and origin of all things …”22

In this way the Egyptian myth of Osiris and Isis was transferred to the Greeks and
became the basis of the phallic creation construct. The Nile became symbolic of all
rivers which all eventually flowed into Oceanus, the ocean stream that encircled the
earth. The moisture of semen and the moisture of water were the source for all creation.
“Not only the Nile, but every form of moisture they call simply the effusion of Osiris; and
in their holy rites the water jar in honour of the god heads the procession …”23

Rain itself could be linked to a shower of semen fertilizing the earth. The duality of the
heavens and the earth was likened to the copulation of humans. The central element
was the moisture without which life could not exist. The moisture was in the rain,
fructifying the earth, and part of the substance of semen. “In fact, the Greeks call
emission apousia and coition synousia, and the son (hyios) from water (hydor) and rain
(hysai); Dionysus also they call Hyes since he is lord of the nature of moisture; and he is
no other than Osiris.”24

Moisture from the heavens was equivalent to a divine emission that fertilized the earth.
Archaic shamanic rain-making rituals were incorporated into later religious practises.The
cult of Jupiter Elicius is associated with the belief that humans could command lightning
from the heavens.

“It is related in our Annals, that by certain sacred rites and imprecations, thunder-storms
may be compelled or invoked. There is an old report in Etruria, that thunder was invoked
by King Porsenna. And L. Piso, a very respectable author, states in the first book of his
Annals, that this had been frequently done before his time by Numa, and that Tullus
Hostilius, imitating him, but not having properly performed the ceremonies, was struck
with the lightning. We have also groves, and altars, and sacred places, and, among the
titles of Jupiter, as Stator, Tonans, and Feretrius, we have a Jupiter Elicius … To believe
that we can command nature is the mark of a bold mind …”25

This phenomenon appears to derive its origin from Egyptian practises that attempted to
attract lightning strikes on their architectural edifices. The pyramidia or capstones of
Egyptian pyramids were the apex of the structures and were the closest point of contact
between humans and thunderbolts thrown towards earth. They were coated in
conductive metals such as gold leaf or electrum.

Obelisks were also surmounted by pyramidia and formed the tallest structures framing
the entrance to Egyptian temples. These were the structures that humans devised to
bring down lightning from the gods.

Electrum is an alloy of silver and gold and was used to cover the pyramidia (capstones)
of the pyramids and obelisks of ancient Egypt. The adornment of buildings with electrum
in antiquity is attested by Homer. “In all gold ore there is some silver, in varying
proportions … An artificial electrum, too, is made by mixing silver with gold … Electrum,
too, was highly esteemed in ancient times, as we learn from the testimony of Homer,
who represents the palace of Menelaus as refulgent with gold and electrum, silver and
ivory.”26

In the recent excavation of the Old Kingdom Sahure pyramid complex limestone reliefs
were discovered depicting the construction of the pyramid. The inscription describes the
pyramidion as being covered in electrum.

The adornment of the summits of these tall structures with conductive metals such as
electrum created a highly alluring target for lightning strikes. This would have created a
sacred bond by binding the actions of the gods with the structures of humans. The
Pyramid Texts clearly refer to lightning and it appears that the pharaoh was carried up
into the heavens by the action of lightning striking the tall edifices that were designed for
this purpose.

“Unas is he who burns before the wind to the limits of heaven, to the limits of earth, as
soon as the hands of Lightning are emptied of Unas.
Unas stands on the East side of the vault of heaven and what rises to the road (of
heaven) is brought to him. It is Unas, the message of the Storm.”27

“To the lord of the storm, wrath is forbidden when he carries you. It is he who will carry
Atum.”28

“The phallus of Babi is pulled out (lock of door), the doors of the sky are open. The doors
of the sky are locked, (the way leads) over the fire glow, under that which assembles the
gods. What lets every Horus glide through will also let Unas glide through, over the fire
glow, under that which assemble the gods. They make a way for Unas that Unas may
pass along it.”29

