Chapter 15: Place of the 7 caves, Aztec

     Hello, welcome back to obscure mythology. I apologize again for the delays in my postings. I am trying to get back to some sort of schedule to not only finish this part of my blog but to get my head back in the game as well. This summer has been an emotional roller coaster and the fact that it has rained for about 90% of it doesn’t help. I am normally a creature of habit but these past few months have admittedly thrown me into a funk that has been very hard for me to get out of. I have always used my writing and research as a way to keep my mind from funking out like this but I had a flood of problems come at me like I haven’t had to deal with before. I haven’t been this inundated in a long time and I honestly didn’t know how to deal with it and I still don’t but I do know that writing and research has been my outlet and it needs to be again. Its like I have been shooting down a raging river being pulled toward a waterfall and I have finally just managed to grab onto a limb from a passing tree on the riverbank. I haven’t managed to get out of the river yet but at least I have anchored myself and can start planning on my escape back to solid ground. My family and friends are my anchor while this blog and my research are my escape. I would rather die trying to escape the river than to let the river take me over the edge of the falls and into oblivion. When I get depressed or start questioning everything I like to recite my favorite poem, Invictus by: WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY

Out of the night that covers me, 

      Black as the pit from pole to pole, 

I thank whatever gods may be 

      For my unconquerable soul. 

In the fell clutch of circumstance 

      I have not winced nor cried aloud. 

Under the bludgeonings of chance 

      My head is bloody, but unbowed. 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears 

      Looms but the Horror of the shade, 

And yet the menace of the years 

      Finds and shall find me unafraid. 

It matters not how strait the gate, 

      How charged with punishments the scroll, 

I am the master of my fate, 

      I am the captain of my soul. 

The last two lines are my absolute favorite. Anyhow, I’ve wasted too much time with this long winded apology, I need to get back on track. Today’s post, The Place of 7 caves caught my eye because of its mention of Atzlan, the same name as the park here in Wisconsin that I believe has to do with ancient copper miners and perhaps even giants!

I have written about both a few times in the past and when I came across this mention of Atzlan in the Mythology Dictionary, I had to use it. Here is what the dictionary had to say about the Place of 7 caves.

Place of seven caves; Central American

In Aztec lore, the place where the tribes which emigrated from their homeland, Atzlan, split up and went their separate ways. (Dictionary of Mythology, an A-Z of themes, legends and heroes. J.A Coleman)

The mainstream belief is that the mound building people of ancient , in Illinois at Cahokia and Atzlan, left their well established homes and cities (Cahokia, itself was home to upwards of 10,000 people at its peak) and migrated south ending up in present day Mexico. They became the Aztec empire in the years that followed. An ancient Aztec text described how their ancestors followed the maize (corn) from their homes in the south to their new home in Central America. I am torn when it comes to this supposition, I do believe that the people of Atzlan and the Aztecs were related but I don’t believe the mainstream timeline or supposed path they took. There is much more to pre-history (this is how I refer to history before the mainstream believes the written word was discovered, normally up until about 2000-1000 bce.) than we have been told and much of our ancient history has been intentionally suppressed or outright erased. When the Conquistadors invaded and subsequently conquered the Aztec and Incan civilizations their missionaries destroyed everything they deemed was against the church, needless to say anything with any kind of religious tone was destroyed. Less than twenty authentic Incan religious texts have survived until today. I wonder what they might have held. So, back to the Place of the Seven Caves, I began to think that this may be an actual place that exists, where the tribes did converge and then disperse across not only North America but Central America as well. Perhaps this place is somewhere in the American Midwest or Southwest, it makes me want to go search Google Earth! This is why I do the research I do, it opens up so many more doors and makes me ask so many more questions and as long as these questions remain unanswered I will search for the answers. I hope you continue this journey with me and once again thanks for your patience when it comes to my posts. I cannot wait to post again and I’m glad I grabbed onto that branch! Until the next time, which will be sooner than three weeks, have a great day and as always, PEACE!!!!!!!! 

Obscure Mythology Chapter 15: Otherworld, the Celtic afterlife.

     Hello, first of all I want to apologize for being gone for so long, life has been throwing me a lot of curveballs and unfortunately, I can hit a fastball but not the off-speed stuff. The two people who influenced my life the most are gone and I still not sure how to cope with these losses. My Grandfather passed away a few weeks back, he was responsible for showing me the beauty and importance of the Natural world, I will miss him dearly. The other, my Grandmother is still alive but her mental capacities are gone for the most part, it was her fanciful bedtime stories that sparked my imagination and gave me my love for story telling. She was my spiritual and intellectual inspiration while my Grandfather was my natural tutor and instructor. I am who I am because of them and this is by far the most heartbreaking and emotionally draining experience I have ever been forced into and it isn’t even over yet. The hardest day of my life was walking into my Grandmother’s room and seeing her so helpless. It is hard to describe in words how utterly devastating it is to see someone you love so much in such a state. All I could think about was how much she did for me when I was growing up and how I couldn’t do anything for her. I stayed by her side for quite a while just holding her hand as she slept. I still feel horrible for pulling my hand away when it came time to leave. Yes, I had to pull my hand away from her because her grip was so tight, the woman who raised me, who held my hand when walking or squeezed them not so gently when I started acting up in church (which was a lot) didn’t want to let go of my hand. Although she will not remember my visit or that incident it will never leave my mind and I will always feel regret for leaving her.  I always knew that days like that would eventually happen but no matter how hard I tried to be prepared, I wasn’t, at all. I can see why people use the saying, “When it rains, it pours.” I have been drowning in sadness, hopelessness and fear these past few weeks and I needed to escape. Writing and research is how I do that and that is why I had to get back to my blog. I need to keep on pushing through these dark days and understand that everything happens for a reason and that the best way for me to battle is to do what I love doing. I had been scouring the Mythology dictionary for a good entry for today for a few weeks and even had about eight different choices to try to narrow down, until I opened the book today. It opened directly to the O section but more importantly right to today’s entry: The Otherworld, the Celtic version.  I’ve probably mentioned this a time or two but according to a few different DNA screens I am a full 25% Irish/Scottish so it only seems fitting that I try to understand death and rebirth through the eyes of my ancestors. I hope you enjoy this post.

Otherworld[=Avalon, British=Ard mhac leinn. Tir inna N’og, Irish] Home of the fairies: land of the Gods

A place where another existence, in many ways similar to this life, awaits those who died. A death in this life meant a rebirth in the Otherworld and vie versa. It is said to become visible to mortals at the feast of Samhain.

That place sounds okay to me, hell for all I know this is the Otherworld. It has the same sort of cyclical reincarnation theme that Eastern religions have as well, like I suspected it would yet it still holds a hint of a realm for the dead like the place Heaven was patterned after. I like the mention of Samhain as well, being a Wiccan, this is an important holiday or Sabbat as we call them. It is the one day of the year that the veil that separates the realm of the dead and the living is extremely weak. When the Catholics incorporated Samhain into their religious pantheon they renamed it All Saints Day, they claimed it was a day when the veil that separated Heaven and Earth was the weakest. It is of course most commonly referred to as Halloween today. Yes, they stole it and assimilated it into their own practices to make the transition from “heathen” to righteous Christian, but again I am digressing and showing my utter contempt for organized religion. I think I’ll end this for today thinking about my Grandfather working hard in his garden in the Otherworld waiting patiently for my Grandmother to bring him a glass of lemonade. Someday I’ll show up to pick a tomato or two but for now I can be happy knowing he is happy and doing what he loves doing. Have a great day and thanks for supporting me and my endeavors. As always: PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!