above image: the different levels of punishment in Nork

 Obscure Mythology Chapter 14: Nork

Cambodian hell or home of the damned.

     Welcome back. Today I went for something a little different. Up until this point I have been looking more at figures and myths and not places, so when I came across Nork, I had to share it. I grew up Catholic so the thought of going to Hell was always in the back of my mind. It was the fear of being sent into eternal damnation that made me a pretty good kid and what made organized religion like Catholicism so powerful. Did you know that back in Medieval times when a church or cathedral was being built the Catholic church would offer Sunday’s as a day of penance, meaning if you stayed after mass and helped to build the new church all of your sins for the past week or longer if you’d not been going to mass would be forgiven? All your sins, as long as you helped build the new church. It kind of made the fear of Hell a little less foreboding so it was stopped. I will not get into my views on organized religion, I am here just to share and research. Many people assumed it was the Catholic church that “invented” Hell, but most ancient myths had a special horrible place for bad people. As with the flood myth it seems as if Hell or a similar variation can be found in just about every civilization. I knew of the Norse version which just so happened to be called, Hel. Coincidence? Absolutely not. It was more than likely stolen from Norse Mythology to help the founders of Christianity describe their terrible awful place of eternal damnation. It should also be noted that not all underworlds were considered bad. In many ancient cultures, the Underworld was the place where all the dead went. There is one big difference between the Christian Hell and Cambodia’s Nork but I’ll wait until after I share the entry before I get into. Well, let me stop my ranting and introduce you to the Nork, Cambodia’s Hell.

Nork: hell, the home of the damned. Cambodia

This realm, which has eight levels, lies below the earth and the torment inflicted on sinners increases with the depth. The lowest hell is called Avichi. Each level is divided into sixteen separate hells with increasing levels of torture.  Spirits who have suffered torment appropriate to their sins are reborn. (The Dictionary of Mythology an A-Z of themes, legends and heroes, J.A. Coleman).

Just as many ancient myths had a Hell, they also had many different levels like Nork. I believe the Christian version started out multileveled but was later condensed into the Hell we envision today. Dante’s famous medieval book The Inferno, tells of the supposed layers of the Christian Hell but modern religious teachings don’t mention layers  when speaking of the Christian Hell. The one major difference that I was speaking of was the way the Cambodian’s incorporated reincarnation into their Hell. It is an interesting aspect and it keeps with the Eastern philosophies while still scaring people with horrible damnation and torture. I am uncertain if other Eastern philosophies have their own versions of pre-reincarnation Hells as well. Again, this is another reason why I do this kind of research, it opens up so many of doors to look into. The reason I chose Nork over many other deserving candidates was because of the way it incorporated both Christian and Eastern mythology. I’ve learned so many new things since starting this little adventure and I love sharing them with you the reader. I appreciate everyone who reads this and I’m glad that you’re sticking around to see what’s next. I have 12 more instalments of the A-Z mythology and then I will get back to my other stuff and believe me I have got a lot including my ground breaking new theory on the Voynich Manuscript, if you are unfamiliar with it I urge you to look it up and then be prepared to be wowed when I present my theory. Until next time, thank you for reading and as always: PEACE!!!!!

PS: while searching for images to go with this post I found out that nork is a derogatory term for North Koreans (sorry, not my intentions) and  another name for a woman’s breast! See what kind of fun stuff you can find while doing research?

Obscure Mythology Chapter 13: Michabo

Creator-God of the Algonquins

     It’s time for another installment of obscure mythology and today we are officially half way through the alphabet! Although I must admit, I have screwed up the chapter number for a post more than once but I always go back and fix it. At least I think I have all the chapter numbers right, I’ll go back and double check after I finish this. Anyhow, back to the post. It took me almost three days to pick one of the many interesting entries I found in the Mythology dictionary under M and after much contemplation I chose Michabo for a few reasons, first because there is yet another reference to a great flood from a different part of the world, this time North America. I had no idea that most if not all Native American creation stories talk of a great flood. The second reason was a little more personal. I recently found out that my Great-Great Grandmother was Algonquin. I had grown up knowing that she was a Native American but up until about a month ago I didn’t know what tribe she had come from or where she was originally born. Recently a family member had found some papers stating her history and a lifelong mystery was solved. It ends up that she was born in Algonquin territory in Canada and moved to South Dakota in the 1880’s. I was really happy to finally get some answers about that side of my family since not much is known about our history at all, unlike my Father’s side of the family which can be traced back to Scotland in the 12^th century.  I have been keeping an eye out for the story from the Algonquins to share with everyone and I do believe this is a good one to start with. I know I will be doing much more research on the Algonquins in general know that I know that I have connections to them. It is really exciting to make connections like this and it is one of the reasons that I love doing this kind of work. I also could not believe how the flood myth had ties to North America as well. I knew the Hopi and Navaho had a flood myth but I had no idea that it spread across the entire North American continent. While researching this entry I came across a Native American myth that strongly resembles the tower of Babel story. How crazy is that? It truly intrigues me how all of these different ancient peoples had the same myths or at least the same basis. I am currently reading Graham Hancock’s, Fingerprints of the Gods, and he has found mythological connections between most ancient civilizations from the Sumerians to the Aztecs. I highly recommend reading his book if you have not already, I only have a few chapters left and I can honestly say no book has ever made me rethink ancient history and civilizations like this book does. Well, I believe I have said enough in the intro so let’s get to it. I give you Michabo, a creator-god of the Algonquin people.