Thus the soul of Unas traverses the air and passes over the earth. The hands of the
lightning make a path and allow the human to ascend towards the doors of the sky. The
lightning thrown by the gods is the path to immortality.
“Unas traverses the air and passes over the earth. He kisses the Red Crowns as one
hurled by a god.”30

That the obelisks were struck by lightning and that these events were considered
significant is attested by the record of the lightning strike on the obelisk in the Circus
Maximus. By order of Constantius Augustus an obelisk was transported from Egypt and
erected in the Circus Maximus in Rome. Ammianus Marcellinus documented this event.

The obelisk “was gradually drawn up on high through the empty air, and after hanging for
a long time, while many thousand men turned wheels resembling millstones, it was
finally placed in the middle of the circus and capped by a bronze globe gleaming with
gold leaf; this was immediately struck by a bolt of the divine fire and therefore removed
and replaced by a bronze figure of a torch, likewise overlaid with gold foil and glowing
like a mass of flame.”31

In ancient Rome the stone, object or place struck by lightning was defined as sacred.
The Puteal Libonis in the Roman forum was a shrine marking a location that had been
struck by lightning. The space was classified as a bidental and was tended by priests
who affirmed its sacred category by sacrificing sheep there.

Seneca suggests that the sacred lightning could be brought down from the heavens
through entreaties to Jupiter. Humans could “summon or, to use a more polite word,
invite Jupiter to share a sacrificial feast with us. If he happens to be angry with his host
when he is invited, then his coming, Caecina says, is fraught with danger to his
entertainers.”32

Livy also describes the way humans by invoking rites could bring down lightning from the
heavens. “Tradition records that the king, whilst examining the commentaries of Numa,
found there a description of certain sacrificial rites paid to Jupiter Elicius: he withdrew
into privacy whilst occupied with these rites, but their performance was marred by
omissions or mistakes. Not only was no sign from heaven vouchsafed to him, but the
anger of Jupiter was roused by the false worship rendered to him, and he burnt up the
king and his house by a stroke of lightning.”33

The place or building that was struck by lightning thrown by the god assumed a sacred
status. Lightning was a manifestation of heavenly phenomena that included meteorite
strikes. Pliny draws parallels between meteorites and stones that had been struck by
lightning and consequently attained magical powers.

“Sotacus mentions also two other varieties of ceraunia, one black and the other red; and
he says that they resemble axes in shape. Those which are black and round, he says,
are looked upon as sacred, and by their assistance cities and fleets are attacked and
taken … They make out also that there is another kind, rarely to be met with, and much
in request for the practises of magic, it never being found in any place but one that has
been struck by lightning.”34

Thus when a specific location had been struck by lightning thrown by the god then a
circular barrier was to be constructed around the sacred location and the space above
left open to the heavens. “Furthermore, it is said that Numa built the temple of Vesta,
where the perpetual fire was kept, of a circular form, not in imitation of the shape of the
earth, believing Vesta to be the earth, but of the entire universe, at the centre of which
the Pythagoreans place the element of fire, and called it Vesta and Unit. And they hold
that the earth is neither motionless nor situated in the centre of surrounding space, but
that it revolves in a circle around the central fire, not being one of the most important, nor
even one of the primary elements of the universe.”35

This architectural format followed archaic instructions that laid out procedures governing
the sanctity of a location struck by lightning. These specified that the space penetrated
by the lightning strike should remain open to the heavens to propitiate the gods. Hence
the Pantheon in Rome has a large oculus that is open to the sky.

The original building on the site of the Pantheon was struck by lightning and destroyed in
110 CE. Orosius records that “lightning struck and burned the Pantheon at Rome.” The
new construction in the reign of Hadrian was designed to commemorate this lightning
strike that had been hurled by the gods.

