#robin heath

[detectivesus]

probably something to do with the AM x TH drift ig

[learnaboutastrology]

The Astronomy and Astrology of the Solar Hero Myth

To most people, the old myths and legends are quaint reminders of a bygone and superstitious age, and have nothing much to tell us anymore. They are just for the history books or children's bedtime reading. Yet, for a myth to have survived for thousands of years, one might guess that it holds inherent meanings. The Greek myths evolved a long time before they were ever written down, and originated in the preliterate cultures pre-2300 BC. The reason Jung, Campbell and other symbolists became so drawn to myths is that they encapsulate human archetypal experiences, and are therefore eternal, renewed by each generation. Mythology has thereby been linked with modern psychology. But is there still more to myth than this? In this article I will explore a theory that myth is a technical language placed within a popular context. More specifically, I want to reveal the astronomical basis underpinning the myth of the solar hero.

Gods in the Sky

To the ancient cultures, the pantheon of the gods resided in the sky. Their myths were originally inseparable from their astronomical observation. Could a myth match an important astronomical truth, is it possible for a precision astronomy and psychology to be referred to within the same myth.'

The myth of the solar hero can be found within many of the ancient civilisations even before the Christian era. The solar hero is the big saviour, often the sacrificial victim, and he has one unique common feature - he ultimately comes back, or is resurrected. The sun is a role model, hence the 'solar' part of the hero, and 'dies' every dusk, as the dark night takes over. Each golden dawn then brings a renewal. Within their mythology, the ancient Egyptians made much of the Sun in this context, as so too did the ancient Celts, this latter culture obliging us with some useful numerical information.

The very ancient stories of the Tuatha de Danaan in Ireland tell us that the first battle of Mag Tuired was fought by their saviour-hero Lug and thirty-two other leaders. Alongside this, we may also read of the company of thirty-three men, all apparently thirty-two years of age who sit at the tables in the otherworld island castle in Perlesvaus. In the same vein, Nemed, another hero, reached Ireland with only one ship, thirty-three were lost on the way; Cuchulainn slays thirty-three of the Labriads in the Bru battle whilst a late account of the second battle of Mag Tuired names thirty-three leaders of the Fomore, thirty-two plus their highest king. This material contains a common theme. It tells the knowing listener or reader to look to the number thirty-three as something relevant to a hero, a saviour. In the analysis of the Welsh White Book of Rhydderch, we may read that, "Both three and eleven were equally symbolic, the multiplicant thirty-three particularly so. It has frequently been used to imply supra-human attributes, regal authority and deification." So, what's so special about thirty-three?

Closer to our time the Western world has, for nearly two millennia, chosen to base its own hero myth, and hence its belief system, on the story of Jesus. Here, our solar hero, 'officially' born very appropriately at the winter solstice, dies and is resurrected at… thirty-three years of age. This story has much in common with the earlier European oral traditions. We must ask what is a Biblical account of a major hero within a major modern world religion doing drawing attention to the same number thirty-three to which Irish and British solar-heroes were resonating in the Bronze Age?

Our clues are piling up: the solar hero myth itself, a repeated number - thirty-three, and a resurrection after thirty-three years, which we are told took place at Easter.

The detective work may begin!

When the oldest stories associated with this myth originated In Western Europe there was a cultural astronomy based on the accurate placement of huge stone monoliths, Stonehenge being perhaps the best known. Time and again these stone circles are shown to relate to significant Sun (and Moon) rising and setting positions against the local horizon, at solstices or equinoxes. At the equinoxes (Easter and St Michaelmas), the gap between successive sunrises (or sets) becomes a maximum, and in Britain occurs more than the sun's disc apart, an angle of about 0.8 degrees, blatantly obvious to any observer. In just one year, 365 days would be tallied for the length of the year, and not 364 or 366 nor any other number. And there's a basic accurate solar calendar.

Marking the Resurrection

There's another twist to this. An equinoctial Sunrise marker, of which many still exist in Britain, will each year deliver the sunrise from a slight but noticeably different position on the horizon. Because there are 365 and a quarter days in the year, and not just 365, the Sun, each year, will be displaced by about a quarter of a degree from the marker stone, which is very easy to observe. A marker on the horizon, placed to the east and a good distance from an observer, acts as a rifle barrel and enables these small angular changes to be accurately monitored.

During three years of observation, the Sun appears to be slipping ever more away from the original alignment until, at the fourth year, two things happen simultaneously - the Sun rises once more very close to its original position above the marker stone, and the day count - the tally - for the year is found to be 366 and not 365 days. The observer tallies 365+365+365+366, which is 1461 sunrises (days) over the four years. Over a few years of observation the solar year is discovered to be 365.25 days in length, as accurate as our Roman (Gregorian) solar calendar.