Michabo: [Great Hare. Lord Hare. Lord of the Day. Messon. Messibizi. Missabos. Missiwabun]

a creator-god of the Algonquins, chief of the 5 gods of the tribe, son of Kabun, brother of Chokanipok.

Michabo often descended to earth to hunt and, on one occasion, his hunting pack composed of wolves led him to a lake. When he followed them into the lake, the water overflowed and flooded the whole earth. Both the Raven and the otter failed to find any dry land but the muskrat brought up mud from the bottom and Michabo made a new world, mating with Muskrat to start the human race.

He killed Chopanipok and scattered his entrails to create vines.

He is said to have invented the fishing net and instructed his people in the art of fishing.

The clouds in the sky are fumes from his great pipe. (The Dictionary of Mythology an A-z of Themes, Legends and heroes, J.A. Coleman)

     So there you have it, Michabo, the creator-god of the Algonquin. It seems as if he was the one responsible for the flood in this myth but it led to the creation of people so I guess it was a good thing. In all of the other entries I’ve seen when it comes to the Native American flood mtyh was the fact that the Muskrat found mud to reform earth, no matter what tribe was telling the story. So these myths must have come from the same source and then spread amongst the other tribes. Like I said I think there is definitely something to the fact that so many, if not all ancient civilizations have a flood myth. I believe that some time long ago in human history a catastrophic flood had to have taken place. That story was passed down by the survivors for generation after generation. As we humans began migrating across the world we brought our ancestors ancient tales with us and assimilated them into our culture to help better keep them alive. My personal theory is that somewhere around 50,000 years ago or so the land that separated the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic (where the straights of Gibraltar is now) gave way and sent billions of tons of the Atlantic crashing into the Mediterranean basin. The sea levels would have risen by hundreds of feet and any city, village or tribe living in the area would have been blasted away in a tidal wave of water. The Mediterranean basin is where most ancient civilizations settled down and became civilized around 5,000-6,000 years ago according to main stream historians so why couldn’t they have been there before? I can bet that there are many things hidden in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea right now. I should also say I am not the first to think this, as a matter of fact I think I saw that theory in a show on the History channel, it makes a lot of sense if you think about it though. Mainstream historians say that the Atlantic broke into the Mediterranean way earlier than 50,000 years ago and humans would have still been monkeys in Africa when this happened but many researchers including Graham Hancock believe that humans or some other species were as advanced if not more so now before the flood and that the flood myths are stories to keep their memories alive. There is geological proof that the Sphinx in Egypt is thousands, if not tens of thousands of years older than it is purported to be and there are ancient maps that exist today that show the coast line of Antarctica before it was encapsulated in ice! The most famous ancient map that is highly detailed is the Piri Ries map, it is worth looking into, and it was supposedly created from even older maps. It was these older maps from the First age of humans that showed the Antarctic coast and even detailed areas of South America. The Piri Ries map was made a hundred years before the Spaniards had reached the area. How is this possible? The only explanation is that someone or something in our ancient past was much more advanced than mainstream historians and anthropologists want to admit. I am kind of getting off topic, all of this stuff I just typed is out there for you to find if you want. In conclusion I do believe that the flood myth and many other famous stories and fables are connected because they are stories that actually happened to our very ancient ancestors. That is why I love researching this stuff as I have mentioned. I have more questions every time I research mythology looking for answers! I do not believe it is just a coincidence that so many civilizations and cultures share the same myths. It can’t be and anyone who believes it is, is too afraid to search for the truth. I think we should be actively searching for these ancient ancestors instead of suppressing them and calling anyone who believes in them crazy or fringe researchers. The truth, the ancient truth is out there and our ancestors wanted us to find it that is why they left us with the stories and the many clues to their existence that they did. I would rather find the truth and rewrite the history of Homo Sapiens than keep it hidden and follow a false history. We owe it to ourselves and our ancient forebears to find  their secrets. Well I hope my mostly off topic rant didn’t scare you all away and I promise to get right back on track with the next installment of Obscure Mythology, until then take care and seek the truth but most importantly: PEACE!!!!!!! 