The Pantheon was therefore constructed on new foundations as a huge circular drum
that encased the area that had been struck by the lightning. The change in the
architectural format from a rectangular to a circular form reflects the new purpose of the
reconstructed building. In commemoration of the lightning that had struck its
predecessor the interior of the dome was originally gilded so reflecting the celestial fire
that the building celebrated.

By striking a specific location with lightning the gods defined a sacred space that was
their own. The space was contained by the circular confining drum of the walls. Above
these the open oculus allowed the god to enter and occupy the space that the deity itself
had chosen by striking it with lightning.

This then is the architectural genesis of the Pantheon that is defined by its circular form
and oculus that is open to the sky. Lightning also determined the architecture of the
Erectheion in Athens. The temple, adjacent to the Parthenon, has a space in the roof of
a porch that is open to the sky.

As in the Pantheon the space that was deliberately inserted into the roof structure
expresses the belief that the location struck by lightning should be left open to the
heavens. Beneath the aperture in the roof there is a gap in the paving of the floor
showing the rock beneath and so marking the specific location of the lightning strike.
These structures celebrate the purifying celestial fire that came from the domain of the
gods. It was reasoned that as lightning was the pure fire of the gods it purified the mortal
bodies of the humans that were struck. The celestial fire also allowed the humans that
survived the strike to transcend their mortality and achieve heroic status. The
thunderbolt conferred a divine status on its victim. “For no one who has been struck by a
thunderbolt is without honour, wherefore he is revered even as a god.”36

The ideas behind the sacred architecture that enclosed and protected the space struck
by lightning from the profane world were also applied to human victims. Humans that
were killed by the celestial fire acquired an incorruptible status. Like the place that had
been struck the body had to be fenced around and left open to the sky. Plutarch informs
us that there was a general belief that the bodies of those killed by lightning never
putrefy.

“But that which is most wonderful, and which everyone knows, is this, - the bodies of
those that are killed by lightning never putrefy. For many neither burn nor bury such
bodies, but let them lie above ground with a fence about them, so that every one may
see they remain uncorrupted … And I believe brimstone is called divine, because its
smell is like that fiery offensive scent which rises from bodies that are thunderstruck. And
I suppose that, because of this scent, dogs and birds will not prey on such carcasses.”37

This belief also explains the ancient Egyptian desire to attract lightning to their pyramids,
obelisks, temples and funerary monuments. The purifying celestial fire of the gods
rendered the mortal bodies of humans incorruptible. The lightning additionally laid out a
burning forked path that allowed the purified body to ascend to the stars.

This burning forked path is represented in one of its manifestations by the trident wielded
by Poseidon. This tri-forked instrument is also connected in myth to the Erechtheion. In
the creation myth of Hephaestus and Athena the semen from the gods in the heavens
impregnates the earth (Gaia) below. Hephaestus ejaculates his fiery semen over Athena
who casts it down upon earth, so impregnating it. Human life is therefore formed by the
Demiurge, Hephaestus or Vulcan, moulding his creations from the fiery heat.

“... Athena came to Hephaestus, desirous of fashioning arms. But he, being forsaken by
Aphrodite, fell in love with Athena, and began to pursue her; but she fled. When he got
near her with much ado (for he was lame), he attempted to embrace her; but she, being
a chaste virgin, would not submit to him, and he dropped his seed on the leg of the
goddess. In disgust, she wiped off the seed with wool and threw it on the ground; and as
she fled the seed fell on the ground, and Erichthonius was produced.”38

Thus another deity is produced from an act of male-only procreation. Like Aphrodite
Urania and Orion the birth is effected entirely within a nexus of semen.
Athena placed the progeny in a chest in order to hide him from the other gods. But the
chest was surreptitiously opened and revealed a serpent that was coiled around
Erichthonius. “But the sisters of Pandrosus opened it out of curiosity, and beheld a
serpent coiled about the babe; and, as some say, they were destroyed by the serpent,
but according to others they were driven mad by reason of the anger of Athena and
threw themselves down from the acropolis.”39

Erichthonius is either conflated with Erechtheus or is his progenitor. Either way the
Erechtheion was constructed in their honour and to propitiate Poseidon. Thus Poseidon
is central to the myths of Erichthonius/Erechtheus and plays a central role in Ovid’s
description of the birth of Orion.The trident of Poseidon, as a clear phallic extension, can
also be seen to represent the three stars of Orion’s Belt.