But the eye can detect much more miniscule angular changes than a quarter of a degree. Using this kind of observatory, a couple of minutes of degree is detectable. And here's where we pick up the solar-hero myth. After thirty-three years, 12,053 days or sunrises, one can observe an exact repeat of the original equinoctial rising behind the marker stone.

Perhaps it would be a good thing to look more closely at the numbers involved. Our modern calendar 'works' with 365.25 days for the solar or seasonal year. As a fraction this is 365 and a quarter. The 33-year repeat cycle is based on a solar year which is 365.24242424+ or 365 and eight thirty-thirds in length. The astronomical truth is that the seasonal or solar year is 365.242199 days in length. The 33-year repeat cycle is therefore accurate to within 20 seconds, while our modern calendar is, each year, in error by over 11 minutes.

Here is a solution to our repeated use of the number thirty-three. There is enough evidence to link the astronomical phenomenon to the biblical story. This particular resurrection took place at Easter, a festival tagged onto the much older one of the equinox, which then locates the sunrise in question as being exactly due East of the observer. Because the daily change in the sunrise position is at a maximum at the equinoxes, it is the optimum time to take angular readings.

A Plagiarised Resurrection

Our solar hero, Jesus, rose from the dead after thirty-three years, witnessed at 'the rising of the sun' by Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus. Mary was there at the birth - the start of the life-journey. Both women noticed that the large stone blocking the entrance of the tomb holding the body of the crucified hero had been rolled away. The resurrection story concerns itself with a solar hero rising again, at the same place, with the sunrise, at Easter, after thirty-three years. There is a very large stone blocking the tomb - the entrance to the underworld - which rolls away revealing the resurrected form and Jesus's entrance back into the visible world. We now have a reason why the number thirty-three assumed such importance in folklore and the oral traditions, many of which probably date back to the late stone age. It was the prime long-term solar repeat rising cycle observed at the megalithic solar observatories. The later Jesus story, whatever else it may be for Christians around the world, rides on the back of this astronomical fact, derived from what are now termed 'Pagan practices' in megalithic Europe. Ironically these very same practices were stamped out ruthlessly by the later Christian Church, and the astronomical source of the solar hero myth thereby lost.

Modern Consequences of the myth

The number 33 may be found elsewhere, but always in a solar context. Sometimes this is astronomic: the sunspot cycle is 11 years in duration, times three and 33 pops up. Every thirty three years the Leonid meteor shower is brightest, in mid-November. Other times the connection is human and social. There are 33 degrees of initiation in freemasonry, the 33rd degree being the highest. Then there's also the lonely little game of solitaire, where the aim is to remove 32 marbles and place the last one in the 33rd hole. In French, solitaire is sol and taire, words well worth looking up in a dictionary.

Megalithic Science Revealed

Until 2000, my research lacked proof. Then, an archaeologist friend of mine, Dr Euan MacKie, sent me his full 1976 survey report of an equinoctial site at Brainport Bay in Argyll, Scotland. At the place where the observer would have stood in 2500 BC, was a standing stone - the backsite. Underneath it, and hidden from view, MacKie and Colonel Peter Gladwin discovered some 33 white smooth quartz pebbles, tightly packed together, suggesting that they were once held in a leather bag. There were 33 of these pebbles and they are now on display in the Kilmartin Museum, Argyll. I asked Dr MacKie the same question I now leave you with: What do you think they were for? Why else would one find 33 stones here in this location unless megalithic man was monitoring the 33 year solar cycle? Precision astronomy drove the numerical content of the solar hero myth, which clearly dates from before 2500 BC. It's a very old and very useful calendar myth.

Robin Heath is an independent full-time researcher of cosmic cycles living in Pembrokeshire, Wales, having previously enjoyed an industrial career in electronics and been a senior lecturer in mathematics and engineering, where he also taught surveying techniques. He is a regular contributor to many publications around the world and is also researching the pre-literate roots of astronomy and astrology, particularly the sacred geometry and calendar systems of the megalithic culture of northwestern Europe.

Author of Sun, Moon and Stonehenge (Bluestone Press, 1998), Sun, Moon, Earth (Wooden Books, 1999) and A Beginner’s Guide to Stone Circles (Hodder & Stoughton, 1999) 

Understanding the Solar Hero Myth https://web.archive.org/web/20090719164958/http://www.skyandlandscape.com/Article%20by%20Robin%20Heath.htm

[previously-writer-zero]

Hey, saw your post about needing chill beta readers. I may fit that bill. What's your story about? Tell me all the fun details about your OC's and such!

Hello, thank you for asking!

The story in its current stage is a RWBY fanfic, but apart from the worldbuilding and one character from the anime that is only present in one scene, the cast and the plot are original. That's why I'll just add my own worldbuilding and call it original.