Obscure Mythology Chapter 12: Lilith

A hairy monster who married the Devil

I have been waiting for this chapter since I started this endeavor! I have a small personal connection to this chapter as Lilith is the name my wife and I blessed our youngest daughter with. When I read this installment for Lilith it didn’t surprise me much at all because Lilith is one of  the first people to be slandered and misrepresented because of her actions. In the original Jewish bible, the Torah, she was said to be the first wife of Adam, living together in the Garden of Eden. Lilith had a habit of doing what she wanted and when she refused to be subservient to her husband, he and God decided to kick her out of paradise. There was no room for a disobedient woman who thought she was equal to her husband in the nearly formed world. She was banished from Eden and so she had no choice but to join in league with the devil and his dark forces who had control over the earth at the time. There are numerous accounts of what happened to her after she was banished and I think you will see by today’s post that she was most definitely made into an evil being for not agreeing to be subservient. That is the reason I wanted to name my child Lilith, to honor the first Bad Girl of Jewish/Christian mythology, although the Christian bible neglects to even mention Lilith in the Kin James Version. The Torah still has small blurbs of her but for the most part she was all but written out of the creation stories. I will now post the description provided by the Dictionary of Mythology for Lilith.

Lilith: Hebrew, a hairy monster who married the Devil.

In some accounts, Lilith was expelled from paradise and slept with the Devil, producing the jinn. Other versions say she flew off in the form of a vampire or took the form of a black cat, preying on new-born babies. In this context, her name is used to refer to the star Algol, previously known as Rosh ha Satan (Satan’s Head).

In some accounts she is identified with Empusa or Lamia, while others refer to her as the queen of Zamargad, the plentiful home of lovers. (Dictionary of Mythology an A-Z of themes, legends and heroes, J.A. Coleman).

So there you have it, this is what happens to anyone who goes against the way of the Jewish or Christian religion. She went from being the first woman on earth to a terrifying demon woman who flies around eating children and consorting with the devil! I never realized her supposed connection to the Jinn. How crazy is that? Lilith actually connects to my last two posts. She may have had a hand in creating the Jinnee from Chapter 10 and this is probably the Torah’s way of showing that men had dominance over women back in a time when it had been the opposite. Just as the tribe from South America stole the female’s dominance dance and made it their own. Lilith refusing to be less than equal to man was ancient society not conforming to the new laws of the land. As organized religion spread and began to assimilate ancient cultures they had to do away with the customs and beliefs that contradicted their own so the Torah tells us of this first woman, the woman before Eve. The woman who had the audacity to say “No,” to God and man, the woman who was expelled from paradise and forced into the Devil’s hand for refusing to be subservient. It painted Lilith as a blood thirsty demon with no regard for anything but causing mayhem and fear. By writing of Lilith’s  exploits, the early rabbi’s had shown what happens to women when they question their place in the world. I have told many people whop grew up religious about the story of Lilith and many, if not all of them had never heard her story before. The weird thing is that the Babylonian and Sumerian cultures also had a Lilith myth which also show her as a demon who refused to accept her role. In reality Lilith was probably a figurehead for all the women who fought to keep their equality as the times began to change. By making her the epitome of evil it scared ancient women into their subservient places. I wonder had she stayed if she would have been tempted by the Serpent as easily as Eve was. I would imagine Lilith would have been able to stave off the Devil’s temptation since she was much more level headed and seemed stronger willed than Eve. I also think it is pretty ironic that Adam and his second wife Eve, were both booted out of Eden for Eve’s gullibility.  Had Adam and God allowed Lilith to be equal perhaps humans would have never been kicked out of Paradise and things would be drastically different for all. A few people thought we shouldn’t name our child after a blood thirsty vampire, demon who married the Devil but I see it a little differently. I say we named our daughter after the world’s first gender equality activist and it is an honor. If more people knew the real story of Lilith perhaps it would be a little more popular.  Well, I guess I shall end this post and get prepared for the next one. In the meantime I hope you all enjoyed this post and perhaps I sparked a little interest in this ancient myth. I knew when I started this that a lot of these myths would be similar or have similar themes and I haven’t been disappointed yet, I am still in awe of how Lilith has connected to the last two posts in particular.  I haven’t planned any of these posts beforehand except for Lilith, but was unaware of what this dictionary would say about it.  Okay, have a great day, take care and I can’t wait to bring you even more installments and more awesome myths and legends. Until then: PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

above image: some costumes worn during the kina and kloketen rituals by the Hain people of Tierra del Fuego

Obscure Mythology Chapter 11: Kina/Kloketen

A South American religious dance ritual and initiation ceremony.