“There is also a building called the Erechtheum. Before the entrance is an altar of Zeus
the Most High … Inside the entrance are altars, one to Poseidon, on which in obedience
to an oracle they sacrifice also to Erechtheus, the second to the hero Butes, and the
third to Hephaestus … On the rock is the outline of a trident. Legend says that these
appeared as evidence in support of Poseidon’s claim to the land.”40

The trident as the visual manifestation of the three stars of Orion’s Belt symbolizes this
holy trinity and is celebrated in the confines of this most archaic of Greek temples. The
primordial worship of the stars predates the anthropomorphic figures of the gods.

Augustine confirms the connection between the dry seeds of plants and the liquid seeds
of animals and by extension human semen. “Now as to the rites of Liber, whom they
have set over liquid seeds, and therefore not only over the liquors of fruits, among which
wine holds, so to speak, the primacy, but also over the seeds of animals …” All are
influenced by the changing seasons which are heralded by the rising of the three stars of
Orion’s Belt. The phallus of the gods both represents and controls vegetative, animal
and human reproduction on earth.

The tripartite nature of the Orion phallus, the trident of Poseidon and the appellation to
Hermes as the thrice greatest form in themselves a holy trinity that still forms the
foundation of the Christian religion. All appear to ultimately derive their source from the
three stars of the euphemistically termed Orion’s Belt.

Orion, Latona nitentibus astris

And Latona set Orion among the shining stars.

iamque decem menses, et puer ortus erat

Orior oriri ortus - to rise
"The below is as the above, and the above as the below, to perfect the wonders of the
One. And as all things came from the One, from the meditation of the One, so all things
are born from this One by adaptation."

(Hermes Trismegistus - the 'Thrice Greatest' - Emerald Tablet)

Who is this?
It is Osiris. Others, however, say that his name is Ra, and that the god who
dwelleth in Amentet is the phallus of Ra wherewith he had union with himself.

1. Ovid - Fasti 5.531-6

2. Cicero - De Natura Deorum
3. Strabo - Geography 9.2.12
4. Plutarch - Isis and Osiris 34
5. Shabaka Stone
6. Pyramid Text - Utterance 600
7. Ibid. 527
8. Macrobius - Saturnalia 7.16.10
9. Derveni Papyrus 13
10. Hesiod - Theogony 176-180
11. Pyramid Text - Utterance 213
12. Ibid. 224
13. Herodotus - Histories 2.92
14. The Book of the Dead
15. Homer - Odyssey
16. Plato - Timaeus 91
17. Ibid. 73
18. Ibid. 91
19. Plutarch - Isis and Osiris 33
20. Ibid. 36
21. Ibid. 38
22. Ibid. 34
23. Ibid. 36
24. Ibid. 34
25. Pliny - Natural History 2.54
26. Ibid. 33.23
27. Pyramid Text - Utterance 261
28. Ibid. 247
29. Ibid. 313
30. Ibid. 261
31. Ammianus Marcellinus - Res Gestae 17.4
32. Seneca - Quaestiones Naturales 2.49
33. Livy - History of Rome 1.31
34. Pliny - Natural History 37.51
35. Plutarch - The Life of Numa
36. Artemidorus - Oneirocritica 2.9
37. Plutarch - Quaestiones Convivales 4.2
38. Apollodorus - Library 3.14.6
39. Pausanias - Description of Greece 1.26.5
40. Ibid.