We follow a group of 4 characters: Leiah Prima, the shortie with a "I can do this on my own" attitude, Ismene Kokinos, the even smaller shortie who also wants to be a big girl, Robin Heath, the tall one who has a view of the chaos, and Alexander Glorian, the leader of Team Ariel and the one who has to keep the gang together.

Their goal... used to be to just finish their education to become Huntsmen and Huntresses, the people who kill dangerous monsters that populate the world called Grimm. Until they find an abandoned village surrounded by a pack of Grimm, and not that far away, a boy. As his cloak falls, he reveals his Grimm-like features. School can wait, they say, as they decide to find this boy again, and find whoever made him!

Fortunately, the Glorian family also runs a police department! Unfortunately, the government took the case and apparently isn't doing much about it. And you know what that means! If you guessed that our group of young individuals now take it upon themselves to find the boy and the people who made him into what he is, then you were right!

And that's about as much as I can reveal without spoiling too much! ;)

[previously-writer-zero]

Let’s get cooking tag game!

Oh this one’s hillarious. I was tagged by @raevenlywrites and given 3 ingredients. I then have to figure out what my characters would make with those ingredients, then pick my own 3-10 ingredients, and tag some other people.

My ingredients are: Chocolate, Spices (my pick), and Dairy. Let’s get to it!

Alexander: Chocolate syrup (or melted chocolate), cinammon, and greek yoghurt, mix, and cool for a sweet summer treat.

Robin: Plain ice cream (the frozen cream kind), with lemongrass and hot chocolate drizzled over it.

Ismene: A cup of hot chocolate with cream and a little bit of vanilla.

Leiah: Melted chocolate mixed with curd, frozen, served with a sprinkle of salt. Completelly randomly thrown together on a whim, found out it’s delicious, eats it in front of everyone to freak them out.

(Okay to be honest that last one actually sounds delicious.)

Oh, what’s this? Jo wants in on this too? She wants... chocolate milk with mint? Alright, surprisingly sounds delicious. Thanks for your contribution, Jo.

My turn to tag people! My list of ingredients is: Leek, carrot, egg, chicken. Spices of choice. @kaylewiswrites, @griffinwriting, @thechalkgodwrites, @rhikasa, get your aprons on!

[previously-writer-zero]

Last Line tag!

Woo! I’ve been tagged to post the last line I’ve written my @writeroftheprompts and of course tag ahead!

I noticed this tag yesterday, but posting from mobile is a bit of a drag, so I put it off until today.

"Beware, it goeth before the fall," he concluded the quote anyways.

Great, my last line is the second half of a Hamilton reference.

I’m cool, I swear T_T

I’m really not sure yet who’s cool with tagging, so if you don’t like being tagged or vice versa, tell me! But here is goes: @thechalkgod, @kiaradimari, @raevenlywrites, @thecaffeinewriter, @rhikasa, @kaylewiswrites, and @dontwaitforinspiration. And of course whoever wants to!

[didanawisgi]

[previously-writer-zero]

I was tagged by @thechalkgod for an... obscure, but interesting OC tag game!

I was to go to Black Phoenix’s Alchemy Lab and find perfumes that remind me of my OCs, then tag some other folk. I gave it a go!*

Alexander is King Cake, because he’s so sweet: A sweet brioche cake with a hint of almond, glazed with cream cheese frosting and gleaming with purple, green, and gold sugar.

Robin is Lawful, because of course he would be: Rigid oak, blue chamomile, rhubarb, and fig leaf.

Ismene is Mouse Circus, because I bet those are having fun: A toodle oodle of pink cotton candy noses, vanilla spun sugar fur, scattered kernels of popcorn, and a touch of polished golden wood.

Leiah is Dragon’s Eye - Ressurected, because if nothing else, it sounds badass: A piercing, radiant perfume: dragon's blood resin, lily of the valley, lilac and galbanum.

*TIL I can’t imagine scents at all.

I’m gonna tag... @kiaradimari, @kaylewiswrites, @heywriters, and anyone else who I don’t know they have a WIP yet and would like to give it a go!

[previously-writer-zero]

AAAAA I COULDN’T PUT IT IN THE QUEUE, CAUSE I WOULD HAVE TO MAKE YOU GUYS WAIT EVEN LONGER TO SEE THIS!

The “super extra special thing” I’ve been promising for a week now is here!

Behold! Team Ariel! From left to right: Leiah Prima, Alexander Glorian, Ismene Kokinos, and Robin Heath!

To be honest, when I first started working on the lineart from the sketch a week ago, I gave up for several days. I thought it was coming out that horrible. Then I picked it up again a few days ago and have been working on it ever since. This is probably the biggest drawing project I’ve taken on and actually finished it.

As you may or may not have noticed, I am almost a complete newbie at drawing. While comments and critique are greatly appreciated, please keep that fact in mind. ⊂( ・ ̫・)⊃

P.S.: If you have no idea who these 4 are, then maybe you haven’t read this.