     Welcome back! I had a really hard time narrowing down this chapter’s installment to just one, there were so many good ones but I could not pass this one up. The kina and kloketen go hand in hand and I was happy that they both fit in the same chapter. They are two separate rituals but they are connected and the Kloketen couldn’t happen if the kina never did. You will understand better in a few minutes after you read the meanings. This is the first instance that I have come across where a myth or in this case a ritual explains why men were dominant in their culture. It is assumed that ancient homo sapiens venerated a female creation figure since the oldest known religious themed artifacts are the Venus Statues, figures of plump, voluptuous females with the oldest dating to over thirty thousand years ago.

 above image: venus figurines from paleolithic Europe

Many ancient tribes were matriarchal or at the very least women were as respected as men. All that changed a few thousand years ago when organized religion took a foothold and men gained the moniker of the “dominant” gender, more so by their actions then any written rule or law. Of course, the Bible, Koran and many other written materials made it very clear that men were for the most part dominant over women. We know today that is purely fiction and both species are equal no matter what a man or men may say. Women are by no means equal to men in many countries and areas to this day and that in itself is a scary thought. How could such antiquated ideals still be practiced today? The answer is the same since biblical times: Religion or tribal beliefs and today I was lucky enough to discover a ritual that helps explain early man’s thinking at least for this specific tribe. I am sure more tribes and cultures from around the world have similar myths or reasons for the gender inequality and it will be interesting to look into that in the future. For now, I give you the dance-ritual kina and its equally important initiation ritual the Kloketen.

Kina: South America, in Tierra del Fuego, a masked religious dance-ritual for men only.

Originally used by women, who were the superior sex, the sun discovered the secret from the moon and killed all the women except young girls and adopted the dance for men to ensure that they became superior to women. (see also kloketen).

Kloketen: South America, in Tierra del Fuego, a male initiation rite.

Youths gathered in a hut are subjected to frightening ordeals by masked men who instill the secrets of the tribe and the superiority of men.

(both entries taken from: The Dictionary of Mythology, an A-Z of themes, legends and heroes. J.A.Coleman)

The first thing that struck me was the universal idea that the sun was masculine and the moon feminine. This aspect of mythology dates to the beginning of homo sapiens and was dominant in just about every ancient civilization. I have stated numerous times that our myths come from our very ancient ancestor’s staring into the sky, mostly the night sky of course, and coming up for reasons why certain celestial and earthly things occurred. The sun and the moon have always played a prominent role in these reasons as they were associated with the male and feminine. Every culture I have studied so far while doing this or other projects has a few universally related myths, the first being a flood or deluge and the second being the first “couple”. The Adam and Eve myth. Some cultures say it happened before the flood and others say they were spared the flood and tasked with starting the human population again. In nearly all of these myths the first couple are eventually either taken to the heavens or banished there, becoming the sun and the moon. As I stated in the introduction anthropologists and historians know by studying the few remaining hunter-gather tribes and ancient records that females did play a dominant or at least equal role to men in pre-historic times and that’s why this or these particular myths caught my attention. The kina and kloketen are used by this tribe to explain why men are dominant, as if having a reason was good enough. These rituals are passed on from generation to generation until it becomes habit. The women of this tribe are subservient because their culture has told them they are since the day they or even their parents were born. Making a grand spectacle of it just reinforces the dominance and the subservient roles that this particular tribe associates with gender. This sort of brainwashing by culture has been happening for thousands of years and like I said still happens to this day. I believe everyone has a right to believe what they want to, especially if it is thousands of years old but I also believe that everyone, no matter of race or gender deserves equal treatment. We live in the 21^st century, in the Golden Age of information yet there are places in the world who still live by stone age beliefs and refuse to capitulate to modern times in fear of losing their identity. It is fixable but it will take time, forcing a people to radically change their beliefs in a short period of time has never benefited anyone just look at the many empires that have existed and how they assimilated their subjects through threat of violence, slavery, etc. I think I have said enough for today. I am going to be keeping an eye out for anymore myths or rituals similar to this one to see how other cultures dealt with the same issue. I cannot wait to share what I find with you all. Until then, I hope today’s post urged some of you to research this fascinating subject in more detail and I shall be back tomorrow with another installment. Have a great day and as always: PEACE!!!!!